Colleges Tackling Child Poverty Funding: RISE and TAF for AY 2026–27 

9. The total £11 million investment for AY 2026-27 is split as follows:
   • RISE (£9 million): For course development, delivery, outreach, and holistic support for low-income parents/carers, prioritising key priority groups. This funding aims to support individuals up to a maximum of approx. £3,750 per person.
   • TAF (£2 million): For the delivery of targeted skills specifically for in-work parents/carers to support them to progress in employment. This funding, modelled around the previous Independent Learning Account (ILA) funding, aims to support individuals up to a maximum of approx. £500 per person.

10. To ensure resources are directed toward the areas of greatest socio-economic need, funding is distributed via a regional allocation model rather than standard credit-based formulas.
11. In recognition that colleges may require additional resource to assist with administration and set-up costs, we have assigned a baseline of £20k within each allocation, with the remaining allocation informed by Scottish Child Payment (SCP) data (Dec 2025). Colleges have the flexibility to utilise the baseline £20k for delivery, if additional administration budget is not required. Funding allocations can be found in Annex A.
12. The SCP serves as the most robust proxy for mapping financial hardship and child poverty within a region. Unlike broader economic indicators, SCP data provides a direct, real-time reflection of Scotland’s lowest-income households with children. By utilising this targeted data, instead of SIMD or standard SFC college teaching grant allocations, the fund can precisely direct resources to the communities where the risk of child poverty is most acute, ensuring an entirely evidence-led intervention.

13. All fundable learners must be living in Scotland full-time, including those with refugee status or asylum seekers. They must be parents/carers with an individual income below £33k, with responsibility for at least one child at home aged under 18.
14. To access the funding learners will be required to self-identify eligibility at application stage.
15. Colleges should undertake targeted outreach to promote the funds to new learners from the six priority family groups most at risk of child poverty. While funding is not exclusively restricted to these groups, marketing and recruitment efforts should pro-actively focus on them. The identified priority groups are:
    • Lone parent families.
    • Families with a disabled adult or child.
    • Larger families (3+ children).
    • Minority ethnic families.
    • Families with a child under one year old.
    • Families with mothers under age 25.

16. Colleges should make efforts to ensure that opportunities and support meets the needs of families at greatest risk of poverty, including the six priority family groups and other marginalised groups, to ensure barriers to participation are effectively removed or reduced.

17. This funding empowers colleges to design new, flexible pathways that support families facing deep-seated or generational barriers to the labour market, helping them move into secure, fair work. It is designed for high-impact innovation and additional regional interventions. Examples of activity can be found in Annex B. This list is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive.
18. LEPs and NOLB teams have expertise in working exclusively with these target groups and have established shared measurement frameworks in place. College collaboration with the LEPs and NOLB teams will enable colleges to more effectively tailor training and educational interventions to individual needs.
19. Colleges are strongly encouraged to align regional strategies with recent, relevant, robust research from experts in this area. Examples can be found in Annex C.
20. The Scottish Government have published summary evidence on groups at greatest risk of poverty, which should be considered in the development of activities.
21. Recognition of prior learning (RPL) must be considered wherever possible to build on existing skills.

22. Colleges should be aware that funding cannot be used to provide additionality to apprenticeship provision or compensate parents for a loss of benefits or other income.
23. Colleges should not use this funding to provide wraparound support for students who are enrolled on credit-funded courses, to cover standard funding shortfalls or maintain/top up pre-existing college activities. The purpose of this funding is to reach out to new learners who are not already engaged with further education and skills provision through a multi-agency collaborative approach.

24. Prior to the start of the academic year, colleges must provide SFC with a proposal which aligns strictly with the purpose of this funding and utilises the full allocation for each college. These should include a named TCP lead, a breakdown of the intended interventions, the target groups they are intended to reach, and an outline of all external delivery partners and stakeholders. This should be completed in the template provided in Annex D and submitted to SFC using the TCP@SFC.ac.uk email address by 4 August 2026.
25. To demonstrate impact, colleges must report enrolments for all TCP funded activities via the SFC SecureShare file transfer protocol, using a template which will be provided.
26. Colleges will also be expected to submit a FES record for each student (even though they won’t attract credits) as normal.
27. A series of monthly meetings will be established between SFC and each college’s TCP lead to understand and report on progress against each college’s proposals.
28. Colleges must report on the following measures:
    • Flag all supported learners: Under either RISE or TAF funding streams, the volume of students which are in one or more of the six priority group and are in receipt of SCP.
    • Record volume and course details: Capture the total number of individuals accessing training and support, including the course title, SCQF (where applicable) and delivery method (distance learning, in person etc.).
    • Provide full equalities breakdowns: Report demographic data aligned with FES categories for all learners.
    • Maintain financial oversight: Submit detailed monthly updates on total spend versus underspend.

29. At the application stage, colleges must ask individuals to complete the privacy statement which will enable SFC to utilise data to undertake an end of year evaluation. SFC will share a proposed application template which will include necessary data protection statements for this purpose.

30. SFC will work with Colleges Scotland and college communication leads to develop a national marketing and communications plan for all Tackling Child Poverty funded activity (RISE, TAF and New FWDF) and institutional communications leads should work closely to align engagement to this work.
31. All materials must feature Scottish Government, SFC and Colleges Scotland logos.
32. It is expected that RISE and TAF funded provision will be delivered over 12 months from August 2026 – July 2027 and should be available over the traditional academic year holiday periods, in a way which responds to learner demand.
33. Delivery schedule:
    • Commences – August 2026.
    • Completion – by 31 July 2027.

34. Colleges will be paid in 4 equal instalments (August 26, November 26, February 27, and April 27). This will ensure that we do not pay in advance of need and are able, if necessary, to redistribute funds between colleges. In multi-college regions, the regional strategic body is responsible for the allocation of funds to their assigned colleges.
35. Through a combined process of timely, ongoing reporting via the CDC SecureShare site and monthly monitoring meetings, colleges will be expected to identify accurate spending on a quarterly basis.
36. In liaison with the Scottish Government, SFC may adjust individual allocations in-year across RISE, TAF and New FWDF and across colleges/college regions if there is evidence that any funding is being underutilised (and therefore at risk of being unspent) and there is evidence of unmet demand elsewhere. Unspent funding will be fully recovered after the end of the delivery period.

Based on research, examples of which can be found in Annex C, the following are suggested examples of actions colleges could undertake:

• Co-located Multi-Agency Hubs: Bringing local authority Parental Employability Support (PES) workers onto the college campus.
• Flexible Course Delivery: Offer hybrid, online, or evening learning options so parents can balance coursework around childcare responsibilities.
• Compassionate Academic Policies: Establish formal institutional policies allowing lenient attendance, coursework extensions, and alternative assessment methods to accommodate sudden caregiving emergencies or child illnesses.
• The ‘Young Mothers’ Guarantee’: Build on existing national youth frameworks to guarantee every young mother (aged 16-24) a dedicated pathway to a work placement, training, or education, working closely with relevant support services.

• Embedded Welfare Rights Advocacy: Partner with expert organisations (e.g. CPAG Scotland) to deliver or train staff to embed ongoing, proactive income maximisation services within student support directly into the college enrolment process.
• Streamlined and Expanded Institutional Aid: Top-up dedicated student bursaries and simplify the application process to remove overly bureaucratic barriers and prevent funding delays.
• Consolidated Emergency and Discretionary Funds: Creating streamlined, non-bureaucracy-heavy emergency cash grants to cover minor financial shocks (e.g. ad hoc late pick-up childcare fees) within 24 hours.
• Digital Inclusion Grants: Provide direct hardware loans (laptops/tablets) and connectivity grants to ensure parents can access online learning components without financial strain.

• Dedicated Key Worker Support: Assign a designated caseworker to provide consistent, one-to-one navigational support for student parents throughout their educational journey, serving as a single point of contact.
• Confidence and Soft Skills Building: Deliver targeted workshops, coaching, and personal development modules specifically engineered to build self-esteem, resilience, and workplace confidence.
• Comprehensive Campus Childcare Services: Provide robust, flexible childcare solutions to enable class attendance, including on-site nurseries, backup emergency childcare provisions, and the expansion of childcare funds to cover infants under the age of one, where not already covered by DWP or other child poverty funded activity.
• Family-Centric Campus Infrastructure: Designate specific “Family Study Zones” on campus where parents can study effectively alongside their young children.
• Food Security Initiatives: Implement free on-campus breakfast and lunch clubs for parents and younger children to alleviate daily living costs.
• Staff Awareness and Dedicated Advisory Roles: Appoint designated student support staff trained in the specific barriers faced by low-income and single parents and deliver training to educators regarding the unpredictable caregiving demands students face.
• Peer Mentorship and Community Spaces: Facilitate peer-support networks and student parent groups to combat isolation, share resources, and build confidence.