When we built the consultancy side of GrantPal, we had to make a decision: what is the right entry point for a business that is considering a grant application?
The two obvious options were wrong.
A full application review (which can take weeks and costs thousands) is too heavy for someone who is not sure they should apply at all. A free introductory call without any commitment or deliverable does not give the person anything they can act on.
What we found businesses actually needed was a direct, honest answer to a specific question: is this worth pursuing?
That is what a Grant Reality Check is.
What it involves
A Grant Reality Check is a 15-minute advisory call followed by a written verdict delivered by email.
Before the call, you tell us which grant scheme you are considering and give us a short description of the project. That context means the call itself is focused rather than exploratory. We are not spending the first ten minutes asking basic questions — we are using the time to probe the things that actually matter for your specific scheme.
On the call, we work through the key assessment criteria. For Innovate UK, that means the nature of your R&D, the technical challenge, the team capability, and your route to market. For other schemes, the criteria are different, and we work through those instead.
After the call, you receive a written verdict by email. It covers whether you are a realistic candidate for the scheme you are targeting, what your current weaknesses are, which round or stage to aim for if applicable, and what would need to change to improve your chances.
The verdict is direct. If the project does not qualify, we say so. If it does qualify but the application is not ready, we say that too.
Why it exists
Most of the businesses I speak to have already spent time on a grant application before talking to anyone with experience of the scheme. Some have spent weeks. The application they have written describes their product rather than their technical challenge. The budget is misaligned with what the funder expects. They have applied for a stage that does not match their project maturity.
None of this is the applicant’s fault — the criteria for competitive grant schemes are not always obvious, and funders do not always explain clearly what they are looking for. But it means that a lot of time gets wasted, and a lot of rejections happen for reasons that could have been caught early.
A Grant Reality Check is designed to catch those things before the application is submitted. Not after.
What it costs
The Grant Reality Check costs £129.
That figure is intentional. It is low enough that it does not represent a significant commitment relative to the cost of a failed application (which can be 40 or more hours of management time). It is high enough that the conversation is serious — we are giving you a genuine expert read, not a sales call.
If the verdict is that you should proceed, and you want us to help with the application, the £129 is offset against any further work we do together.
What it does not include
A Grant Reality Check is not a full application review. We are not reading a draft. We are not writing copy. We are assessing fit and readiness, not producing a final document.
It is also not a commitment to work with us on the full application. The written verdict stands on its own. You can take it to another consultant, act on it internally, or use it to decide not to apply.
Who it is for
The Reality Check is useful for a specific type of situation: you are seriously considering a grant application, you have a project in mind, and you want an honest read on whether you are a realistic candidate before you invest significant time.
It is not for someone at the very start of thinking about grants in general — the free service (three matched opportunities per month) is more useful at that stage. And it is not a substitute for a full application service if you are already committed and just need writing support.
If you are at the point of “I think this is worth pursuing but I am not sure”, that is exactly when it is useful.
Tom Burke is the founder of GrantPal, a UK grant advisory service. He works with businesses across technology, manufacturing, and the creative industries to identify grant opportunities and improve application quality.