Under this programme the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust will award grants of between £5,000 and £80,000 on behalf of the MOD’s Armed Forces Families Fund Early Years Programme, towards projects lasting up to two years, which help enhance early childhood education and childcare settings to meet specific needs of young children from armed forces families.

Eligibility

We invite applications from:

• Early childhood education and childcare providers operating where armed forces families live or work and must offer group-based childcare and have at least 50% of service children on roll (unless under a cluster, see below).
• Local authorities who wish to supply specific training to early childhood education and childcare providers supporting service children aged 0-5 years and provide a shared resource working across multiple settings.
• If your setting has less than 50% service children on roll, you could still apply as a cluster. This means submitting a group bid on behalf of two or more setting with smaller numbers of service children. 

If you choose to apply as a cluster, you can apply for:

• Staff training with an armed forces focus.
• Funding for a shared resource, such as a roving Armed Forces Early Years Support Worker.

There is more detailed information about eligibility in the programme guidelines available below. It is important that you read the programme guidance carefully before you apply.

What’s available

You can apply for a grant of between £5,000 and £80,000. We expect this programme to be competitive and that we will be unable to support all the applications we receive. 

Your application should clearly show why service children from currently serving forces families will benefit from your proposal, and why this offers good value for money. 

Themes and priorities

We are looking for projects that can deliver sustainable change. This means that we want to know what evidence you have to support the approach that you seek to take, and crucially, how people from armed forces communities have helped to shape this. 

Your project must clearly benefit armed forces families with a child under 5 by enhancing their access to high quality childcare. 

This year, we are focusing on four outcomes. Your project will need to contribute towards at least one of these outcomes:  

• Increased capacity at the setting to allow more service children to attend.
• Better learning environments for service children.
• Have provided appropriate training and development to staff to support service children.
• Establishing collaborative networks and shared resources through clusters to address the needs of service children

Deadlines and dates to note

If you apply by 12 noon on 4 June 2025, you’ll receive a decision before the end of August 2025.

If you applied by 12 noon on 8 October 2025, you’ll receive a decision before the end of December 2025.

Please read our late application policy.

Guidance and resources

Before making your application to this programme, we strongly recommend you use the helpful resources below to ensure you make the best application you can.

Frequently asked questions

Early Years webinar 

You can watch the recording now available in our knowledge network of our Early Years webinar here

Programme news