Grant funding calls
A grant funding call invites organisations to propose their own projects for public money. Why it is not procurement, who runs them in the UK, and how to apply.
Updated on September 5, 2026
A grant funding call, sometimes described as a call for proposals or a funding competition, is an announcement in which a public body sets a theme and a budget, then invites companies, charities, universities or councils to put forward projects of their own design. The best-ranked receive funding, usually as a grant, which places the exercise outside procurement law.
How it works
The dividing line with a public contract is who owns the idea and who receives the benefit. In a contract, the buyer defines what it needs and pays a supplier to deliver it to the buyer. In a funding call, the applicant conceives the project, runs it on its own account, and the public body supports it because it advances a policy aim: innovation, decarbonisation, employment, culture, health. The Procurement Act 2023 does not apply, but a grant that in substance pays for services supplied to the funder can be recharacterised as a public contract, with all the risk that follows.
The main UK funders are UK Research and Innovation and its councils, Innovate UK, the devolved governments, the National Lottery distributors, and departments running policy programmes. Each publishes a scope document setting eligibility, assessment criteria, the intervention rate, the funding ceiling, the timetable and the monitoring obligations. An assessment panel scores the applications and successful applicants sign a grant funding agreement. In Ireland the same role is played by Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and the various departmental schemes.
Watch the vocabulary. The Small Business Research Initiative funds research and development through contracts, not grants, and is therefore genuine procurement. And some competitions billed as funding calls are really design contests or ordinary below-threshold tenders; the documents say which regime applies.
What it means for a bidder
A funding call suits a company that has an innovative or public-benefit project and wants a co-funder rather than a customer. Read the eligibility section first: required location, compulsory partnership with a research organisation or a public body, company size, technology readiness level.
Budget for your own contribution, because grants rarely cover the full cost, and for the reporting effort, which is routinely underestimated. Applications go through dedicated portals with hard closing times.
Example
A regional funder launches a circular-economy call for the construction sector with a £1.7 million budget, capped at £180,000 per project and covering half of eligible costs. A materials SME teams up with a local demolition contractor and proposes a concrete reuse pilot. It is one of fourteen applications and one of four funded; the agreement sets milestones and a final report.
Frequently asked questions
Is a funding call a public contract?
Usually not. It awards grants and is governed by subsidy control and grant-making rules rather than the Procurement Act 2023.
Can a company apply?
Yes, unless the call is restricted to charities or public bodies. Check the eligibility section, and whether a partner is compulsory.
How does this differ from market engagement?
Preliminary market engagement gathers views without funding anything. A funding call selects projects to pay for.