THE PERCY BILTON CHARITY

GUIDANCE NOTES FOR GRANTS TO INDIVIDUALS IN NEED

Who may apply - IMPORTANT 
* Only Social Workers, CPNs or Occupational Therapists working within the Local or Health Authority may apply on behalf of individuals who are on a low income and have a serious illness, disability or are over 65 on low income
* We are not able to help individuals outside the above groups
* We do not accept or acknowledge applications made by individuals directly or from any other agency
* Please do not reapply for the same person within 12 months of any previous grant
* Applications should always be first made to statutory sources and any appropriate  specialist charity (e.g. Medical charities, employment related funds, armed forces funds).

The programme's aim

The aim of this programme is to provide urgent one off financial assistance for essential items to the beneficiaries defined below.

Who may benefit

The Charity will consider giving assistance on a one-off basis for specific essential items to individuals in the U.K. on low incomes and in distressed circumstances and who are within the categories stated below:

The assistance we give is only suitable for items costing up to ?200.

In particular, the Charity CANNOT help with:

• General financial hardship for those outside the categories stated
• Payment towards items costing over ?200 e.g. electric wheelchair, riser/recliner chair or bed
• Dishwashers
• Travel expenses, sponsorship, holidays or respite care
• Educational grants, computer equipment or software
• House alterations and maintenance (including disabled facilities work and decorating)
• Debts of any kind, including telephone, gas, electricity and rent arrears
• Reimbursement of cost for articles already purchased
• Garden fencing or clearance
• Motor vehicle purchase or expenses e.g. repairs/road tax/insurance
• Nursing and Residential Home fees
• Funeral expenses
• Removal expenses
• Medical treatment or therapy
• Course fees including driving or IT lessons

How to apply                           

Social Workers should contact the Charity by phone for an application form which will be sent by email. The form must be completed in full and returned to us by email. Alternatively, the form may be posted to us together with a covering letter on Local or Health Authority headed notepaper. Incomplete application forms will not be considered or acknowledged.

When to apply

                                               
You may apply at any time during the year.

How we deal with your application

If your application is successful and the grant has been approved, we will send a cheque with the letter notifying you of the conditions on which payment is made. We ask that applicants wait 4 weeks before contacting the Charity regarding the progress of an application.

We receive a large number of applications and in order to contain costs, we are unable to respond to applications that do not meet the Charity's beneficiary or funding criteria or if made by anyone other than a social worker or occupational therapist.

Points to note

• The Local or Health Authority must have a back account in its own name and be able to bank and administer grants on our behalf as we cannot make payments to any other agency and not to any individual.
• We rely on those third parties who apply on their clients? behalf to notify/obtain their explicit consent so we may legally process information in accordance with the Data Protection Act (see below).
• All applications are determined on their merits and the Charity's decision is final
• The Charity receives more applications than it can fund and regrettably we cannot always assist.

Terms and conditions 

• The grant must be used only for the purpose for which it is paid
• The Charity reserves the right to take action against anyone who uses the grant (or any part of it) for any other purpose without the Charity's prior authority.

Date Protection Act 1998

If you intend to apply to the Charity for funding please draw your client?s attention to the Data Protection notice set out below.  

If your social or health worker applies to us for a grant, we require certain personal information about you to ascertain whether you are eligible for a grant.  When we receive an application on your behalf, we shall open a file for you.  This file will contain the grant application made on your behalf and any correspondence and information that we receive from others such as social workers, health visitors and local and health authorities.  It will also contain details of any payments that we may make to you.
The information in your file will be used to determine whether a grant can be made to you by the Charity and to maintain financial records as required by law.
We keep all such information confidential and will not pass your details to any other person or organisation, except where we are required by law to do so or to comply with the Charity Commission?s requirements.  We may disclose the amount and purpose of the grant made to you in our annual report for accounting disclosure purposes, but not your name and address.  We keep records for 6 years and destroy them after that time.
When you make an application to us for grant assistance, we shall deem that you consent to our keeping your personal data on file (including information that may be sensitive personal data within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998) and to process such data for the purposes stated above unless you inform us otherwise.