A New Youth-Led Fund for and by Disabled Young People

The grant-making process is being led and designed by young people, who will decide how we allocate the funding, and help us to evaluate the services provided.

We believe this grants process, led by and for disabled young people, is one of the first of its kind across any local authority in England. This pioneering approach will enable disabled young people to have a meaningful say and a choice in investment in services for them and their peers.

This youth-led grantmaking process will ensure children and young people with SEND have a significant influence on the Local Offer’s funding.

GMYN’s Changemakers group will be leading the process, and are consulting with other groups of disabled young people across the city, to design and deliver the funding. They will be deciding everything from what the need is, to the criteria for applications, to who receives investment.

This work is part of the SEND Local Offer’s broader commitment to co-production and youth voice. Whilst much of the Local Offer is currently co-produced, we’d like to strengthen the involvement of children and young people with SEND in the decision-making and funding process.

This means that more of the offer can be shaped by the knowledge and ideas of children and young people who will have experience of accessing these types of opportunities, and that we can be confident that the organisations and activities we fund are in line with the needs and interests of children and young people with SEND.

We spoke to Maria Simpkin, who leads Manchester City Council’s SEND Local Offer about why she’s investing £20,000 in this fund.

Why is the Local Offer investing in a youth-led fund for SEND young people?

The short answer is; we’ve seen the impact of co-production across services and we’re sold on it!

How do you feel about the Fund? What are you most excited about? Do you think there'll be any challenges?

We’re really excited about this - we can’t wait to see what the young people are drawn to and the sorts of stuff they’ll want to fund. Oh yeah, I’m sure there will be challenges - we see these as an opportunity to learn and find ways to improve. We’re really curious about how young people will respond, it will be a rich learning journey for us all!

What are your hopes for the future of youth-led grant making for SEND provision in Manchester and nationally?

At the moment we’re all buzzing and really excited about this - but our hopes for the future would be that its becomes completely unremarkable. We’d love it to be just standard practice across the board, both locally and nationally.

The youth-led grants will be awarded to high-quality projects that support children and young people with SEND and will be open in 2023.

Manchester City Council’s Local Offer

Manchester City Council’s Local Offer helps children and young people with SEND up to the age of 25 and their parents understand what services and support they can expect locally.

Working in partnership, the Local Offer has created hundreds of opportunities for children and young people with SEND to take part in amazing activities in their communities, and has grown access to universal youth and play opportunities.

GMYN’s Changemakers

The Changemakers are a group of SEND Youth Ambassadors aged 14-25 supported by GMYN. Since 2019, the group have been active in shaping services for young disabled people in the city through consultation, evaluation and training.

This crucial work forms part of wider youth involvement work across the city ensuring that disadvantaged young people have input and a voice on issues that matter to them and their community.