CfI: Improving Outcomes for Children Experiencing Homelessness

Overview

UK Research and Innovation will invest up to £2 million through this Contracts for Innovation competition, funded by the UKRI Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission.

The competition is designed to support organisations developing, adapting or further validating innovative interventions, technologies and frameworks that improve educational outcomes and wider wellbeing for children and families experiencing homelessness.

Children and families experiencing homelessness, particularly those living in temporary accommodation, can face disrupted routines, instability, reduced access to services and limited opportunities for learning and development at home and at school. These challenges can have long-lasting effects on children’s health, wellbeing and educational outcomes.

Projects should focus on wraparound, coordinated and flexible packages of support that help children and young people flourish. This may include improving home learning environments, strengthening links between services, reducing practical barriers to learning and supporting parents or carers in unstable housing situations.

This is phase 1 of a potential three-phase competition. Only successful applicants from phase 1 may be invited to apply for phase 2. Any further phases will depend on the outcomes of previous phases, separate assessment and availability of funding.

The competition is expected to fund up to 10 contracts.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to progress innovations that improve home learning environments, educational outcomes and wider wellbeing for children and families experiencing homelessness.

This competition is focused on developing, adapting or further validating innovative approaches that support children and families experiencing homelessness, including those living in temporary accommodation or unstable, insecure or unsuitable housing.

Projects should respond to the lived reality of families experiencing homelessness and demonstrate how the proposed solution can support children’s learning, development and wellbeing in a practical and measurable way.

The competition is open to a broad range of projects using technology, design, system redesign or innovative delivery models to create a wraparound model of support for children and families experiencing homelessness.

In this competition, homelessness includes people with no home, those who cannot remain safely in their home, those living in insecure, temporary or unsuitable accommodation, and those at imminent risk of losing their home.

Projects funded through this competition must have a clear and credible route to real world use. Applications should demonstrate how the proposed work will move beyond concept development and into delivery, adoption and impact.

At this stage, contracts will only be awarded for phase 1. In a potential phase 2, successful applicants from phase 1 may be invited to continue the development of their solutions.

Key themes and topics

The competition is seeking innovative, evidence-informed approaches that may include, but are not limited to, those focused on:

• improving access to safe, suitable and consistent spaces for learning within temporary accommodation or unstable housing contexts
• learning resources, digital tools and educational materials that are adaptable to overcrowded or transient living conditions
• strengthening coordination between education, early years, housing, health and local support services to better identify children experiencing homelessness and respond to their learning needs
• enabling parents or carers in unstable housing situations to better support children’s learning, development and educational continuity
• improving the capacity of educational and early years institutions to better respond to the needs of children experiencing housing insecurity
• reducing practical barriers to learning participation, including those related to travel, transport, frequent moves, disrupted routines or limited proximity to education and support services
• supporting the specific needs of single parent families experiencing homelessness

Projects can include technology, design, system redesign and innovative delivery models.

Projects must have:

• a clearly identified target audience with evidenced rationale for why this group has a specific need for the proposed solution
• a clear theory of change, highlighting how the solution will lead to improved children’s learning and or development outcomes
• a well articulated and feasible delivery model
• a robust monitoring and evaluation plan to measure impact on education or development outcomes
• strong safeguarding plans and protocols when working with children and families
• established partnerships for effective testing, delivery, spreading and scaling of the solution within the contracted period, where required

Applicants must:

• demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, including plans to commercialise or otherwise embed the solution within existing systems or services
• develop a tangible output, such as a product, tool, framework, service model or platform, rather than undertaking purely exploratory or conceptual work
• set out clear plans for delivery, spreading and scaling, including who the end users are and how they will access or adopt the solution
• show readiness to work with delivery partners, including public services, education or housing organisations, where relevant
• commit to working collaboratively with UKRI and Department for Education colleagues to support potential adoption, integration and wider take-up of the solution following the project

Phase 1 is focused on prototype development and evaluation. This can include prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions. The primary objective is to make further technical improvements to products, processes or services that are not substantially set.

The competition will not fund projects that:

• are not original in scope and duplicate someone else’s work
• would directly duplicate other UK government or EU funded initiatives already funded for delivery
• are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions
• do not have UK families as direct or indirect beneficiaries

Project duration

12 months

Must start on 1 September 2026

End by 31 August 2027

Award value

Projects must have total costs between £200,000 and £500,000, inclusive of VAT

Funding rates

100% funded

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be led by an organisation of any size
• Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only
• Applicants can be based in the UK, EU, EEA or internationally
• The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and carried out in the UK
• Subcontractors can be used for specialist skills and can be businesses, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector, including charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups
• You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs
• If you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £500,000
• If you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and your total project costs must not exceed £500,000
• Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service
• Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services and are not subject to subsidy control criteria
• This competition is run by the Authority under the Procurement Act 2023 R&D exemption