The Welcome Spaces 2026/27 fund is now live and open for applications from VCSE organisations who meet the criteria set out in the guideline below.
The application form can be found here Welcome Spaces Leeds Application 2026/27 – Fill in form
Deadline for applications is Monday 19th October (12.00 noon)
Before applying, you are asked to read the guidelines below in full.
Guidance for all applicants
Thank you for offering to open your doors to create a Welcome Space for people in your community.
We believe that locally trusted organisations are in the best place to deliver support by offering a warm, welcome and safe space for people to come when they want time out of the house for a coffee, a chat, to make new friends or to do an activity.
In this document, you will find information, draft documents and tips for running a welcome and inclusive Welcome Space.
Joining the Network
Any organisation meeting the minimum eligibility criteria set out in our Charter below, for a safe, welcoming space can register as part of the network and be listed as a Welcome Space on the Together Leeds Website (see below).
Funding to support third sector and faith-based Welcome Spaces
Voluntary Action Leeds (VAL) are working with Leeds Community Anchor Network to distribute funding from the Central Governments Crisis and Resilience Fund to make grant awards to third sector and faith based Welcome Spaces in Leeds.
We are inviting applications from organisations that meet the minimum eligibility criteria and that are appropriately constituted small and medium sized not-for-profit and faith organisations that:
- have a local footprint
or
- offer a service for a community of interest
Leeds Community Anchor Network members will make grant decisions, balancing offer in their locality and by considering the:
- geographical spread of Welcome Spaces
- spread of opening hours
- activity to foster community connections
- groups that Welcome Spaces cater for (including underserved communities)
- we expect that grant awards will be up to £1000 and that most grant awards will be in the range of £500 to £1000
Grant funding will make a contribution to the running costs of your Welcome Space and could be used for:
- running costs, including energy bills
- staff costs
- room hire
- volunteer expenses
- equipment/resources
- food, teas or coffees
If you are successful in your application, it will be a condition of any grant that funded organisations participate in providing light-touch feedback over three reporting periods across the project period.
You will not be required to submit formal evidence of your expenditure spend, however we may ask for feedback as to how the funding has been utilised, and we would expect you to keep appropriate records in line with your own accounting requirements.
Our Welcome Space Charter
Keeping people safe is the most important part of your Welcome Space offer. We expect that every organisation will have the following key things in place before they open their doors:
- a warm, welcome and safe space to offer your local community
- an up-to-date Safeguarding Policy
- Public Liability Insurance
- an up-to-date risk assessment that is appropriate to offering an open access service to members of the public
- staff or volunteers that have basic knowledge of services that they could signpost to
Principles for a Welcome Space
A Welcome Space is welcome, safe and supportive. Here is what we think that might look like:
Welcome
It is important to remember that a Welcome Space is an inclusive, non-judgmental space where people’s confidentiality and privacy are to be respected.
Any visitor should have the opportunity to have a good conversation if they want one. Good conversations should meet people ‘where they are at’ and should never feel intrusive or make people feel uncomfortable.
Your Welcome Space should be offered for free, or on a Pay as You Feel basis to people who use it. It should include basic refreshments (for instance tea and coffee for visitors).
Other things you could consider providing include free Wi-Fi, charging points for mobile phones, reading materials, board games or other activities.
You could also ask people joining your Welcome Spaces community what type of activities they would like and, even better, invite them to bring an activity or teach a skill to others. If you already run activities in your space, you could think about how to open up these activities or make them more accessible to people visiting you as a Welcome Space.
The faith sector has played a pivotal role in creating inclusive and welcoming environments for individuals from diverse backgrounds.
We celebrate the positive impact of faith-based Welcome Spaces; however, it is important to emphasise that individuals of different religions or no religion should feel able to participate in Welcome Spaces without any pressure to conform to a particular belief system.
Welcome Spaces should be inclusive, but we recognise where organisations serve specific communities or groups of people, it may mean their provision is not open to the general public or is only open to specific people; for example, people with specific protected characteristics or vulnerabilities.
If this applies to you, please ensure the following:
- if your provision is not open to the general public, you must be clear about this on your application form. We still want to support you but will discuss with you whether it is appropriate for your offer to be made public.
- if your provision is open to the general public, but only to people with particular protected characteristics or community of interest (for example people with learning disabilities or a men’s group) please state this on your funding application.
There is no minimum opening period for Welcome Spaces. We would ask you to consider the best offer for people in your community considering issues such as travel time to reach your Welcome Space.
We would ask you to be clear when you will be open, ideally this will be the same each week so people can plan their visit in advance.
Safe
In addition to your existing risk assessment, you should also consider and address additional risks that could occur:
- people that you might not know coming to the building
- people presenting in crisis or distress
- translation or access requirements that you might not have experience with
- covid and other winter related illnesses – we would advise Welcome Spaces to have face masks and hand gel available
- risk of burns/scalds from hot drinks/spills – particular consideration required for provisions open to children/young people/families
Alcohol
If your venue is serving alcohol in the same space and time as the Welcome Space offer, it will not be eligible for this scheme.
Safeguarding
You must satisfy yourself that you have appropriate arrangements for Safeguarding Adults and Children.
You must have a person who will act as your Safeguarding Lead.
We would recommend as part of your Safeguarding policy you display posters and information on how people can contact the Safeguarding Officer if they have concerns.
Food Hygiene
If you are providing food, you must ensure that food handlers have a Food Hygiene Certificate Level 2.
Sources of Information for keeping visitors safe
You can access more information about how to help someone in a mental health crisis at Mindwell Leeds.
Remember, if you have concerns that someone is at immediate risk of harm you should call 999 straight away.
You can find information about safeguarding adults here, and safeguarding children here.
Information about how to get help someone who is being exploited or forced to work against their will (modern slavery) can be found here.
Emergency out of hours information can be found here.
If you would like support or advice around your risk assessment, Safeguarding policy and training, or Food Hygiene Certification then please contact Voluntary Action Leeds on info@val.org.uk or call 0113 2977920.
Supportive
The Cost of Living crisis has had a significant impact on people’s personal finances, housing, mental health and wellbeing and in many other ways.
Visitors to your Welcome Space might need some support. Although you may not have the specific expertise within your Welcome Space, it’s important that you are able to signpost people to the right support if they need it. Some useful links include:
Information on Cost of Living support can be found on the public Together Leeds webpage.
Use the Leeds Money Information Centre to find organisations in the city providing free, impartial and confidential advice services for issues including debt, benefits, housing, energy, food and fuel. Free printed materials (including translations) such as flyers, booklets and posters are also available by contacting financial.inclusion@leeds.gov.uk
Free printed leaflets and posters about health and wellbeing support can also be ordered via the Public Health Resource Centre here.
The Leeds Food Aid Network website includes online maps showing places to access emergency food or low-cost food and meals. The Worrying about money leaflet for Leeds is also produced by Leeds Food Aid Network and includes contact details for local organisations supporting people around debt, finances, and benefit payments
Support for Organisations
It’s important to remember you are not alone in the delivery of your Welcome Space; you will be part of a network of locally trusted organisations.
Places of Welcome
Places of Welcome is a national network of venues including places of worship, libraries, community centres and village halls which open their doors to their community every week, providing free refreshments and a welcoming environment. Based on a similar ethos as Welcome Spaces, Places of Welcome operate throughout the year. In Leeds the network is supported by Wellsprings Together. Joining the network is free, simple to do, just visit https://www.placesofwelcome.org.uk/join-us
Training and Capacity Building for Welcome Spaces
VAL has a small budget to support organisations in receipt of Welcome Spaces funding. Every Welcome Space is encouraged to take up the offer of two ‘paid for’ training on VAL’s open programme.
Types of training that might be useful to your space include Food Hygiene Level 2, Safeguarding, Data Protection and Record Keeping and Emergency First Aid at Work.
Throughout the scheme we will offer optional ‘peer-support and networking sessions’ that will take place locally.
More details of the training offer will be shared with successful applicants when the scheme starts.
Volunteering
Volunteers are likely to be at the heart of your Welcome Space offer. Firstly, look at the assets around you, people regularly accessing your Welcome Space might enjoy being able to give back as part of using the space (although this should never be a requirement).
If you would like some support around recruiting and managing volunteers, you can contact Volunteer Centre Leeds (which is a project of Voluntary Action Leeds) for advice and guidance, by emailing volunteering@val.org.uk or calling 0113 244 6050.
Here are some tips and resources to help with supporting volunteers in your Welcome Space:
- if you have volunteering opportunities at your Welcome Space, it’s a good idea to write a volunteer role to be clear about what you’re looking for. You could use our template welcome space volunteer role.
- if you are in contact with other local Welcome Spaces also looking to recruit volunteers, you could consider advertising the post jointly and sharing the volunteer. The Volunteer Centre can help you with this.
- you can advertise your volunteer role on their volunteering platform, Be Collective, where people who are looking to volunteer can see them and apply.
- if you haven’t used Be Collective before and would like some support with this, you can contact Volunteer Centre Leeds using the details above or check out their guide to using Be Collective.
You could also promote opportunities to people who might like to volunteer by displaying posters in your Warm Space for people to see when they visit.
You can find lots more information about supporting volunteers on by visiting Doing Good Leeds Recruiting Volunteers web page.
Good News Stories
As last year, we will be publishing a series of blogs focusing on Good News Stories and all the great work you are doing for the project. If you would like your Welcome Space to feature, please do get in touch.
Finally
If you need any help, reassurance or have questions, please get in touch with us we would be happy to support you though the process. You can email us at Welcomespaces@val.org.uk
