Health and wellbeing grants

These grants of up to £350 help children and adults living with CF to live well. Following feedback from the CF community, our support is focused on households on low incomes and those who are most unwell with CF.

Decisions on health and wellbeing grant applications are made by a panel that meets every two months.

Examples of things you could apply for include:

• Items of furniture, flooring or home adaptations.
• Non-urgent white goods and household appliances (such as a vacuum cleaner, steriliser, microwave etc). If you have an urgent need for an essential household item, please apply to our Home Essentials Fund.
• Exercise equipment (up to £200). Please note if you would like to apply for a grant for gym membership, personal training or activity classes you will need to apply for an Activity Boost grant instead.
• Equipment that means people with CF can take part in hobbies/interests to support their physical or mental health (such as photography equipment).

We take applications from adults or children with CF who are under the care of a UK-based CF team, have a diagnosis of CF, and are on a low income or can’t afford the item themselves. We can only accept applications from people who are most unwell with their CF (physical or mental health) or who face other challenges to staying well. We ask you to tell us about this on this form.

The applicant, their parent/carer, their partner, or a member of their CF team can complete the application form.  On the form, the ‘applicant’ is always the person living with cystic fibrosis. If the applicant is over 18, they need to be made aware that the application is being made for them.

The demand for exercise equipment, including trampolines, is higher than our limited budget can cater for. Our panel recognise that exercise is beneficial for everyone with CF; however, due to pressure on our budget they can only consider applications from those who are most unwell.

Please read the information on this page. Once you have done this, please download and complete the application form.

Download the application form

Our Helpline team can support you if you have any questions or need any help filling in the form.

Please email applications to [email protected].

You can apply for up to £350. We can only fund up to £200 for a piece of exercise equipment.

Please contact us before you apply if the item will cost more than £350 and the grant would be a contribution to the total cost, as we are not usually able to part-fund items.

Yes. Please include evidence of costs for the item(s) or service(s). This can be a link to a webpage, a screen shot, photo, formal quote or price list. If this is not included, the application won’t be taken to the panel for a decision.

Yes. The supporting statement needs to be completed by a member of the applicant’s CF team (the endorser) and emailed to us from their professional email account. You can also send your completed application with the endorsement to us and we’ll contact the endorser to check they provided the supporting statement.

Our panel consider the endorsement carefully when making their decisions. It should provide more details about how the item or service requested will specifically help the health and wellbeing of the applicant. General information, for example, on the benefits of exercise for people living with CF, will not be enough for the panel to give a grant. This is due to our limited budget. We need to know why the grant is so important for the applicant and how it will help them live well with CF.

When we receive an application, we do some initial checks to make sure the application meets our criteria and that we have all the information we need.  All applications must also have an endorsement and evidence of costs before they can be taken to the panel.

If any information is missing or we feel the application would be better suited to another of our grants, we will contact the applicant or parent/carer to let them know. We may also contact the endorser for further information.

The applications are anonymised before being taken to our independent panel for assessment. The panel meets every two months, and our panel members have a detailed knowledge and understanding of cystic fibrosis. They will consider whether to provide a grant based on the applicant’s need for the item or service and the difference it would make to their health and wellbeing.

Meetings are in January, March, May, July, September and November each year.

Upcoming panel dates:
Thursday 16th May 2024. Application deadline is Tuesday 7th May 2024.

We inform applicants and endorsers of the outcome within two weeks of the panel date.

If the application is successful, payment will be made two to four weeks after the panel date. If bank account details are not included in the application this will delay payment being made.

Our panel will consider most applications, but due to our limited budget, we cannot give health and wellbeing grants for:

• items that have already been purchased
• items or services that should be funded through statutory services
• anything that costs over £350
• medical treatment or equipment
• laptops and computer equipment or equipment needed for work
• costs towards purchasing a car or the cost of driving lessons
• anything that goes against Cystic Fibrosis Trust policies, including our environmental policy. We will always ask you buy brand new appliances, electrical items and exercise equipment so that these last as long as possible. In some cases, particularly for items of furniture, the panel might suggest you buy something second hand – lots of local charities sell good quality second hand furniture and will deliver to your home.

Health and wellbeing grants can be given once every 12 months. Our panel may prioritise people who have not received grant support from Cystic Fibrosis Trust in the past.

If you have received a grant for a specific household appliance within the last three years please contact us before applying as we may not be able to accept your application. If you apply for a grant for a household appliance now, you will not be able to apply for the same item for three years.

If you have received a grant for home exercise equipment within the last five years please contact us before applying as we may not be able to accept your application. If you apply for a grant for home exercise equipment now, you will not be able to apply for another item of exercise equipment for five years. This is so that we can help as many people as possible.

If the application is successful and you are purchasing an item which comes with a free manufacturer’s guarantee, we ask that you sign up to this as soon as possible.

Yes. We are happy to consider re-applications for the same item or service, if there is extra relevant information you’d like to add. We can also consider new applications for different items.

It may be possible to apply for an emergency grant or to our Home Essentials Fund if there could be an immediate and negative risk to the applicant’s health.

Yes, in most cases. We will contact you after you receive the grant to request a copy of a receipt or proof of purchase. We might also ask for feedback or offer other support.

If you do not provide a receipt or proof of purchase you may not be able to apply for future grants.  If we don’t need a receipt from you (for example, if the panel suggested you buy something second hand) we will tell you.

Yes. Please contact our Helpline if you have any questions or need any help applying for a grant.