BBC Children In Need will close temporarily to funding applications as it prepares to launch a new grantmaking system.

The funder, which gave out a total of £36.5m in grants in the financial year to the end of June 2024, will temporarily stop accepting new expressions of interest after 15 April.

Applicants’ online accounts, also known as the grantee portal, will close on 25 July, and a new portal is expected to be launched before the end of September.

The grantmaker will continue to award grants during this period, but will not accept any new expression of interest applications until mid-September.

It will continue to process all applications submitted on or before 15 April, although applicants may receive a decision one to two weeks later than expected. 

Existing grantees will continue to receive their payments as normal during this period.

A spokesperson for BBC Children In Need said: “As part of our ongoing commitment to improving our systems and processes, BBC Children in Need is transitioning to a new grantmaking system that will allow us to improve applicant and grantee experience, process future expressions of interest more efficiently and improve the turnaround time for responses to applicants.

“Our grant budget for this year will remain unchanged and we will continue to award grants all the way through this period and throughout the rest of the year, ensuring we continue to support the children and young people that need it most.”

The spokesperson added that the grantmaker is working closely with applicants and grantees to minimise disruption during the transition.

Current applicants and grantees will be contacted directly with information about how this affects them, the grantmaker’s website says.