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community care grants - our policy
We require all applicants in receipt of
who are potentially eligible for a Community Care Grant (CCG) from the Government's Social Fund to apply for one before applying to the Foundation for items such as household goods, furnishings or clothing (this is because under our Schemes we are prohibited from replacing funding that is available from statutory sources).
In the event that your client’s CCG application is not successful, or only partially successful (that is, some items are approved and others are not), we would then be able to consider an application as long as a copy of the CCG award/refusal letter accompanies it. We may ask that you first make an appeal against the decision.
Important
We do not expect individuals to take out Social Fund loans and indeed would prefer that they do not incur debt. Therefore, if any of your clients who apply for a CCG are offered a loan instead, please advise them not to accept it so that you can make application to us first. It is important that you understand our criteria though. We do not make grants for household goods, furnishings or clothing unless individuals are actively engaged in a programme of education, training or employment.
We have prepared guidance on applying for Community Care Grants and periodically are able to offer you and your colleagues related training. In order for us to monitor and develop our Community Care Grant policy, we hope that you will share with us both successes and difficulties that your clients have in applying for CCGs.
More information on CCGs, including a downloadable application form, can be found on the Department of Work and Pensions’ website
For more information on CCG eligibility criteria, the Independent Review Service has prepared the following self instruction pack - here
..we do not expect individuals to take out Social Fund loans and indeed would prefer that they do not incur debt..