Overview
The UK’s video games industry is the largest in Europe. It contributed £4.4bn to UK GVA and was responsible for 48,500 jobs in 2024. Despite the sector’s success, we know from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre’s Skills Audit for Video Games (April 2026) and TIGA’s Skills, Training and Education Report (April 2026), that the sector experiences multiple skills gaps and shortages. Video games companies continue to face skills gaps in leadership, people management, finance and commercial development. These challenges can affect business growth and workforce retention.
The BFI’s 10 year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, commits to broadening the BFI’s support for the UK Video games sector and we are pleased to introduce our first Skills Fund aimed at independent video games companies based in the UK with a view to improving leadership competencies and business operational skills, to aid the longer-term resilience of the UK games sector.
We intend to make a single award of up to £1m to an organisation who may draw on additional expertise and partnerships to deliver the programme.
Programme activity must be delivered UK-wide, providing training and development support to independent video games companies in:
- leadership and people management, with a particular emphasis on improving performance management practices
- marketing and communications skills
- financial management and access to finance
- project management, client management, and understanding intellectual property
- equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI)
We recognise that games companies vary in size, focus, and geographical location, and as such we expect you to consider engagement with a breadth of independent video games SMEs based in the UK as part of programme design and engagement plans. By Independent video games SMEs, we mean UK-based small and medium-sized games businesses that are independently owned and controlled and are not majority-owned by a large publisher or corporate group.
Programme activity must take place between April 2027 and June 2029. This can include an initial set-up phase and must include an independent evaluation of the programme and its impact.
The programme should consider modular delivery approaches to ensure a breadth of training can be delivered by subject matter experts. Collectively, the modules should form a structured and cohesive programme of training and development.
In your application, you’ll need to tell us how many beneficiaries you’ll seek to support, if you plan to prioritise engagement based on any specific company characteristics and if so, why, as well as specify any partnerships you will establish/draw on to maximise engagement with the UK’s independent games sector.
Who can apply
We will make a single award to an organisation that:
- has previous experience of delivering business development training programmes (or similar) at scale and has a track record of delivering national activity via a partnership approach
- can draw on relevant training expertise to design and deliver a multi-stranded programme of training
- has expert knowledge of the UK’s independent video games sector and a track record of engaging with the sector
- is registered and centrally managed in the UK.
How to apply
Applications to deliver the programme will close at midday on 25 January 2027.
You can only apply online after you’ve read the funding guidelines in full.
Register for an information session
We will be hosting an online information session about this fund at 11am on Monday 9 November 2026.
You can email [email protected] to register your interest in attending.
Get help with your application
We are committed to making our funding accessible to all. You can get help if you need support to apply for funding.
About BFI National Lottery funding
Since the very first National Lottery draw in 1994, more than £50 billion for good causes has been raised directly through National Lottery ticket sales, funding more than 700,000 projects. As a recipient of National Lottery funding, it is important to publicly acknowledge the source of this funding ensuring that those engaging with your work recognise the value and benefit of this unique Good Cause funding.
If your application is successful, you will be responsible for prominently crediting BFI National Lottery funding and thanking National Lottery players. To communicate this message, you should ensure that the elements of your project which have the potential to engage a broad public audience are capitalised on. More details will be supplied once an award has been made.