1. User Guide

8.1 Assessing your developed proposal

Once you submit your 'Developed Proposal,' we will check everything is in place and will be in touch to let you know when you can expect a decision. We will not be able to start its assessment until we have all the relevant information and supporting documents. It is unlikely that you will hear from us again until we notify you of our decision.

We will conduct some initial checks on the information you provide us with before undertaking a full assessment (we may additionally check out some other matters at this time, such as your history with us, or financial, identity and fraud checks). Provided these are found acceptable we will continue to assess your full proposal.

When we do so we will consider it against a range of performance measures that we term Critical Success Factors. We need to be able to prioritise where our investment makes the most difference. If your application does not meet our detailed criteria, it may be rejected. Performing well against these will also help us achieve our ambitions for economic growth in Mid Wales.

8.2 Considering risk

When assessing your proposal, we will make a measured judgement on the potential risks to your project and current business risks - and we will look to see if you have identified these adequately and told us how you will mitigate against them.

8.3 Decisions

An Evaluation Panel will meet to discuss all proposals as they reach us. However, we will need some time to technically evaluate them beforehand. The Panel's recommendation will then be referred to our governing body for a final decision. We aim is to complete appraisal / approval processes within two months of submission.

8.4 Provisional and final grant awards

If your 'Developed Proposal' is approved, we will make a Provisional Grant Award to you. You must wait to receive permission from us before beginning your project. You will also need to sign up to our Terms of Grant.

Once RIBA Stage 4 is completed we will ask you to confirm that you remain in a position to proceed with the project and deliver the stated outputs and outcomes. Once you have confirmed this to us you will receive a Final Grant Award.

You will have up to two years to complete the Delivery Stage (including RIBA Stage 4) unless we have agreed a longer project duration with you.

8.5 How we pay your grant claims

For all grants we will make payments in arrears, this means you will have to incur costs up-front and provide evidence to us that they have been incurred (usually by way of bank statements) i.e., evidence of 'defrayed costs', to be claimed on a quarterly basis.  A Grant Claim Cycle will be agreed with you for this purpose.

At the end of each claim period, you will need to submit a Grant Claim Form. This will be reviewed by the Fund Management Team and others to ensure that claims are valid, supported by appropriate and robust evidence, demonstrate value for money and demonstrate that the required progress outcomes are being delivered in accordance with the terms of grant award.

Once these checks are complete the claim will be authorised for payment of the appropriate amount. We will pay your grant as a percentage of your project costs. We describe this as the intervention rate (or payment percentage). For example, if your total project costs are £800,000 and your co-funding contribution is £440,000, your grant will be £360,000 and your rate/percentage will be 45%.

We will aim to pay a successful claim in the month following the claim period e.g., for a claim period January - March, the Council will aim to pay the claim in April.

We will also hold the last 10% of your grant until we are satisfied that the project is complete, that the grant has been spent appropriately, and you have sent us your final evaluation report.

8.6  If your developed proposal is unsuccessful

The assessment process is competitive, and we cannot fund all the good quality applications that we receive. If your application is unsuccessful, we will tell you why.

You may reflect on these and seek to enhance your application but must wait until the next Open Call before resubmitting anything.