About Course
Statutory Sector Fundraising
CPD Accredited – July 2026 Edition
A comprehensive practical training course for UK charities navigating public sector funding, from understanding the statutory landscape, finding opportunities and mastering procurement law through to writing winning bids, managing contracts and building long-term statutory partnerships.
Who Is This Course For?
This course has been designed for anyone involved in seeking, managing or overseeing statutory funding from government, local authorities, the NHS or other public sector bodies in a UK charity or voluntary organisation. Whether you are a:
- Fundraiser or development professional looking to access statutory grant and contract income
- Chief Executive or senior manager responsible for statutory commissioning relationships
- Trustee with oversight of contracts, service level agreements and statutory funding compliance
- Volunteer or new entrant wanting to understand how public sector funding works
- Finance lead responsible for managing the financial governance of public sector contracts
- Project manager responsible for delivering statutory-funded services and meeting contract requirements
This course will give you the thorough, legally grounded understanding of the statutory funding landscape you need to compete effectively for public sector income, and manage it compliantly once you have won it.
Course Overview
9 modules · Average 4 to 5 hours to complete · Work at your own pace
Understanding the Statutory Funding Landscape
What is statutory funding, who provides it and how does it work? This module maps the UK statutory funding landscape, central government departments, devolved administrations, local authorities, NHS Integrated Care Boards and other public bodies, and explains the key distinction between grants and contracts and its legal and practical implications. The key trends shaping the statutory environment are examined: the shift from grants to contracts, place-based commissioning, the Social Value Act 2012, the emphasis on prevention and the growing importance of consortium approaches.
Finding the Right Opportunities
How do you find out what statutory funding is available? This module is a practical guide to monitoring, identifying and assessing statutory funding opportunities, including how to use the Find a Tender Service for procurements above the Procurement Act 2023 threshold, how local authority grant portals work, how to build ethical pre-procurement relationships, and how to read a tender or grant specification to assess whether it is worth pursuing.
Getting Your Organisation Ready
Before you can compete for statutory funding, your organisation needs to meet a higher bar of organisational readiness than most grant funders require. This module covers the governance, financial management, policy and quality assurance standards that statutory commissioners expect, including accounts and audit requirements, insurance obligations, safeguarding frameworks and employment law compliance.
Mastering the Tendering Process
The Procurement Act 2023 (in force from 24 February 2025) fundamentally changed how public bodies must procure services. This module explains the new regime, its key principles, the procurement procedures it introduces, the transparency requirements and the Find a Tender Service. You will also learn what commissioners look for at the supplier selection stage and how to prepare for it effectively.
Writing Winning Bids
Statutory bids are evaluated differently from trust grant applications, typically against a published specification with weighted scoring criteria. This module covers the structure and content of an effective statutory bid: how to respond precisely to the specification, how to demonstrate social value, how to present your track record and financial credibility, how to build a compelling service delivery model, and how to write a compliant, competitive budget that achieves full cost recovery.
Demonstrating Value and Impact
Social value is increasingly central to statutory commissioning, and charities are often better placed to deliver it than private sector competitors. This module covers the Social Value Act 2012, Procurement Policy Note 06/20 and how commissioners measure social value in practice, the major outcomes frameworks used in statutory commissioning, and how to build a convincing social value and outcomes case into your bid.
Building Relationships with Statutory Bodies
Winning statutory funding is not just about submitting a strong bid. Relationships with commissioners, contract managers and policy leads matter enormously, within the constraints of procurement law. This module covers how to build legitimate pre-procurement relationships with statutory bodies, how to engage ethically in pre-procurement engagement and service design, how to position your organisation as a trusted sector partner, and how to navigate the legal constraints that prevent favouritism.
Delivering and Reporting on Contracts
Winning a contract is the beginning, not the end. This module covers what you need to know to deliver a statutory contract compliantly and effectively, contract management principles, performance monitoring and reporting, financial management and invoicing, handling contract variations and disputes, and what happens if performance falls short of specification.
Sustainability and Beyond
The final module looks beyond the individual contract to the long-term strategic picture. You will learn how to plan for contract renewal and re-procurement, how to manage the transition when statutory funding ends, how to use statutory contracts to leverage other income, how to build the consortium and partnership arrangements that increasingly characterise successful statutory fundraising, and how to develop a long-term statutory income strategy that sits alongside your broader funding approach.
What You Will Learn
On completion of all modules, you will be able to:
- ✓ Understand the structure of the UK statutory funding landscape and the legal distinctions between grants and contracts
- ✓ Find and assess statutory funding opportunities using the Find a Tender Service and other authoritative sources
- ✓ Prepare your organisation to meet the higher governance and compliance bar required by statutory commissioners
- ✓ Navigate the Procurement Act 2023 and complete Pre-Qualification and Selection Questionnaires effectively
- ✓ Write a compelling, specification-responsive statutory bid that demonstrates social value and achieves full cost recovery
- ✓ Apply social value frameworks and statutory outcomes models to build a convincing impact case
- ✓ Manage a statutory contract compliantly through its full lifecycle, including performance reporting and contract variations
- ✓ Build legitimate, relationship-based engagement with statutory commissioners within procurement law constraints
- ✓ Develop a long-term statutory income strategy that is resilient, diversified and complementary to your wider funding approach
Benefits for You and Your Organisation
✓ Access Significant Public Sector Income
Statutory funding, grants and contracts from government, local authorities and the NHS, remains one of the largest income sources for UK charities. This course gives you the knowledge to compete for it effectively.
✓ Stay Legally Compliant
Understand the Procurement Act 2023, the Social Value Act 2012, the NHS Provider Selection Regime and your contractual obligations, and manage statutory funding with confidence and precision.
✓ Win More Contracts
Statutory bids are evaluated on published criteria against a specification. This course teaches you exactly how to respond to that specification in a way that scores highly and wins contracts.
✓ Protect Your Organisation
Poor contract management is one of the most common causes of reputational damage for charities. This course ensures you understand your obligations and can deliver on them from day one.
✓ A Resource You Will Keep Using
Download and save the course for future reference. Return to it whenever you are assessing a new tender opportunity, completing a Selection Questionnaire or reviewing your contract management practice.
✓ Recognised Achievement
Complete all nine modules and receive a personalised, printable CPD-accredited certificate of completion to support your continuing professional development.
– Amie Elliott, GeckoFundraising Ltd
How It Works
Complete your purchase using our secure online card payment. Access to the full course is granted immediately upon payment being received, no waiting, no delay.
Work through the modules online at any time, at your own pace. Your progress is saved automatically in your browser, so you can dip in and out across multiple sessions to fit around your work. Please complete the course on the same device and browser throughout, as your progress is stored locally and will not transfer between devices.
Once complete, save the course as a PDF to keep on your desktop. Return to it whenever you need it, a practical reference resource you will use again and again.
Complete all modules and generate your personalised, printable CPD-accredited certificate of completion instantly, at no extra cost, a record of your professional development to share with trustees, employers or commissioners.
Course Investment
One-off payment including VAT · No subscription · Instant access on payment
- Complete online at your own pace, 4 to 5 hours on average
- Full course available to download and save for future reference
- Links to authoritative UK legislation and official guidance throughout
- Personalised, printable CPD-accredited certificate of completion on finishing all modules
- Course content covers the legal framework for charities in England and Wales · Also available in course bundles and the Full Catalogue (£649 including VAT)
Access to the course content is granted immediately upon receipt of your completed online card payment. You will be able to start learning straight away.
Important: complete this course on one device
Your progress, knowledge-check answers and certificate details are saved locally in the browser you use to open the course. They are not stored on our server and will not transfer to another device, or to a different browser on the same device. Please start and finish the course using the same device and browser. Clearing your browser history or site data, or using a private or incognito window, will also erase your progress. Your downloadable copy of the course is unaffected and can be opened anywhere.
Course Content
Statutory Sector Fundraising
Statutory Sector Fundraising