Grants on hold for hundreds of disabled children in Northern Ireland

A press release:

Over 1,000 families raising children with a disability or serious illness in Northern Ireland face the next few months without help from the Family Fund due to the funding provided by the Northern Ireland Assembly running out.

Demand for grants from the charity for essential items such as kitchen appliances, bedding and clothing has increased over the past few years, the result of the difficult economic climate faced by families raising disabled or seriously ill children. With increased need and no additional funding from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) since its funding was cut by £200,000 in 2011/12, the Family Fund has simply run out of money and is not able to help any more families in Northern Ireland.

The Family Fund is the UK’s largest provider of grants to low income families raising disabled or seriously ill children and is funded by the four UK Governments.  Last year, the Fund helped over 64,000 families across the UK from £33 million of funding, 2,956 of these families were from Northern Ireland. For every pound in funding received by the Fund more than 93p goes to support families in grants and services.

Each year, through efficiencies and negotiations with suppliers, the Family Fund has increased the level of funding it receives to help more families to nearly 3,000.  Despite this effort, the Family Fund estimates there will still be approximately 1,100 eligible families in Northern Ireland without essential grant support in this financial year (2013/14), an increase of around 800 from the same time last year and 400 the year before.

The Family Fund helped Shirley from Newtownards, she said:

“The Family Fund grant arrived just at the right time for me. My washing machine had packed in and we were using my father-in-law’s machine to launder clothes. This wasn’t really practical given that my daughter, Mia was prone to vomiting a lot in her early days. With the grant, I was able to get a large capacity washing machine that could wash all her laundry in one go.  This was so important as it not only saved time but took the daily stress out of the extra workload I was facing on top of looking
after a new baby. Without the grant, I would not have been able to afford a new machine.”

Cheryl Ward, Chief Executive at the Family Fund said:

“We are working tremendously hard to ensure as many families as possible receive support, more than 93 pence in every £1 of all funding we receive is given to families in the form of grants and services.  We are extremely concerned that yet again, even after all our efforts, we will be unable to help families until we receive further funding from the Northern Ireland Assembly.  We will do our utmost to work with the DHSSPS to look to minimise the impact of a lack of funding on families raising disabled and seriously ill children in Northern Ireland, but in reality, the level need increases every day, the funding remains static, so the challenge is an even greater one.”