Key Changes to our funded 3G pitches Terms and Conditions

The Football Foundation is always looking for ways to support sites and ensure the most is made of the joint investment from its funding partners into facilities.  

It became clear that we needed to update our advice to sites following some insights we gained from Football Foundation Support Day meetings and learnings from our Pitch Replacement survey of over 500 sites. Alongside this, we have also taken into consideration the increase in construction costs. It became apparent we needed to introduce new measures to support sites in being financially sustainable for the duration of their funding Terms and Conditions period, and beyond, whilst allowing them to focus on providing a great high-quality facility for the local community to access.

These updates may be different to the Terms and Conditions that were in place at the start of your project development. The new requirements have been introduced to aid sustainability, protect our collective investment and ensure we adapt to the increase in construction costs.  

The Football Foundation needs to support its Organisations in the right way to ensure there are sufficient funds saved specifically for the replacement of pitch(es). Usually, replacement of the pitch surface is required after a minimum of 10 years, although we are seeing well maintained pitches meet the required performance standard for longer. Applicants are required to manage the facility in line with their project plan (business case) and to maintain the upkeep of the facility at all times as referenced in the grant award terms and conditions.

Considering the above, the following key changes have been implemented:  

• Pitch Replacement Fund Account – payment into a protected fund where the Football Foundation holds the funds on Trust.
• Annual Pitch Replacement Values – increase to the annual amount.
• VAT - to be included in the Project Plan for sites where this applies.
• Use of a Football Foundation procured Booking System.  
• Updated Terms and Conditions.  

The Pitch Replacement Fund will:  

•  Ensure Organisations have the required Pitch Replacement Fund value available at the time their pitch(es) needs to be resurfaced. We expect a well maintained and managed 3G pitch surface, with adherence to the manufacturer footwear policy, to last between 10 and 12-years. It’s the grant recipients’ responsibility to pay for the resurfacing of the pitch(es).
• Ensure Organisations benefit from a competitive interest rate which will be applied to all funds saved.  
• Ensure the Organisation complies with the Terms and Conditions of Grant. 

How the Pitch Replacement Fund works:  

• Organisations Pitch Replacement Funds will be held with Barclays Bank, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  
• The funds for each site will be held in an individual dedicated virtual account, which will have the legal beneficiary’s name detailed, and will sit under one Physical ‘Header’ Account that is held by the Football Foundation.
• The funds will receive interest, currently agreed as the Bank of England Base rate minus 2% so an effective rate of 1.75% (Dec 2025). This rate will be reviewed on a regular basis with Barclays Bank. The Foundation have an agreement with Barclays Bank to pay above the standard interest access rate and that the rate will not fall below 0%.
• An annual statement, as a minimum, will be sent by the Football Foundation to the legal beneficiary Organisation of the funds, which will detail the payments received and the account balance, showing the interest accrued.  
• The interest accrued on the increasing balance is expected to off-set future inflation on the pitch replacement works. It’s anticipated that the quarterly and annual payments into the Organisations Pitch Replacement Fund will remain the same until the time of replacement unless the Football Foundation advise otherwise due to market conditions or an adjustment is needed at year eight when the Foundation will meet with sites to review their pitch replacement strategy.  
• Each virtual account (where Organisations qualify) is protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’) limit of £120,000 as is the case for any institute used to save funds. The scheme (where Organisations qualify) allows for one claim per Organisation per bank.
• The Football Foundation will hold the funds on Trust to the Organisations Pitch Replacement Fund account. Beneficiaries of the funds (pitch owner Organisation) will be able to draw down the funds with the Football Foundations written agreement that the funds are being released to resurface the pitch, ‘The intended purpose’ as per the Terms of the Pitch Replacement Fund.
• The Football Foundation cannot use the saved funds for any reason. The funds belong to the pitch owner or Organisation with the security of tenure as the legal beneficiary and can only be released to them for the purpose of pitch replacement.  

How the Payment Schedule and Windows work:

Once your 3G pitch is open for use, your Support & Impact Manager will issue a Pitch Replacement Fund Letter and Payment Schedule. This will provide full information of your account name, account number, sort code, IBAN number and also the values due in each 3-month payment window

PRF Payment Schedule Summary:

• Start Dates: All PRFs begin on the first day of a month.
• Payment Windows: Always end on the last day of a month and are one month in arrears of the quarter period to allow time for income collection.
• Transaction Data: Downloaded from Barclays bank on the first banking day of each month by the Foundation.

Payment Options, you can make:  

• One-off quarterly payments, or
• Multiple payments within the payment window (e.g., monthly).
• Overpayments during peak quarters are permitted to stay ahead of the target.
• Partial and missed payments could trigger a support meeting with the Foundation Support & Impact team.

PRF Start Date Rules:

• Site opens in Sep–Nov period (3-months), PRF starts first of the following month. E.g., site opens 15 Sep → PRF starts 1 Oct.

• Site opens in Dec–Aug (9-month period): You have the option to delay the PRF start date until 1st Sep to align with peak usage (Sep–Mar).  

   

  • Or choose an earlier start date if preferred.
  • E.g., site opens 10 Mar → PRF could start 1 Apr. 

Annual Pitch Replacement Fund Values:  
  
The Pitch Replacement Fund annual values have been revised in response to general cost increases experienced in the construction market and to future proof for alternative infill systems. This table sets out the existing and new annual Pitch Replacement Fund values:  

Where you're making an application to the Football Foundation, your Project Plan will have been updated to accommodate these increases. Your Delivery Manager will discuss this with you and work through any pricing implications that the additional Pitch Replacement Fund contributions may bring. We need to work together to mitigate any impact on users that are outlined in the programme of use and find a sustainable balance.

The Pitch Replacement figures in the Project Plan have not been linked to inflation on an annual basis as new projects are required to pay into a Pitch Replacement Fund which will accrue interest. The interest is expected to offset the annual inflation cost increase and will be monitored on a regular basis. Organisations historically funded by the Football Foundation (Pre-March 2024) should account for inflation annually if they don’t receive interest payments on their Pitch Replacement Fund and ensure that they have enough funds to replace their pitch when the time comes. Organisations should be aware of the cost to replace their pitch verses the funds that they are saving to ensure they will have sufficient reserves at the time that pitch needs to be replaced.

All 3G pitch operators are required to keep an up-to-date five-year Income & Expenditure forecast for their pitch(es) and annually review pricing policies to ensure they can generate their Pitch Replacement Fund value sustainably. It’s recommended Organisations regularly test the market via the Foundations 3G Framework (please contact the Foundation for more information on this) for pitch replacement costs to ensure that enough funds are being saved for when they are needed. 

VAT:  

Within the Project Plan it’s possible to add in the cost of VAT for Primary applicant Organisations where this will apply for the capital works.  

Many applicants can fully reclaim VAT, however, amongst the ‘Clubs and Communities’ sector, there are Organisations who aren’t able to reclaim VAT or who may only be able to partially reclaim VAT. For these Organisations the cost of VAT should be added to the operational costs to give a true reflection on budgets required.  

There are three options to select from the Project Plan when asked ‘Is it possible to reclaim VAT on Capital Items’:  

• Yes Full – No VAT cost is added to the figures.  
• Yes Partial – An assumption has been here that a site can reclaim 50% of the 20% VAT cost – So 10% is added to all expenditure figures.  
• No – The full VAT at 20% is added to all 3G Pitch Replacement Fund, Floodlighting and Booking System costs.

Input VAT on income and VAT on other expenditure lines are not automated, so  Organisations will need to make an allowance for this, and the applicant should seek expert VAT advice as they are responsible for paying any VAT and the Foundation will not be able to pick up any capital VAT costs retrospectively.    

The booking system will:  

• Provide a clear view of the 3G pitch(es) usage and clearly show any unused time slots.
• Allow grant recipients the opportunity to market unused slots to new users or to run development opportunities for priority groups identified through their Community Engagement.
• Allow the site to collect payments at the time of booking and reduce the administration burden on site staff.
• Help the grant recipient to collect and submit consistent data to the Football Foundation as part of the grant monitoring process.
• Ensure that facility operators can focus on growing the game and ensure the facility is used to its full potential.

Smart Access and Floodlight control (subject to the floodlight system being smart) are options that can be added if the applicant chooses this. These would need to be discussed with your Delivery and Technical Project Managers.   

Grant recipient use of the Clubspark booking system:

• The Football Foundation has established a single supplier framework for a booking system provider for sites to utilise for the funded facilities at a site – the system supplier is ‘Clubspark’.  
• A recorded presentation to introduce applicants to the Clubspark system will be provided.
• Full training will be provided to each Organisation on how to use the system once the account is set up including access to a resource library featuring on-line videos and tutorials.  
• The Football Foundation will cover part of the fees for the Clubspark system, in line with the grant percentage awarded for Year 1 of a site being open to a shared maximum value of £3,000. The remaining fees should be built into the annual project plan (business case) to be paid from revenues generated through community lettings. This can start to be claimed once the Organisation enters into contract and pays the first invoice.
• The total cost of the system will depend on the number of transactions. There is an annual Clubspark licence fee of £288 (Excl. VAT) with the remaining costs incurred from transaction fees.  

Booking system user videos and guidance

We are working with Clubspark to create a number of introduction and guidance videos and ‘How to Guides’. These can be found here

Terms and Conditions:  
  
The Football Foundations Terms and Conditions have been updated to make it explicit on the pitch replacement obligations for Organisations that receive Football Foundation funding.  The other updates contained in this guidance will also be reflected in the updated Terms and Conditions that are issued alongside a grant award offer.