Maternity Equity FAQs

This Fund focuses on reducing avoidable harm and inequity during pregnancy and birth, from conception up to birth. 

We recognise that postnatal support is important. However, this Fund is focused on earlier, preventative support where community-based intervention may help improve access, experience and outcomes before harm escalates. 

Organisations that also provide postnatal support can still apply, but work funded through this programme must focus on pregnancy and birth. 

Bereavement and baby loss support are important services, and we recognise the impact these experiences have on individuals, families and communities. 

This Fund is focused specifically on reducing inequity and avoidable harm during pregnancy and birth through preventative and upstream support from conception up to birth. 

There are already dedicated funds, services and support programmes available for bereavement and baby loss support. We encourage organisations working in this area to explore those other opportunities. 

Organisations need to meet the Fund’s eligibility requirements, including being formally registered and having at least one year of independently examined or audited accounts. 

We are looking to fund organisations that already have experience supporting communities affected by maternity inequity and can demonstrate safe, trusted and informed delivery. 

This includes: 

• existing delivery experience  

• appropriate safeguarding processes  

• community trust and relationships  

• lived experience involvement  

• understanding of trauma-informed and culturally-safe support  

We recognise that organisations may vary in size and structure. We are interested in strong community-rooted organisations, including smaller organisations, but applicants need to be able to show they can safely and appropriately support pregnant women and maternity service users. 

We won’t fund: 

• postnatal-only services  

• bereavement and baby loss support services  

• organisations delivering services outside the UK 

• statutory or clinical healthcare services  

• one-off awareness campaigns without ongoing support  

• campaigning, lobbying or political activity  

• research-only projects  

• projects without a clear focus on maternity inequity  

• organisations without strong community relationships or lived experience involvement  

• organisations unable to demonstrate appropriate safeguarding or delivery experience  

• activity that duplicates existing statutory provision without providing additional community-based support 
   

This Fund focuses on providing direct, preventative support to communities during pregnancy and birth. 

If applying based on deprivation, organisations should be able to explain how they know the communities they support are affected by high levels of deprivation. 

This may include: 

•  formal datasets 

• service user information 

• referral patterns 

• local/community knowledge 

• lived experience insight 

• evidence of barriers being seen in practice

We are looking for organisations that understand how trauma can affect people’s experiences and engagement with services.

A trauma-informed approach recognises the impact of past trauma and seeks to avoid causing further harm. This often includes creating environments and support that prioritise safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment.

We recognise that organisations may take different approaches depending on the communities they support and their size and capacity.

We are looking for organisations that provide support in ways that respect people’s identities, backgrounds and experiences.

A culturally-safe approach actively considers power imbalances, discrimination and bias, helping people feel respected, listened to and safe when accessing support. It recognises that people’s experiences of maternity services are shaped by culture, identity and wider inequalities.

We know organisations may demonstrate culturally-safe practice in different ways and are not looking for a single model or approach.

We understand that organisations may adapt, develop or expand their work in response to community need. You do not need to have delivered exactly the same activity before.

However, we are looking to fund organisations that can demonstrate relevant experience of supporting communities affected by maternity inequity or related disadvantage. Applicants should be able to show established community relationships, a track record of delivering support safely and effectively, and evidence that their approach is informed by previous learning and experience.

We are particularly interested in organisations that can demonstrate trusted community relationships, meaningful lived experience involvement, and an understanding of trauma-informed and culturally-safe practice.

If you’re unsure about any of the terminology used in the guidance or application, please see the Glossary.

It explains key terms in plain English to help you understand what we’re looking for when completing your application.

You can download the Glossary here or you will find a copy under ‘Resources’ on the fund webpage.

We want to fund organisations that already have trusted relationships with the communities they support. 

This could include: 

• lived experience involvement  

• repeat engagement from communities  

• referrals and partnerships  

• community feedback or testimonials  

• peer-led support  

• evidence that people choose to return to your service  

• work shaped by community voice and experience  

We understand that organisations may show this in different ways and are not expecting one specific type of evidence. 

We are looking for organisations whose work is shaped by the voices, experiences and needs of the communities they support. 

This may include lived experience leadership and governance, peer support, co-production, community involvement in delivery or decision-making, or other meaningful approaches. 

We recognise that organisations may do this in different ways

We want safeguarding to be at the heart of your work.  

You don’t need to be perfect. What matters is that you can show you are thinking about safety and taking it seriously. We look for organisations that: 

• Have clear, sensible systems in place
• Understand how those systems work in practice
• Show clear leadership responsibility for safeguarding

We want to fund organisations that understand the communities they work with, in ways that are culturally aware, and responsive to people’s experiences. 

 Looking after your own people matters too, and we want to see your staff and volunteers have support in place. 

 We know organisations work in different ways. Whatever your size or model, you should be able to show how you provide safe and appropriate support for: 

• pregnant women
• maternity service users
• babies
• families

If you can explain this clearly, you’re on the right track. 

The funding is intended to support community-based, preventative maternity equity work during pregnancy and birth. 

This may include delivery costs, staffing, supervision, training, wellbeing support, community engagement and other costs directly related to eligible work. 

Further guidance about eligible costs will be provided in the application guidance. 

We recognise that strong community support requires stable and sustainable organisations. 

We will give flexible grants to charitable organisations to deliver and strengthen their work. 

Yes. We welcome partnership applications where organisations are already working together to support communities and improve maternity equity.

The lead partner should submit the application and will be responsible for managing the grant if the application is successful. We will assess eligibility against the lead organisation.

As part of the application process, we will ask to see a partnership agreement that clearly sets out the roles and responsibilities of each partner, how funding will be managed, and how the partnership will deliver the proposed work.

Through our roundtables and conversations with organisations working in this area, we heard clearly that staff and volunteers are often supporting people experiencing trauma, discrimination, poverty, poor mental health and other complex challenges during pregnancy and birth. 

This work can be emotionally demanding, particularly for community-based organisations and those with lived experience of the issues they are supporting people through. 

We want funded organisations to be able to support the wellbeing, sustainability and resilience of their staff and volunteers alongside delivering high-quality support to communities. 

Further information about the wellbeing element of the Fund will be shared with successful organisations.