How To Apply
Independence at Home welcomes grant applications from Referrers – health or social care professionals, or advisors or support workers from charities or other community organisations supporting an adult or child who needs our help.
Referrers must be:
- capable of assessing an individual’s needs;
- willing to complete our online application form on their behalf;
- able to liaise with our grant assessors by email and/or phone if necessary.
Each application must be submitted on behalf of the individual by a Referrer.
We do not accept applications directly from individual members of the public.
Referrers must be willing to submit the application online and then follow through on its outcome including arranging purchase of the item or helping the Applicant to do so.
We welcome applications from the following Referrers:
- Staff employed by statutory health, social care or advice services – e.g. a Doctor, Specialist Nurse, Occupational Therapist, Speech and Language Therapist, Physiotherapist, or Social Worker;
- Professional workers from charities which provide a health, social care, welfare or advice service;
- Citizens Advice workers;
- Professional workers from Tenancy Support, Care and Repair organisations and Housing Associations.
Summary of Information Required for Grant Application
We will need the following information to assess grant applications:
Applicant details
The Applicant is the person who needs the item of equipment or building work. Where the Applicant is under 18, the child’s name should be given as the Applicant and not that of the parent.
Referrer contact details
Our communications about the application will go to the Referrer.
Case of need
We ask the Referrer to tell us why a grant is required – to state the Applicant’s medical diagnosis, tell us about the Applicant’s circumstances, what they need and why they need it, linking this to their medical condition. Written confirmation of medical diagnosis will be required and must be provided by a qualified health or social care professional.
Financial situation
We need to know who lives with the Applicant and their relationship, type of accommodation, total household weekly income, sources of income, amount of savings and/or debts. We need to know what other funding is available or has been applied for and whether the Applicant can make a personal contribution.
Details of the equipment or building work
We need a copy of a recent quotation from the supplier of the equipment or from the contractor who will carry out building work. We will normally pay our grant to the company and so will need their full bank details. In some cases, we will pay the grant to the Referrer’s organisation and so will need these bank details instead. We do not pay grants directly to Applicants.
Please read our Frequently Asked Questions for more information.
Grant Application Form
URGENT MESSAGE
Due to the current high number of applications for our grants, we are not able to accept new applications for ‘white goods’ – such as cookers, washing machines and fridge freezers.
Applications already received by us for ‘white goods’, which meet our criteria, are being assessed and processed in order of receipt. However, grant awards for these items might take longer than usual until we have secured further unrestricted funding.
Before you start to fill in our Grant Application Form, please ensure that you have read the guidance notes and have the supporting documents required:
- evidence of medical condition;
- a quotation on company letterhead, specifying the item or works.
These documents must be uploaded to the Grant Application Form before submission.
Please click here for the online Grant Application Form.
Follow up to Grant Application
Following submission of the completed Grant Application Form, the Referrer will receive an automated email from Independence at Home with a unique Reference Number for the application.
When Independence at Home has received all the information required to support the case, the application will be assessed.
Once we have all the information that we require and the application has been assessed, the Referrer should then normally hear from us within 2 – 3 working weeks regarding the outcome of the application.
If required information is missing from any sections of the form, we will be unable to assess the application.