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BRITISH HORSERACING GRANT SCHEME
The British Horseracing Grant Scheme was created in 2012 by British Horseracing and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to provide important funding for worthwhile projects within the British Racing and Thoroughbred Breeding industries.
The scheme is funded by part of British Horseracing's share of the proceeds from the sale of the Tote by DCMS in June 2011.
Following an open tender process, the contract to administer the grant scheme on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport was awarded by DCMS to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).
The Scheme aims to provide funds for worthwhile projects which will benefit the sport of horseracing, and its associated industries in Great Britain. All State Aid compliant applications from organisations involved in, or projects relating to, the British Racing or Breeding Industries are welcome.
£1 million has been allocated to the British Horseracing Grant Scheme for the 2012/13 Financial Year.
More than £600,000 was allocated in the first round of Grant Scheme applications, funding over 20 projects. Details of successful applicants are now available here.
A second round of applications, for the remaining grant funding for the 2012-13 Scheme, closed in January. A further announcement relating to the second round will be made in due course.
The Awards Committee encourages applicants to, as far as possible, outline in their proposals specific objectives of their project, and criteria by which the applicant's success in achieving these can be measured. They also encourage cross-industry applications which initiate new projects that will have considerable benefits for all of the sport, and outline that applications from charitable organisations will be considered on their merits and against the same criteria as those from non-charitable organisations.
The Racing Foundation, established to fund charitable causes within Racing from the Tote sale proceeds, has appointed its Trustees and intends to build an endowment that provides the sport with a sustainable long-term income stream for good causes. Details of The Racing Foundation can be found Here
The Application Process
Applicants will need to complete a cover application form, attaching a business plan demonstrating how your proposed project will achieve the aims of the Scheme.
Applications for funds from the British Horseracing Grant Scheme must clear two separate qualifying criteria before being considered eligible for a grant.
All applications will be judged against the aims of the Grant Scheme by the administrative team at the BHA and must meet at least one of these criteria. The aims are outlined in the Application Guidance document.
Proposed projects must also be compliant with European State Aid regulations – details of which can be found in the Application Guidance and State Aid Guidance documents below. It is recommended that all applicants acquaint themselves with these regulations before submitting an application, though we do not expect applicants to have obtained separate legal advice on this matter.
If the application is judged to satisfy both of these criteria, it shall then be presented to the Awards Committee for a decision on whether an Award be made.
The Awards Committee
The British Horseracing Grant Scheme Awards Committee is formed of the Chief Executives of the BHA, Racecourse Association and the Horsemen’s Group.
The Awards Committee has determined that it will only consider applications for a Grant which are at least 50% match funded from other sources – which cannot be State funds. However, this policy may be reviewed by the Awards Committee at any time and it may determine, at its sole discretion, that such match funding is not required by a specific application. If match funding is not available for your project then you should explain why this is the case and what effort has been made to obtain match funding.
The Awards Committee will receive a recommendation from the Grant Scheme Administrative team on the application, including whether it satisfies the Scheme and State Aid criteria.
The Awards Committee may award grants:
- to all, some or none of the applications certified by the Grant Scheme Administrator as satisfying the Scheme and State Aid criteria, and being recommended for a grant
- to the full amount as sought in the application, or any amount up to that level
- in instalments
- subject to conditions (including those requiring potential repayment)
as it shall determine but in no case shall it be obliged to award a particular grant.
State Aid
As the Tote sale transaction was deemed to be a disposal by Government, the proceeds from the sale are deemed to be state resources. Therefore, any subsequent distribution of funds from DCMS through the Grant Scheme is treated as being granted by the State and, as such, could constitute State Aid.
State Aid is a European Commission term which refers to a form of assistance from a publicly-funded body which could distort competition and affect trade between member states of the European Union.
There are however certain exemptions which do allow subject to strict conditions, such provision of funds through this Scheme. The two exemptions notable for this Scheme are:
1. De Minimis – Up to €200,000 (approximately £160,000) of financial support from any state resource can be provided to an entity over a rolling three-financial year period without contravening State Aid rules.
2. Block Exemptions – Particular projects for regional aid, small and medium enterprises etc. can receive funding subject to specific quantums and proportion of overall funding.
Further information on State Aid, and the implications for your project, can be found in the Application Guidance and State Aid Guidance documents below. We advise all potential applicants to study these carefully before submitting an application.
Contact Details
If you have any queries, or require further clarification about the British Horseracing Grant Scheme then you can contact us by:
Email: grantscheme@britishhorseracing.com
Telephone: 020 7152 0005
(Please note that calls may be monitored and recorded for training and operational purposes, and to improve the quality of our service.)
| Letter: | British Horseracing Grant Scheme
75 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6LS |
The Tote Sale
The Tote was sold by the Government to Betfred in June 2011 for £265m. The net proceeds of the sale amount to approximately £180m, of which Racing has been promised approximately £90m. To date, Racing has received £20m of these proceeds in two separate instalments of £10m – with £19m thus far allocated to The Racing Foundation and £1m to the British Horseracing Grant Scheme.
British Racing is to receive two further payments of £10 million in each of the next two financial years – with subsequent payments to be determined after the next spending review.
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