The Age & Opportunity Active National Grant Scheme 2021 will not open for applications this September as it normally would. Instead, we have decided to carry the grant to February 2022 for a number of reasons. Firstly, due to the impact of Covid-19, most groups have not yet had the opportunity to spend their grant monies from 2019 or 2020. Opening the grant in February 2022 will allow more time for those to use their previous grant monies before then, particularly now as activities are opening up and the roll out of the national vaccination programme.
Secondly, going forward, we will be opening the National Grant Scheme at the beginning of each year. So 2022 will include the grant from 2021 with 2022 on a once off basis. This will see more grant money available which will allow us to invite more applications across other sectors like local sports clubs, leisure centres, sport providers, nursing homes and day care settings. All of these sectors have been particularly affected by Covid-19 and we hope this grant can offer an extra boost and will encourage them to put programmes in place for older people who are members or residents of their facilities. The aim of the grant has always been to increase levels of physical activity and sport by older people in all areas of society.
We hope this change of schedule will not inconvenience people and we will look forward to more applications than ever in February 2022. The Age & Opportunity Active National Grant Scheme will return to normal levels in 2023.
