Make it Happen FAQs

Our Make it Happen support offers are there to support areas that need help beyond their local networks to deliver their Big Local plan and are designed to help those areas identify local networks to tap into for future support.

There’s no requirement to access Make it Happen – if you have local contacts who can provide the support you need, we encourage you to use those networks and your funding to access that support.

Once you’ve discussed your needs as a partnership, we’d recommend doing the following so we can get you signed up to the right kind of support:

• Use the Local Trust website to familiarise yourself with the support offers and think through how they may help deliver your Big Local plan
• Chat to your BL adviser or Area Coordinator about your options and ask any questions
• You can even invite us to join your partnership meeting to discuss the support offers in more detail
• Or get in contact with us directly via support@localtrust.org.uk  so we can get you started

Once we’ve had an initial conversation and identified the right support, we will ask you to fill out an EOI form before connecting you with our partner.

If you don’t see your partnership needs reflected in our offers, please do get in touch at support@localtrust.org.uk anyway and we can discuss your options.

Our main communications channels for Big Local partnerships are the Make it Happen mailing and Workplace. We use both these channels to share information about upcoming events and our support offers, including new and developing offers.

Subscribe to the Make it Happen mailing here. 

Register for Workplace here.

Once we connect you with a support partner, a work plan will be developed based on your needs and requirements. This will include the allocation of up to 10 days of support.

The number of days allocated to a partnership will depend on a few things, including:

• how critical the support is to the delivery of your plan
• the kind of support required
• the amount of support an area has accessed in the past
• the stage a partnership is at on the programme (i.e. areas reaching the end of the programme might need fewer days of support than those with much more to deliver)

Ahead of getting started with a partner, it’s really useful if you are clear on your priorities as a partnership and what you would like the support to help you deliver (e.g. a legacy plan/ the procurement of a community hub). That way, you can make the most of the days you have available with the specialist support partner.

Yes. Partners will spend the initial 1-2 days understanding what an area wants to achieve. With the partnership, they will then make an agreed workplan for how they will use their remaining days to address these challenges and realise their goals.

The aim is for the work to be completed within a year. However, where issues arise that don’t fit that timeline e.g. where an asset transfer from a local authority takes a long time (which it often does!), they can support through that time.

When you first start accessing support from a partner, it’s important to discuss timelines and what you want to achieve, including what happens at the end of the support e.g. what happens next?

Local Trust can only fund 10 days, so it’s important to think about any further support you might need at the outset and how you will access it. For example, there might be networks you can join or additional funding you need to set aside for further training and support.

We can also discuss with you opportunities to access additional fully-funded support from our other partners.

Every area can request support with each partner. That means an area could receive assets support as well as community engagement support.

However, the amount of days provided from each partner will depend on the level of support you require i.e. you may only need 2 days to come up with a new community engagement strategy, whilst you may need the full 10 days to help you scope out, apply for and secure a new community asset.

Make it Happen is intended to support and help and we would not want Big Local areas to feel overwhelmed. So, our advice is to be realistic about how much time the partnership can give. We recommend talking to us or your Big Local Area Adviser or Area Coordinator in the first instance and try and set achievable timescale and targets.

Where support takes place will depend on how you and your partnership prefer to work and what’s most suitable for the support being delivered.

We have asked support partners to be flexible in their approach and be led by the Big Local areas they are working with.  If you would prefer online we can accommodate this, if you prefer face-to-face, our partners will travel to your community.

We will check in regularly (around every 3 months) with areas to see how the support is going.

If anything needs attention more urgently, please ask your Big Local Area Adviser or Area Coordinator to flag it with us or reach out directly. Our direct email address will hopefully allow all partnership members to get in touch directly to offer feedback or flag concerns.

There will also be an opportunity to fill in a survey upon completion of the support to give final, formal feedback.