The National Lottery Community Fund is the UK’s largest community funder. We are proud to operate as a bilingual organisation and we are committed to providing a bilingual service of a high standard to the public, as well as promoting the use of Welsh internally to our colleagues. We support projects that promote the use of Welsh in communities through our grants. Between September 2024 and August 2025, we awarded 1,110 grants in Wales worth a total of £60 million. 

In 2011, the Welsh Language Measure came into force which established the principle that Welsh should be treated no less favourably than English in Wales and that people in Wales should be able to live their lives through the medium of Welsh if they wish to do so. The Measure also established the office of the Welsh Language Commissioner, which facilitates the use of the Welsh language through regulation and promotion work. 

Since 2017 we have welcomed the opportunity to work with the Welsh Language Commissioner to facilitate and promote the language at the Fund. Our Annual Report sets out our compliance with the Welsh Language Standards and gives us the opportunity to reflect on our successes during the year 2024-2025 and look forward to the year ahead. 

We operate under four categories of standards, including Service Delivery, Policy Making, Operational, and Record Keeping. A full list of the Welsh Language Standards that apply to The National Lottery Community Fund can be found in our Compliance Notice. Our compliance is regularly monitored by the Commissioner’s promotion team and we are proud of the Welsh language provision we offer both internally and externally. 

Some of our successes this year include: 

• The Welsh language was an important consideration during the launch of our refreshed People and Places funding programme and our new Meithrin Natur programme. 

• The Technology team relaunched their intranet page, which is available fully in Welsh for the first time. 

• The National Lottery celebrated its 30^th birthday at the end of last year, and the Welsh language was considered in all aspects of the celebration, internally and externally. 

• We have maintained our blog and social media channels bilingually, including Facebook and LinkedIn. 

• We ensure that Welsh language content is included in our bilingual monthly newsletter which is sent to over 1,700 of our grant holders in Wales. 

• We continue to consider the Welsh language when developing any new or existing policies. We use our Equity Impact Assessment tool whilst developing any new policy or programme to consider Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) implications and any effect on the Welsh language. 

• We support staff to use their Welsh in all aspects of their work. We use staff feedback to ensure opportunities to further use the Welsh language in the workplace. 

• We continue to support colleagues to learn and improve their Welsh by offering Learn Welsh courses and holding informal conversations. 

• We continue to offer internal training through the medium of Welsh. This year we started incorporating a Welsh Language Awareness session in our monthly Corporate Induction to new staff across the UK. 

• We have promoted Welsh culture internally and externally by celebrating important dates in the Welsh calendar. 

• We fund a variety of groups across Wales that encourage and increase the use of Welsh in their communities. We also continue to support our grant holders to promote the Welsh language through their grants. 

The Welsh Language Commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones said: “When announcing our strategic plan earlier this year I stated that I was keen for organisations that fall under the Welsh Language Standards to do more than the minimum required. It is pleasing to see that the Fund is constantly seeking to expand its bilingual provision, both internally and externally, and as a result is improving the service available to the public. The work of the Community Fund reaches every corner of our society here in Wales and has a significant impact in promoting the Welsh language. All the best to them for the future.” 

Our full annual report is available to read here. 

For more information about our bilingual provision at the Fund, please visit our website. If you have any queries about the report or our bilingual services, please email welshlanguage.advice@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk