Marvellous Family Grants Application Guidance for Applicant Officers

Marvellous Family Grants Application Guidance for Applicant Officers Introduction This guidance document explains how to apply for a Marvellous Family Grant from Roald Dahl s Marvellous Children s Charity. Pages 1 to 2 explain the purpose of the programme, which families are eligible, who can apply, and what we expect to support through the grants. Pages 3-6 give detailed guidance to the specific questions. Please read this entire document at least once before completing an application and in particular pay attention to the detailed guidance for each question. Purpose of the Programme The Marvellous Family Grants programme aims to improve the long-term strength and happiness of families who have a child or children with serious long-term conditions. We know that such families often struggle emotionally and psychologically and this programme focuses on those needs. Eligibility The programme is open to any family in the UK in which: There is a child or children with a serious long-term health condition ( affected child or children see definitions below) The affected child or children are eligible to receive Medium Rate DLA (the Care component) or the Enhanced Rate for 6 of the 12 activities in the PIP or has an equivalent level of need At least one affected child has yet to reach their 24 th birthday Some form of support would help improve the emotional or psychological state of some or all of the family members (not necessarily the affected child/children) There are serious financial constraints that mean the family cannot access such support The family has not received a grant from the Marvellous Family Grants in the last 12 months* * Grants are considered per affected child within a 12 month period. This means that we will consider more than once application within a 12 month period on behalf of the same family if there is more than one affected child within the family. The Charity currently supports children and young people, aged 0-24, whose health condition is life-limiting, as described by the definitions below: 1 1 Adapted from: ACT, A Guide to the Development of Children s Palliative Care Services, 2009. 1

Group 1 Life threatening conditions for which curative treatment may be feasible but can fail. (e.g. epilepsy, irreversible organ failures of heart, liver, kidneys.) Group 2 Conditions where premature death is inevitable. (e.g. cystic fibrosis) Group 3 Progressive conditions without curative treatment options. (e.g. Batten disease, mucopolysaccaridoses, muscular dystrophy.) Group 4 Irreversible but non-progressive conditions causing severe disability leading to susceptibility to health complications and likelihood of premature death. (e.g. sickle cell disease, cerebral palsy, multiple disabilities such as brain or spinal cord insult.) Group 5 Syndromes without a name (SWAN) causing severe, chronic disability or illness. The Charity s remit excludes all forms of malignant cancer owing to levels of support for children and young people with cancer being far higher than those for other conditions. Who can apply? Applications are only accepted when they have been completed and submitted by an employee of a statutory body or registered charity. Employees who are eligible to make and submit an application are referred to as Applicant Officers (AOs) and may be a social worker, health visitor, healthcare professional, family worker or similar professional. Application forms unfortunately have to be securely discarded if they are: Completed totally or in part by the family All questions have not been answered in full When to apply Applications are accepted year round. How to apply It is very important that some or all of the family members have contributed to the decision to apply for this support. It is not acceptable for you (the AO) to unilaterally determine what support is needed, or to lead the family too assertively. At the same time, we do anticipate that you will provide input and advice to the family. It is our aim to balance a high quality assessment process with simplicity for applicants and speed for the families. Our application process has two distinct parts. Part one is a quick, ten question online eligibility filter. This enables you to immediately check that an application will be eligible before completing the full form, saving time and avoiding wasted effort for all concerned. Part Two is the main application form which is seven pages long, including terms and conditions and the signatures section. Part One is online only and Part Two can be competed online or a PDF can be downloaded and completed. However there will always be printable versions of the forms, enabling you to work offline when populating forms, before entering and submitting them through our secure online facility. The type of support we offer Marvellous Family Grants are aimed at supporting the emotional wellbeing of the family, but we understand that sometimes a material item can be the most help in enabling the family to cope with their situation. The most important thing is that members of the family both parent/carers and children shape what support is requested. Here is a list of the kinds of things we think might be helpful: 2

Individual or family group counselling sessions Peer group sessions Play, art or music therapy sessions Equipment or expenses to enable the child or young person to join in activities with their friendship group Access to social communications technology Expenses to enable attendance at a conference with other families affected by the same condition/experience Respite care Membership fees for some social activities (football, cadets etc.) Payment of high heating bills as a direct result of applicants health condition Car seats, walkers, bicycles, pushchairs, mobility chairs Specialist furniture or household appliances required as a result of applicant s health condition Beds, cots, bedding, or clothing Travel expenses to and from hospital We are very open to creative or innovative approaches, and use of new and old technologies, from vlogging to scrapbooking. The maximum grant per child within a 12 month period is 500. Guide to Specific Questions Part One This section is a simple eligibility filter that, if the family is eligible, gives access to the full application form. It asks for your (the AO) surname and postcode, and also the surname and postcode of one parent/carer from the family. It then asks ten eligibility questions. It is only available online. Every attempt to complete the online eligibility form generates a file at the offices of Roald Dahl s Marvellous Children s Charity and every successful attempt (ie, every attempt in which the family is eligible) alerts us to expect an application. We do not process any full application unless it matches a record on file that has been generated by the online eligibility filter. Therefore you must complete the online eligibility filter for each and every application. Qns a & Please give your surname and the postcode of your employment correspondence address. b Qns c & d Please give the surname and the postcode of the usual residential address of one of the parent/carers for the family. The postcode should generally also be the postcode of the usual residential address of the affected child or children. Qn e If you do not already have this code, please contact the Programmes Officer on 01494 890 465 or at grants@roalddahlcharity.org Qn f1 Applications must never be completed, wholly or partly, by any member of the family. This invalidates our auditable anti-fraud procedures and may lead to us refusing any future applications from your agency. Qn f2 We do not require the family to have official residency status. We wish to include as many families in need as possible. However, we cannot support families that are in the UK on holiday. Qn f3 We only support families that have a child (or children) with a serious, long-term condition other than cancer. Please make sure you know what condition(s) the child or children have and confirm that these are long-term conditions. Please do not apply for families where the child has cancer, as this will be rejected and can unhelpfully raise expectations. We refer to the child or children in the family who have a serious, long-term condition as the affected child or children. 3

Qn f4 We only support families where the affected child (or children) is eligible to receive the Medium or High Rate of the Care component of the DLA or the Enhanced Rate on 6 of the 12 PIP activities or an equivalent level of need. This last phrase enables you to apply for a family that has not yet applied for DLA/PIP or that have chosen not to, for whatever reason. In such circumstances, we will require evidence in the main form of why you believe they would be eligible at these rates if they had applied and information about why they have not applied. Qn f5 We only support families where at least one affected child has not reached their 21 st birthday on the date the online eligibility criteria is completed. Qn f6 Each family is only eligible to apply for one grant from the Programme in the previous 12 months per affected child. Qn f7 We trust you (the AO) to use your professional judgement. A key part of the eligibility criteria is that you have met at least one parent/carer, all the affected children, and the target applicant. The target applicant is the member or members of the family for whom you are seeking support. For example, you may be applying for particular support for a sibling, and in that case you d need to confirm that you ve met a parent, the affected child and the sibling. Of course, the target applicant can be and may often be the affected child; or one or both of the parent/carers. Your ability to distinguish between the target applicant and the affected child or children is a core strength of the Marvellous Family Grants programme. Qn f8 This statement confirms that you understand the purpose and principles of the Marvellous Family Grants programme, as set out in pages 1-3 of this guidance, and that you believe the family can particularly benefit from the emotional and psychological support that this programme will fund. Qn f9 By agreeing to this statement you are confirming you believe the family to be in difficult financial circumstances. It is very important to us that the precious funds we are able to commit to this programme are going to those in genuine need and we ask you to be our trusted stewards of these funds. In Part Two of the application we will require information about how this assessment has been evidenced. We recommend that you look at three months of bank statements, or similar evidence of the family s financial circumstances, such as benefit award letters and a home visit. Qn f10 We would like to understand what percentage of AOs are new referrers or existing. Part Two The main application form contains nine sections. Section A Section B This asks for basic information about you. We know you may have given us this information previously, but until we have developed our online application process we have to ask you for this information on each form. It ensures we have up-to-date contact details if those details change. This asks for basic information about the family: the names, ages and genders of the adults and children who usually live in the family home. You should include family members who do not usually live in the home where you feel it is relevant. There is space for up to three affected children, that is, children with a serious long-term health condition. Section C Section D Section E Qn E1 If you require more space for any of the family types, simply amend the left-most column. This asks about your links with the family. This asks for the family s contact details. We will contact families who have received our funds to ask about the impact of the support, so we ask you to please ensure the family is aware that they have received a grant from us and should expect to receive a survey. This is the most substantial section of the form and asks about the actual support requested. This asks who you have identified as the target applicant. This can be a single individual within the family (e.g. Dad), a sub-group within the family (e.g. both parents, all non-affected 4

siblings), or the whole family. It will often be the affected child or children, but will often be other family members instead. Qn E2 Qn E3 Qn E4 Qn E5 Qn E6 Qn E7 Section F To decide which family members should apply for the grant, you will need to consider the overall dynamics in the family, and who within the family has particular emotional or psychological needs that could be partially addressed through a grant of up to 500. You will need to take into account the views of the different family members and will need to consider which family member or members are most likely to benefit from the support, including whether they accept they need support and are open and ready to access it. This is where you share the results of your assessment of and conversations with the target applicant. Please tell us about all eight aspects. Leave none blank. Base your responses on your observations and discussions with the family. Where applicable give brief evidence or examples. Please describe the actual support that is being requested and the cost breakdown. It is essential that this support is directly relevant to the emotional and psychological needs of the target applicant as described in Qn E2 above. It is also important that the support is realistic in its ambition and practical to access. The support doesn t have to be tried and tested ; we welcome innovative or creative solutions. Please do not just write a single word or phrase, e.g. Family Counselling as this reduces our ability to assess the grant. Please give a bit more detail, such as The entire family will attend group counselling sessions focused on positivity, for two hours a week for four weeks. A cost breakdown should be included here as far as possible, e.g. hourly counseling rates. This is where you will enter the total cost of the support. It may be that the cost of the support exceeds 500. Where this is the case you must briefly explain here how the balance of the costs will be covered. If successful, we intend to commit the funds while we await confirmation that any outstanding funds have been raised before issuing the grant. All such commitments are subject to a three month time limit. It is obviously important that a family is able to actually access the required support, if awarded a grant, and it is necessary for us to check that appropriate suppliers are available. It is acceptable to give an example of a possible supplier and acceptable for the family to use a different supplier in reality, as long as they are accessing the right support. Our funds must not duplicate or subsidise statutory provision. We must also check that the family cannot afford this support itself without cutting out essential items such as food, clothing, rent or energy bills. Please briefly summarise why we are the only remaining source of funds for this support. Our fund is targeting emotional and psychological resilience and our aim is to build happier lives and stronger families. With this in mind we are trying to understand what the intended impact this grant will have on the family. Therefore please select all the phrases that are relevant to your family. Please give the amount requested (a maximum of 500) and the bank account name, number and sort code that we can transfer the grant to, should a grant be awarded. Please double check the account details to ensure they are correct. Please note we are unable to make payments to the family or to you personally or to an individual s name. We can pay to social work departments, NHS Trust accounts, local authority accounts, registered charity accounts or a supplier. Section G You must be willing to see the application through to completion which may occasionally involve supplying further information before the grant can be processed. In particular, you must be able to access the money on behalf of the family and you must ensure that the grant is spent within three months of the date of issue on the support specified in the application. This monitoring information is to enable us to ensure our grants are reaching all members of the community and it is essential that this section is completed. If this section is left blank we will return the application to you, with unhelpful delays for the family. 5

Section H Qn H1 This section asks for your professional judgement. Our aim is to balance speed for the family, our respect for your professional judgement, and our need to carefully steward our funds. We do not ask you to send us evidence in support of your application indeed, we want to minimise the amount of confidential information about the family being sent by hard copy or email. This speeds up the process for the family and we trust you to assess the family s needs on the basis of evidence. We do require you to list what evidence you used to inform your decision and to tell us which evidence you have kept on file. For financial hardship, please specify what evidence you have produced/seen. Qn H2 Section I Wherever possible we recommend that you file copies of key documents and notes of assessment visits to the family home or discussions with family members. For auditing purposes, every year we undertake spot checks to see what evidence has been used and to ensure it has been securely retained. When procuring professional counselling services for psychological support, please state whether or not the service provider is suitably qualified. If applying online please read the terms and conditions and declarations prior to completing the boxes. If applying via post we will require the three signatures. It is your responsibility to ensure that the family member signing the form has read it properly, or is fully aware of its content, and agrees to it being submitted. We will contact families as part of our ongoing evaluation to understand how our grants have helped. Please return the form to: Programmes Officer, Roald Dahl s Marvellous Children s Charity Montague House, 23 Woodside Road, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 6AA You can contact the Programmes Officer on 01494 890 465 and at grants@roalddahlcharity.org Registered Charity Number 1137409 Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England and Wales Number 7340518 Registered Office: 81a High Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire HP16 0AL 6