The call for evidence was a valuable opportunity to celebrate the incredible impact of National Lottery funding, including for the UK’s heritage.

Since 1994, we’ve been privileged to invest £9.2billion of that funding in 48,900 heritage projects large and small in every local authority across the UK.

You can read our full response in the PDF attached to this page and a brief overview of it below.

Executive summary

The National Lottery makes life better for people in every nation and region of the United Kingdom. At The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we invest National Lottery players’ money in heritage projects that matter to people and to communities.

The call for evidence, National Lottery Good Causes: Fund what matters to you, sets out an ambition for the contribution of The National Lottery to be shaped by the public and accessible to everyone. We share that ambition and are already playing our part in making this happen.

• We invest in places for everyone, everywhere in the United Kingdom – ensuring funding is available in every one of the UK’s nations and regions, taking a place-based approach and helping everyone benefit from National Lottery support for heritage.
• We take decisions close to the communities we serve – 95% of our decisions are taken directly in the area or nation where a project will benefit from our funding.
• We let people and communities decide what heritage means to them – heritage is what people today want to preserve and pass on to future generations. We let people decide what matters most to them. We support communities to bring projects forward and to help them deliver successfully. We stand by them at every stage of the grant journey.
• We invest in the most deprived places – everyone deserves to benefit from National Lottery funding for heritage. Our approach means that people living in places experiencing double disadvantage do not miss out.
• We back investment which creates growth and jobs – we work with grantees and partners so that the economic and social benefits of heritage are felt in every place, contributing to national renewal and local regeneration.
• We make access to our funding as easy as possible – we operate one grant programme with a single front door, listening to our applicants so that it remains fit for purpose.

As an experienced National Lottery distributor, we are well placed to support the ambitions set out in the call for evidence.