{"id":374,"date":"2022-10-26T10:49:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T09:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/?page_id=374"},"modified":"2022-12-06T12:40:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T12:40:42","slug":"grants-for-unpaid-carers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/grants-for-unpaid-carers\/","title":{"rendered":"Grants for Unpaid Carers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An unpaid carer is anyone looking after a family member, friend or neighbour who needs help. They might have an illness, disability, physical or mental health problem, or an addiction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A carer does not need to be living with the person they care for. Anybody can become a carer at any time in their life. Someone can be a carer for more than one person at a time. Carers can be any age, from young\u00a0children to older people.

1 in 7 people in paid employment will juggle paid and unpaid caring roles.

Some carers’ organisations have received Scottish Government funding and local HSCP funding\u00a0to support carers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grants are not means tested but are paid to those in greatest need. Local carers organisations provide information on income maximisation as well as provision for short breaks (respite care) which may make a break more affordable.

East Lothian<\/a>\u00a0Help with benefits and welfare rights.

Edinburgh<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0Carer Assistance Fund for carers in Edinburgh.\u00a0Funds are targeted at those in greatest need and carers will be asked to\u00a0describe what difference the funding would make to their life.\u00a0Each carer household can apply for a one-off \u00a3250-\u00a3500 grant.\u00a0One successful application can be made for a grant from each carer household\u00a0and does not need to be repaid. It is possible to make two applications to the\u00a0fund but there must be at least six months between applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fund can be used to apply for one of the following, or a combination of all three. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Fuel support – If the application is successful, payment will be made directly to the carer’s energy provider. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Food support carers can apply for food vouchers. These will be for use in Tesco or Scotmid stores. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. General Carer Assistance Fund which can be used for a variety of purposes<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Midlothian<\/a>\u00a0The fund is currently closed but VOCAL Midlothian provide a range\u00a0of services, including short breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    West Lothian<\/a>\u00a0Carers of West Lothian and West Lothian Advice Shop are offering benefit advice sessions every\u00a0second Wednesday.\u00a0Virtual benefits advice sessions with Carers of West Lothian and West Lothian Advice Shop\u00a0 are every second Monday.\u00a0These sessions can be used for benefit checks, form filling, appeal options and\u00a0general money advice and are by appointment only.\u00a0 For more information or to book an appointment:\u00a001506 448000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Borders<\/a>\u00a0General support for carers and information on short breaks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fife<\/a>\u00a0General support for carers and information on short breaks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lanarkshire<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0Carers Flexible Support Fund can support carers going\u00a0through financial hardship or distress.\u00a0It will improve financial security through\u00a0creating a safety net that can be used to meet unanticipated expenses\u00a0as well as short break opportunities. Lanarkshire Carers Flexible Support Fund is funded by Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire and South\u00a0Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships, to support the most vulnerable and financially affected carers\u00a0in Lanarkshire.

    Lanarkshire Carers Flexible Support Fund can support carers going through financial hardship or distress. It will improve financial security through creating a safety net that can be used to meet unanticipated expenses as well as short break opportunities in the broadest sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    An unpaid carer is anyone looking after a family member, friend or neighbour who needs help. They might have an illness, disability, physical or mental health problem, or an addiction.  A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/verticalmenu.php","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-374","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"stephenharris","author_link":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/author\/stephenharris\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"An unpaid carer is anyone looking after a family member, friend or neighbour who needs help. They might have an illness, disability, physical or mental health problem, or an addiction.  A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407,"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/374\/revisions\/407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staff.nhslothian.scot\/staffsupport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}