Emergency grants

Emergency grants can help you to afford food and basic essentials at times of financial crisis and to protect your CF health. The need must be urgent and short-term – unfortunately we have a limited budget and cannot help with ongoing costs.

This could include:

• loss of benefits where an appeal or reapplication is in place (we can also provide advice and support with benefits issues)
• unexpected or unplanned hospital admissions
• a loss in earnings for a short period of time
• something unexpected has happened that means the applicant is unable to fund basic daily essentials.

We have a separate Home Essentials Fund which can provide grants towards urgent household appliances.

1. Download the application form.
2. Fill in sections 1, 2, 3 and 5. They are all short. Our Helpline team can fill in forms over the phone with you if you’re not able to use the application form.
3. Send the application form to a member of your CF team. Ask them to write a supporting statement in section 4 of the form.

Application form

4. You or your CF team should email your application to [email protected].

CF teams can also email their supporting statement from their professional email account directly to our Helpline team.

If you apply for more than two emergency grants in a three month period, we will refer you to our Welfare Team who can provide a benefits check or income maximisation or budgeting help. We will need you to speak with our Welfare Team before we can consider any further grant applications for you/your household in the next 12 months. This is because we want to support you to make sure you’re receiving all of the help and support you are entitled to.

We can only help people who:

• receive specialist CF care in the UK and
• Are on means-tested benefits or
• Are in a financial crisis

You can apply if you care for someone who fits the above, for example if you have a child with CF in your household. If you are not sure if you are eligible to apply, please call or email our Helpline team.

We will prioritise people who can’t get any other grant support. This means we might look at other ways of helping you when we read your application. We will let you know if we can help in another way.

You can apply for up to £150 with an emergency grant application.

Please remember that if you send us an application, that does not mean that you will definitely be given the grant. If we can’t give you a grant this time, you can still apply for our grants in the future.

Yes. A member of your CF team will need to write a supporting statement in section 4 of the form. They can also email it to us from their professional email account. It is important that you tell your CF team that you are in an emergency situation that might affect your health.

Emergency grants are processed weekly. Once we receive your completed application and supporting statement we will review your request. We aim to get back to you within 10 working days of receiving your application.

If you need the grant more quickly, please contact the helpline before you apply so that we can help you as quickly as possible.

Anyone who fits the criteria above can complete the form, as well as:

• people who care for them
• their partner
• any member of their CF team.

The ‘applicant’ is always the person living with CF. If the applicant is over 18 and is not filling out the form themselves, they need to know that the application is being made for them.

Please make sure your contact details on the form are correct so we will contact you about anything to do with your application.

Emergency grants are assessed on an individual basis, but in general, we cannot give grants for:

• long-term situations and ongoing costs such as rent or mortgage payments and ongoing bills
• routine travel costs such as planned hospital admissions for IVs and clinic appointments
• existing debts, loans or credit card bills
• items that have already been purchased or ordered
• energy bills and energy debts if you’re struggling to pay them on an ongoing basis (we can support you with this in other ways – please contact our Helpline team)
• phone credit - if you need help with this please email our Helpline or ask your CF team to get in touch with us
• white goods/household appliances – we have a separate Home Essentials Fund you can apply to
• exercise equipment – we may have other grants you could apply for to cover this cost.

• Emergency grants are assessed on individual circumstances.
• You can apply for an emergency grant as and when needed.
• We cannot accept multiple applications from you for the same situation. If you are unsure about this, please contact us before making an application.
• If you’re applying for the grant to buy a specific item, we might ask you to provide proof of purchase.

Yes. Please call our Helpline on 0300 373 1000 or email [email protected] if you have any questions about any of our grants. Our Helpline team can also help you fill in the grant application form and provide information about other sources of support including our welfare advice services.