Government confirms Community Wealth Fund will support England’s doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods

As founding member and secretariat to the Community Wealth Fund Alliance, we welcome the announcement that England’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods will receive vital investment in social infrastructure through the Community Wealth Fund.

Yesterday, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed that the Community Wealth Fund (CWF) will be targeted at the doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods most in need of investment in community and civic capacity building.

The technical consultation on the CWF’s design principles launched in September 2023. The CWF’s principles now confirmed reflect those originally proposed by the Community Wealth Fund Alliance, including:

• long-term, patient funding (10-15 years)
• investment directly into doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods
• community-led decision-making
• appropriate support provided to build community confidence and capacity.

Evidence from the Big Local programme shows that supporting local residents to lead on decision-making in their communities can lay the foundations for lasting positive change. The consultation response confirms that “the Community Wealth Fund will retain the type of neighbourhood-level focus that underpinned the success of historic programmes such as Big Local”, which is a testament to all of those who have been involved in the programme over the past 13 years.

Our CEO Rachel Rowney, said:

“This announcement is a welcome culmination of the Alliance’s seven-year campaign for the Community Wealth Fund.

 “We are pleased that the principles we advocated for, including the importance of working at a hyper-local level, where residents lead decisions over the long-term on how resources are used, are central components of the response. We know this has the potential to shift the dial in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, and we are hopeful that the Community Wealth Fund will help build vital social and economic capital, laying the foundations for lasting positive change in these areas.

“We look forward to working with the National Lottery Community Fund as they take forward next steps on delivery of the Community Wealth Fund on behalf of government.”

We would like to thank each and every Alliance member, alongside the campaign’s funders and advisory group, for their support in helping make the Community Wealth Fund a reality. The National Lottery Community Fund will now design the detail of the programme and develop the methodology for selecting the areas to benefit from CWF funding.

Explore the timeline of the Community Wealth Fund campaign, and find details of the consultation response on the government website.