1. Introduction And Overview
The Kent Stop Smoking Services Support Grant 2024/2025 is being administered by Active Kent & Medway on behalf of Kent County Council (KCC). The deadline for applications is midday on Friday 31st January 2025.
KCC (The Council) is the largest local authority in England by population, covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over £1bn on goods and services and a population of 1.6m. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 289 parish/town councils.
Although smoking prevalence is declining nationally and locally, smoking is still the main cause of premature mortality, accountable for 27% of all cancer deaths and a range of long-term health conditions. In Kent, it is estimated that 11.6% of the adult population smoke, but smoking rates are much higher among some groups, particularly those in lower socio-economic and vulnerable communities, making smoking a major risk factor for health inequalities.
Smoking rates are higher among routine and manual workers (24.5%) and this rate remains high as they are more likely to be long-term hardened smokers.
In addition, smoking rates among people with a long-term mental health illness is also high (23.7%) as well as adults suffering from anxiety and depression (25.1%).
Smoking prevalence is also higher among drug and alcohol users. In Kent, 67% of adults who were admitted to hospital for non-opiate use and 49% admitted for alcohol misuse were smokers.
In 2019, the government set an objective for England to be Smokefree by 2030, meaning only 5% of the population would smoke by then. This supports the government manifesto commitment to extend health life expectancy by five years by 2035.
As part of this objective, in 2023 the government published ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’, which set out proposed actions the government will take to tackle smoking and youth vaping.
One of these actions involved the government committing an additional £70 million of funding per year for local authority led stop smoking services and support. Kent was allocated £1.9M of this funding for 2024/25.
Kent County Council already delivers a Stop smoking Service though Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT) as part of its holistic Healthy Lifestyle service, One You Kent (OYK). This service supports around 2800-3,000 people a year to quit smoking. The Council are also seeking to secure other services to complement the current Stop Smoking service through the additional funding allocated to Kent.
The additional funding is anticipated to be provided over the next five financial years, starting from 2024-25 until 2028-29. The grant agreement covers the first year, with funding for subsequent years subject to spending review settlements, following the routine practice for all government expenditure.
Utilising the funding, Kent County Council are aiming for an additional 26,937 set quit dates over the next five years, with 1,347 additional set quit dates in the first year (25% increase on current performance). Combined with the existing service, that will be a total expected quits of 6,252 in year one and 51,462 over the 5 years.
2. Smoking Services and Support Grant Fund Overview and Purpose
Kent County Council plans to allocate a proportion of the additional funding received to create grant funding opportunities that will support small initiatives which contribute towards Kent’s attainment of its target. This document describes the Grant Fund and how organisations can apply for funding. The Grant fund shall be used to deliver initiatives and projects that will support in the reduction of smoking prevalence in Kent.
The grant offered by this fund should support one of the below objectives. Examples are given below but are not an exhaustive list and other ideas will be considered:
Increasing resources to help individuals set a quit date and quit smoking:
- Smoking harm Reduction (Scenario: Harm reduction | Management | Smoking cessation | CKS | NICE)
- Smoking Cessation training for staff
Increasing referrals and improving pathways into KCC’s commissioned Stop smoking Services:
- Dedicated marketing materials on KCC’s stop smoking Services for cohorts you support
- Undertake outreach with certain cohorts to promote smoking support available.
- Funding for events with priority groups to promote Kent’s Stop Smoking Support offer
Increasing promotion of KCC’s Sop Smoking Services and the benefits of quitting smoking:
- Creating imagery/marketing for certain demographic Groups to increase engagement with stop smoking services.
- Purchasing Stop Smoking materials to use at events
- Creating smoke free spaces which include details on support available to quit
Grant recipients should be aware of and work with the core stop smoking services to ensure cohesive pathways for individuals and to avoid confusion for service users and professionals.
If bidding for funding for “Increasing resources to help individuals set a quit date and quit smoking” organisations can also bid for free Very Brief Advice plus training provided by Kent Community Health Foundation Trust, which KCC has also funded utilising the grant funding.
The funding cannot be used for:
- The general running costs of an organisation (i.e. broadband, office space, costs towards regular sessions already being delivered)
- Replacement equipment (Please note: financial provisions should be in place to replace damaged / obsolete equipment)
- Uniforms
- Refreshments
- Travel/Transport
- CPD courses (such as DBS checks, Safeguarding and First Aid courses)
- Costs towards Capital assets (fixed/permanent structure)
- Retrospective costs
3. Smoking Services and Support Grant Process
KCC will ensure the Grant Process is transparent, open and fair and operates in line with the KCC grants policy.
Grants will be evaluated as set out in Section 4 of this document by a panel of no less than 3 members.
Applications that do not adhere to the bid round requirement before they are scored by the panel.
As part of the grant process, there will be vital documents the grant recipient will need to read and/or complete as listed below.
- Grant Prospectus (this document)
- Application Form (required as part of application submission)
- End of Project Report Template
- Grant Conditions
- Data Protection Declaration (required as part of application submission)
4. Evaluation of Grant Bids
As previously outlined:
- The initiative MUST meet the requirement as set out in Section 2.
- The initiative MUST be linked to expenditure for immediate need and as such be spent within the timeframes previously stated.
- The initiative MUST be delivered within the Kent County Council geography.
In addition, the fund cannot be used to support any of the below:
- Activity organised for party political, religious or charity fundraising purposes.
- Activity that promotes unhealthy behaviours or illegal activity (e.g. smoking, drinking, gambling)
- Capital schemes, though we may fund equipment purchase as part of a wider project.
- Applicants who previously failed to comply with the Stop Smoking Grant scheme conditions
- Activity which has already taken place or is funded via other sources.
- We will not accept anything which conflicts with Kent County Council’s standards.
- Activities delivered by organisations that are not a legal entity.
If the application does not adhere to the above criteria, it will not be scored by the panel and it will be rejected by KCC. Furthermore, KCC reserves the right to reject applications where the application form has not been fully completed or where the request for funding exceeds the maximum value as set out in Section 7.
Those that meet the above criteria will be evaluated by a panel of at least 3 KCC staff. Questions within Section 3 on the application form will be assessed against the table below. A minimum score of 2 must be achieved for each assessed question within the application form for the bid to be considered further.
Score, Assessment and Interpretation
4 = Excellent
Response is completely relevant and provides an excellent understanding of the requirements of the specification. The response is comprehensive, unambiguous and provides above the requirements. Offers significant beneficial added value.
3 = Good
Response is relevant and good. It demonstrates a good understanding of the requirement of the specification and provides additional details on how the requirements will be fulfilled. Offers additional beneficial added value.
2 = Acceptable
Response is relevant and acceptable and meets the requirement of the specification. The response addresses a broad understanding of the requirements and addresses the need .
1 = Poor
Response is partially relevant but lacks sufficient detail. The response addresses some elements of the requirement of the specification but contains insufficient or limited detail or explanation on how the requirement of the specification will be fulfilled.
0 = Unacceptable
Nil or inadequate response. Fails to demonstrate an ability to meet any of the requirements of the specification. Does not have any understanding of the need/client group.
Each bid round will have a total allocation. If the total value of grants meeting the minimum criteria exceeds the bid round value, KCC will offer the grants to the highest scoring applications first, up until the total bid round value is reached.
KCC reserves the right to increase the value of the bid round, should there be sufficient high scoring bids or to not award the full value of the round if the bids received are of poor quality, would risk duplication or do not provide value for money.
5. Who can apply?
The grants are open to all organisations registered as legal entities in the districts of Kent County Council. All funded projects and schemes must be delivered within districts of Kent County Council. Joint bids and/or consortium bids are permissible under this scheme so long as one of the organisations is a legal entity. Applications from schools are not permissible.
All applicants must be of good financial standing, this will be verified by KCC in the form of financial checks as outlined in Section 6.
Organisations are only permitted to submit one application per bid round. Where multiple bids are received in the same bid round from the same organisation, KCC will award to the highest scoring bid contingent on it meeting criteria as set out in Section 4 of this document.
6. Finance Information Guidance
When submitting a grant application, organisations are asked to attach their latest full set of signed accounts (including a profit and loss account) together with a statement of any material changes that have either taken place, or are known about, since the last set of accounts to either the structure/management of the legal entity or to the legal entity’s financial position. This is to help ensure that organisations receiving a grant are financially viable throughout the duration of the grant agreement.
Smaller organisations that may not have a full set of detailed accounts must provide the following:
- Income/ expenditure/ profit sheet and
- A balance sheet
7. Funding
Kent funding allocation in the first year is £1,944,823; 2.77% of the overall national grant and the largest local authority allocation in England. A proportion of this value will be utilised to support grant applications. Although KCC would welcome grant applications of up to £10,000, it is expected that most grants awarded will be in the region of £5,000.
Grants are available of up to £10,000, although it is expected that most grants awarded will be in the region of £5,000.
If successful in receiving a Stop Smoking Grant, 100% of funds will be released upfront. Any funding not spent, or not spent in line with the agreed initiative will be recovered by KCC.
KCC are unable to roll over funding into the next financial year and will use this grant process to utilise underspend. Therefore, the grants are likely to be spent within the financial year they’re awarded and hence it is imperative they can be mobilised quickly.
8. Performance and Reporting
All grants will be conditional on commitment to provide an end of project report outlining the project. Once the project has been delivered this report will need to be sent to KCC within 30 days of project completion.
End of project reports should be submitted via phperformance@kent.gov.uk
If the project exceeds 6 months or is awarded at over £5,000 the grant may be subject to more frequent reporting. This will be confirmed on an individual basis once the funding has been successfully offered.
KCC reserves the right to request any unspent finances post project completion to be returned as set out in the Grant Conditions.
9. Mobilisation
A key requirement for successful grants will be the ability to be able to mobilise the scheme within 4 weeks of being awarded the funding. All projects are expected to be completed within 6 months of grant award or by the end of the financial year (whichever is earliest) unless otherwise agreed.
10. Roles and Responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities of KCC
- Allocation of grant funds and timely payment of funds.
- Review of end of project reports
- Light touch support and advice should this be necessary.
- Fairness and transparency over progress.
- Identification of cross over/duplication of projects across the County
- Identification of scalable project
Roles and responsibilities of the Grant Recipient
- Delivery of initiative within terms of grant agreement.
- Commitment to notify KCC of any change in scope and/or forecast funding.
- Commitment to deliver messages in line with up-to-date government advice.
- Dedication to complete a satisfactory end of project report and collection of robust data during the project to enable this.
- Ensuring the necessary permissions are sought from participants for any media and reporting shared.
- Commitment to create sustainable initiatives where viable.
- Promotion of the initiative to ensure good uptake.
- Sharing of relevant media and content with KCC to onward share as necessary and agreement that any Intellectual Property created will be jointly owned.
- Have insurances and policies in place relevant and proportionate to the agreed initiative.
- Promotion of initiatives as being funded by KCC where prior agreement has been obtained
11. Policies and Procedures
The grant recipient is expected to have in place policies, procedures, and protocols in line with the area of delivery. Example policies that may be required are detailed below.
- Effective governance structure for the service
- Safeguarding or safe culture processes
- Safe Recruitment of staff and volunteers
- Modern slavery
- Prevent
- Mental Capacity Act 2005 policy
- Whistleblowing
- Complaints and grievances (staff and service users)
- Equalities and Diversity – Ensure that the action that was developed for the Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) is implemented and completed annually
- Business continuity and emergency planning
- Health and Safety
- Induction and training including mandatory training and a matrix policy
- Recruitment and selection
- Disciplinary / Capability (staff)
- Information governance covering Data Protection, Confidentiality, Data Retention, and Information Security
- Serious Incidents
- Workforce supervision, appraisal and / or performance management
- Quality management
- Peer support and volunteering
- E-Safety
- Domestic Abuse Workplace Policy
- Risk assessment-risk register
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This material may not be copied or published without the Kent County Council’s permission in writing.
