Impartiality and Governance

The Greater London Authority (GLA) democratic participation grants programme uses public money to support impartial civic and democratic engagement across London. This creates specific requirements around political neutrality and impartiality that all grant recipients must follow.

Understanding impartiality

Read more about maintaining impartiality in our toolkit

 

 

The GLA must remain strictly impartial and non-party political in all its activities. This requirement extends to all projects funded through our grants programme. Every funded organisation must demonstrate its commitment to political neutrality during project delivery.

This impartiality requirement helps to make sure that our democratic participation work focuses on helping all Londoners to access their civic rights, rather than influencing their political choices.

Your legal obligations

As a grant recipient, you have specific legal obligations regarding political neutrality. You must:
  1. Maintain strict impartiality in all project activities. This means not promoting or opposing:
    • political parties
    • individual politicians
    • specific policies or manifesto pledges
    • particular campaign positions
       
  2. Get advance approval from the GLA for all:
    • project activities
    • public communications
    • published materials
    • event plans
  1. Use correct branding and imprints on all materials, including:
    • the “Supported by the GLA” logo
    • your organisation's logo
    • the required legal imprint stating: "Supported by the Greater London Authority, City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, London E16 1ZE. Printed and promoted by [your organisation name], [your registered address]."

If you do not follow these obligations, your project activity may not be authorised and will not be reimbursed. 

Managing political engagement

If you arrange or attend an event with political speakers (whether elected officials or candidates), you must:
  • invite representatives from all main political parties
  • make sure there is a balanced representation in panels and discussions
  • focus on democratic participation rather than policy positions

All materials and communications must:

  • avoid references to individual politicians, including the Mayor of London and individual London Assembly members
  • keep content focused on democratic processes rather than political positions
  • maintain neutral language

Compliance and monitoring

You will receive more information about the specific monitoring and evaluation information you’ll need to collect as a grant recipient during your induction meeting.

This will typically be linked to the aims of each phase of the programme. But usually the GLA will require all projects to report on the:

  • total number of under-registered and under-represented Londoners reached through your online and offline activity
  • demographics of people targeted (age, gender, ethnicity and other key protected characteristics)
  • locations and boroughs where activity happened
  • reach and engagement via social media channels
  • appropriate feedback or case studies

The GLA actively monitors compliance of project delivery through:

  1. Project oversight, including:
    • regular reviews of planned activities
    • approval processes for materials
    • monitoring public communications
    • event attendance where appropriate
       
  2. Financial controls, including:
    • activities or materials published without approval cannot be funded
    • regular review of project spending
    • clear documentation requirements

 

Funding criteria and exclusions

As the programme uses public money to support democratic engagement across London, you must know what can and cannot be funded.

Project staff and management

You can use our grants to pay for:

  • project coordinators and managers
  • outreach workers and community engagement staff
  • administrative support
  • volunteer expenses and training

Staff costs should directly relate to delivering your project. Include any time needed for reporting and evaluation.

Venue and equipment costs

The grant can cover costs for:

  • hiring venues for community events and workshops
  • equipment rental for activities
  • basic supplies and materials
  • reasonable refreshments for participants
  • local travel costs for staff and volunteers

Professional services

You can include costs for:

  • graphic designers
  • video producers
  • translators and interpreters
  • British Sign Language interpreters
  • accessibility consultants
  • evaluation support

Materials and resources

The grant supports creating:

  • information resources in community languages
  • accessible formats like Easy Read
  • training materials
  • digital content
  • printed materials for community outreach

All materials must be approved by the GLA before production and must include correct branding and imprints.

Accessibility support

We provide additional shared funding of up to £12,500 to ensure projects are accessible. This can cover:

  • BSL interpretation
  • translation services
  • accessible formats
  • support workers
  • transport for disabled participants
  • equipment or software
  • venue accessibility requirements

Contact Groundwork London to discuss your accessibility needs. They can advise how individual projects can access a share of the allocated accessibility funding for the phase. 

What we cannot fund

You must be aware of the type of funding that our grants cannot cover.

Organisation costs

The grant cannot pay for:

  • general running costs not related to your project
  • existing staff salaries
  • routine building maintenance
  • utility bills
  • insurance
  • standard IT equipment
  • costs from before your grant was awarded

Activities outside scope

We do not fund:

  • activities promoting political parties or candidates
  • lobbying or campaign activities
  • profit-making activities
  • activities outside London
  • projects focused solely on social media
  • general community events without clear democratic participation outcomes

Capital and property costs

The grant cannot be used for:

  • buying property
  • major building work
  • large equipment purchases
  • vehicles
  • office furniture
  • routine repairs

Other exclusions

We do not fund:

  • debt repayment
  • recoverable VAT if you're VAT registered
  • costs covered by other funding
  • activities that have already taken place
  • fundraising activities
  • retrospective costs including application preparation

How payments work

We pay grants in instalments based on:

  • your agreed payment schedule
  • meeting reporting requirements
  • delivering planned activities
  • providing required evidence

You must keep detailed records of all spending and retain receipts for audit purposes.

Contact the GLA grants team if you need guidance about eligible costs or have questions about using your grant.

Getting support

More information about impartiality, funding and governance can be found in the programme prospectus on the Groundwork website. 

The GLA and Groundwork London provide ongoing support to help you meet these requirements while delivering effective democratic participation activities.

You can also contact the GLA grants team if you need:

  • clarity on impartiality requirements
  • guidance on specific activities or materials
  • support with approval processes
  • help maintaining political neutrality