We strongly encourage you to take a moment to read the FAQs below for information about the application process and tips for making a strong application.
You must have graduated from a programme approved by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) to be considered for an award.
Some awards are available to international applicants, while others are only for occupational therapists in the UK. Please look at each award on our Your Development pages, to see which award is available to international and/or UK occupational therapists.
Please note, we do not fund pre-registration education.
We are very happy to accept applications from individuals or groups. If you are a group, decide on a contact person and use their details at the beginning of the form. You can make it clear in your answers that the application is for a group.
We know that occupational therapists work in many different settings and for many different employers, or indeed, may be self-employed. This breadth of practice is a strength for the profession, and we welcome applications from occupational therapists who practise in any setting.
We are open to receiving requests for a wide range of learning experiences; please look at our webpage Funding. This includes formal learning at university, conferences, courses endorsed by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists or training provided by other organisations.
However, we also welcome applications for learning that you may have designed to meet your particular development needs (Courses). You will still need to show that the learning has clear objectives and will impact your professional development, delivery of your service or development of the profession; an example of this might be a study tour. Other examples include organisations that have designed training for their service delivered ‘in-house’ to enable more therapists to participate or a learning set of therapists who want to supplement their online discussion forum with a meeting to discuss research, new resources, suppliers and case studies.
We encourage you to think creatively about your personal/professional development and organisation.
Please note there are application windows for some applications; all other applications are considered on a rolling basis.
Unfortunately, the Trust does not normally provide funding for travel and accommodation however please include these costs in your application form so we understand the true total cost for your participation in the learning. The Trust considers requests for travel and accommodation if a conferences is out of country and only offered in person.
The Trust does consider requests for sensory integration training. We accept applications for the Sensory Integration Network modules 1-3 (or equivalent through other providers) but do not normally fund modules 4-7 unless an applicant is registered to complete a full masters programme, in which case this request should come through the post-registration masters studies funding application.
Likewise, if you are applying for funding for three SI modules (equivalent to a PGCertificate), this request should also come through the post-registration master funding application.
Funding requests for one or two modules should be made through the courses application.
Sometimes, the timing of application windows can work against you if you are waiting to hear if you have been accepted into a post-registration master’s or doctoral programme; therefore, we are happy to receive applications before your university offer is confirmed. Of course, we will need confirmation of a place before making any award!
Please view our application windows for more information.
Sometimes, the timing of application deadlines can work against you if you are waiting to hear if you have been accepted into a post-registration master’s or doctoral programme; therefore, we are happy to receive applications before your university offer has been confirmed. Of course, we will need confirmation of a place before making any award!
Unfortunately not. We recommend that you read all the questions and think about your answers before starting to apply. If you are interrupted briefly, do not close your browser – you can leave the application page open for a short period without losing the information you have already entered.
You may find it best to draft your answers in a word document and then copy/ paste them into the application form.
Once you apply through the website, you will receive an automatic notification letting you know your application has been received. Please note that some work servers block these automated responses.
Members of the Assessment Panel are notified when an application is submitted and will independently review each request against agreed criteria. These criteria consider:
The questions in the application are designed to help you focus your answer on these points. You may want to consider each question before completing the form to give your best answers.
A score is given for your application, and awards are made based on your score and funding request. See ‘How much information on the cost do I need to provide?’ below.
Once a decision has been made, you will be notified by email at the address you provided in the application. If an award is being offered, you will be asked to confirm you would like to accept it and to provide your bank details so an electronic payment can be made. A formal notification letter will then be emailed for your records and HCPC portfolio. This letter also contains instructions on providing feedback on your learning following the event.
The Trust’s Charitable Purpose is the ‘furtherance of occupational therapy’. As such, a strong application will be framed around ‘occupation’.
Some requests we receive are to develop specialist or adjunct knowledge. We welcome these applications; however, take care to always link back to why having the knowledge will improve your occupational therapy practice and benefit the occupational needs of your service users.
In the past, the Trust has made awards for as little as £150 to as much as £10,000. As you can imagine, the more funding requested, the stronger you must make your case when you apply.
The Assessment Panel has the authority to award grants up to £5000.
The process is slightly different for larger requests. For requests over £5000, the Panel will review your application and make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. The Board will then vote on whether to accept the recommendation or they may make a recommendation of their own. This extra step in the process for larger requests may add up to 8 weeks to the application process – be sure to plan for this when applying.
It is important you tell us how much participating in the opportunity will cost. This includes not only the cost of the event itself but also travel, accommodation, any study materials, time without pay, etc. It is important for us to know the full cost as we decide how much to award you based on a percentage calculation of the total cost for the learning, using the Assessment Panel’s ‘score’ for your answers to determine the percentage.
The letter of support from your line manager or academic supervisor should address the following ‘3Cs’: capacity, capability and commitment for undertaking the learning for which you are applying. If the letter is from your line manager, we ask for a 4th ‘C’ to be addressed: confirmation that the learning will be applied in your practice/service.
The Panel is formed of experienced occupational therapy educators who are used to assessing work. If you are known to them, they will declare a conflict of interest and abstain from assessing your request.
When you apply, keep in mind that you are talking to OT colleagues who understand occupational therapy so it is appropriate to use our professional language.
Courses, Design Your Own Learning, Innovation Award, Pump-primer Research Awards: If you are asking for less than £5000 to attend a course, we try to give you an answer within 3-4 weeks; occasionally, it may take a little longer to hear the outcome if we have received a large number of applications at that time. Occasionally, we may ask you for more information, which could add some delay. It is important to plan well ahead to allow for this. Please be patient and remember the trustees are volunteers.
If you are asking for more than £5000 (excluding Pump-primer Research Awards that are capped at £5000) it may take up to 8 weeks longer, i.e. up to 11-12 weeks. This is because larger grants must receive approval from the Board of Trustees.
Other applications: The dates for other applications, such as post-registration masters, doctoral, international scholarship, etc can be found here
The formal letter that confirms your grant award contains a unique link to our online portal that places your feedback with your application form to confirm you have met our terms for receiving the funds.
If you have misplaced your feedback link, please contact us to request it be sent again.
As each idea will be unique – it is innovation, after all! – we do not have a standard application form; instead, please present your idea as a business case. Your business case should include the information detailed
Please submit your business plan in ONE of the following formats:
In all application formats, please use the headings and numbers (where applicable) included in the guidance.
We also have a masterclass to help prepare you for writing a business case here, and answers to some questions you may have, below.
Please email applications to [email protected]. We will confirm receipt of your application. Notification of the outcome is usually within one month.
We do not fund for profit ideas.
We welcome applications from any HCPC registered occupational therapist, regardless of career stage. We are not able to fund innovation awards outside the UK.
As a guideline, we fund ideas from £500 up to £10,000. Please note that this is not a target but an upper limit, and we carefully consider the estimated costings of all applications.
The application guidance encourages you to detail any other requests for funding in your application and their status (e.g. applied, granted). Submitting multiple funding applications is not a problem; we just need to ensure that work for the same tasks within your proposal are not funded twice.
It is important to have written confirmation from a supervisor or line manager that they support the implementation of your idea/project in case your idea impacts your current role. Please provide this on headed paper.
Applications are open all year, so there is no deadline.
We consider applications as and when we receive them. We endeavour to let applicants know within one month.
It is important for us to understand the impact our funds have had developing your idea or project. Reflecting and sharing this impact can:
We have midway and final report templates that are provided as appendices to our agreement with award recipients.
We also ask that you share your learning with the broader community; this could be that you write a reflective blog or narrated slide deck that we can host on our website, or an article for an OT publication or local newsletter.
We also require that you include and acknowledge the Trust as a funder when disseminating your idea or project. We will provide our logo, on request.
If you would like to sound out your idea for interest by the Trust before applying, please get in touch via [email protected].
Once a decision has been made, you will be notified via email at the address you provided on the application. You will be asked to confirm you would like to accept the offer and to provide your bank details so an electronic payment can be made. A formal notification letter will then be sent via email for your records and HCPC portfolio. This letter also contains instructions on how to provide feedback on your learning following the event.
You will be paid as the applicant rather than an institution or company offering the learning. Occasionally, we may pay your employer directly if they are also contributing funds and making the payment on your behalf.
The Panel and the trustees value hearing about your learning and how you feel it benefitted you, your service or the profession.
Receiving this feedback is important for them as it ‘closes the loop’: Did they make a sound decision when they awarded you the grant? Did your learning help us fulfil our Charitable Purpose – the furtherance of the profession? Answering these questions and others is important to our governance and will help us with future decisions. Providing this feedback is also a requirement for receiving an award, and not providing this will compromise any future application you might make.
We may use paragraphs of your feedback on our website to illustrate how people have used the funds we’ve provided. This may inspire others and promote the work we do. You can opt to remain anonymous on the form if you wish.
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