Community Care Grants
Community care grants are intended to help with expenses so that people can live in the community and families can stay together. Community care grants are discretionary, which means that even if you are eligible you will only get one if the benefit office decides that your need is important and there is enough money left in the district Social Fund budget. Community care grants do not have to be repaid, so you should always check if you are eligible to claim one when you have expenses you cannot meet.
Apply online for a community care grant
| What is a CCG? |
A non repayable payment which is made to assist people to live independently in the community and to promote community care. |
| Eligibility |
- The CCG scheme is a discretionary scheme but there are certain qualifying criteria
- Customers must be in receipt of a qualifying benefit, Income Support, Pension Credit , Income based Jobseekers Allowance or Employment & Support Allowance (Income Related) or about to get one of these benefits on leaving institutional or residential accommodation in which they have received care)
- Staff can advise customers that they must be in receipt of a qualifying benefit in order to be eligible to receive a CCG, but customers must not be told that they cannot apply for a CCG.
- Anyone can apply for a CCG and the Decision Maker will then decide whether a payment is appropriate.
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| Features |
What can a CCG be used for?
- Help people to establish themselves in the community (following a stay in institutional or residential accommodation in which they received care).
- Help people remain in the community rather than enter institutional or residential accommodation in which they will receive care.
- Ease exceptional pressures on people and their families
- Help people set up home in the community as part of a planned resettlement programme following an unsettled way of life.
- Help people to care for a prisoner or young offender on release or temporary licence
- Help people with expenses to make certain journeys to:
• visit someone who is ill,
• to attend a relative’s funeral,
• ease a domestic crisis,
• visit a child who is with the other parent pending a court decision; or
• move to more suitable accommodation.
Conditions affecting the award:
- Whilst an application can be made for any item/service, CCGs cannot be paid for certain items/services.
- An award is discretionary and the minimum amount that can be paid is £30.00 (except for travelling expenses).
- There is a limited CCG Budget and payment of an award will be made on a priority basis to be decided by the Decision Maker.
Amount paid can be affected by savings. |
| How to apply |
CCG applications can be made by completing an application form and posting it to a local Jobcentre Plus office. |
| Dissatisfied with CCG decision? |
If the customer is dissatisfied with their CCG decision:
A review request should be made in writing within 28 days of the date of the decision stating the reasons why the applicant is dissatisfied with the decision. |
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hi i applied for a community care grant as i do not have carpet a bed for my son a cooker or a fridge or a matress for myself i cant get a budgeting loan as i owe to much as i was not gettin any money for my son till he was 8 months old and was having to get crisis loans i have been declined as they sed theses are not exeptional pressures and even had review officer say the same what else can i do ?
The next step is to ask for you appeal to be sent to the independent review service – they generally pay out even if the Social Fund section have declined your app.
I’m worried, iv applied for a ccg, and after reading some of peoples horrific situations im worried im going to get declined, if just moved into my first afficial home with my 14week old son and i have nothing a old couch that was left and that it no cooker no fridge or freezer no washing machine my link worker helped me list what i need and she just looked at the prices on argos but what she told me to put down totals to quite alot i know i won’t get half of it and to be honest i jus need the 4 main things as long as i can store my sons milk and can wash his cloths n cook for him when he starts on solids, but im worried because it totals to so much i will be declined as my situation isn’t half as bad as some others, i posted my application on the 17th of april. any advice or just a word of comfort will be great many thanks.
(to the judge mental people benefits is not a choice!! i hate it but im on it because my son comes before my dignity and me all round i think the goverment are idiots because they are paying more then the minum wage so they make it impossible for any one to find a job they can live on. GOOD LUCK TO ALL X
Hi Leah,
To be honet, as long as you have been honest and reasonable in your application you should be fine.
The only time that the ammount that you have applied for effects your application is if you quote prices from expensive shops etc.
Given that you sent it on 17/4/12- its likely that you will get a reply in around 10 working days.
as long as you satify all of the other critria, like being on benefit for 26 weeks plus you chould het help.
can you apply for a budgeting loan at the same time as a comunity care grant? i have applyed for a comunity care grant but after reading all these comments im worried i will be turned down for one!! i am moving into my first unfurninshed house with my two children and have no furniture or anything at all for the house
Lola,
you can apply for both at the same time, as long as they are not for the same items
i am looking for address for jobcentre plus as i have lost envelope for ccg form
Depends on where you live.
i think there are some people out there that make every one else look bad its not peoples fault its the goverments fault. if they wood not let any one sign on till there 21 and make young people go to college or school for emi then we wouldt have this problem kids wood get good jobs due to being in trainning or even get sick of going college that they get them self a job. my partner got his very first job lasted year after studying for 4 years he was surposed to start his job this year feb but now that the owner of the place has been locked up all the staff he employed which is over 30 people have been lefted job less. me and my partner have both worked so hard to earn our own money i worked two jobs one day 3 days a week one 4 nights a week my partner worked 5 days in poundland at the same time as studying we paid taxes we paid NI and we earned our own money looking after two young children to and we are young our selfs 22 and 26 so people out there can do it if we can. but i tell you what after doing all that work the job centre refused to help me and my partner out my partner signed on then a week ago they signed him of. theres no one out there that will tell us what we can do about the man that employed my partner then droped him not even the JOB CENTRE. we have rent to pay, two children to feed, bills to pay and even thou we have worked we still need a new bed, carpet for our room and my cooker has broken down what help im i gonna get. stop you all shud stop moaning about it as there are people out there much worse of then you. and the people who say earn your own money well we will see you on here when you lose your fucking job or get fucked over.
Hi, what is the contact number i can ring to track my appliction pls? thanks.
HI i Have been in a rented property since 1st March now i was using my moms furniture as she was moving at the time she is moving into her property in 2 weeks time and i have nothing. I am on Income Support and i am a single parent my child is 13 weeks. I also suffer from postnatal depresion. I need evreything from cutlery to a bed to a cot for my baby boy, also i need a sofa. I am in need of so much and it is getting me down i really didnt want to ask for help as i never do but unfortunatly i have no other choice. PLease get back to me as soon as possible thank you
how long to get a reply from ccg? i wrote ‘urgent’ on my form, will this help? just been rehoused and have no furniture or any household items as me and my children fled d.v and have been living in a womans refuge for over a year. also whats the max they can give you as i have nothing for my new home. thanks
They will grant up to £820 depending on circumstances, and the process is in 3 stages (apply>accept> get paid) each stage can take 10 days.
Hi , I applied for a community care grant last week after moving from spain in december with my 2year old son and living with my parents in a one bedroom house…as you can imagine it is very over crowded. I recently have moved into a property but i have nothing, no furntiure, no curtains or carpets and no white goods.
This is extremely difficult for me especially with a 2 year old son.
Could you tell me when i can expect to hear back with a decision?
Many thanks
it generally takes two weeks to get a reply from the social fund, however you can call and see where they are up to with your application.
Everyone I spoke to this morning refused to tell me why I had been turned down other than to say that ‘I did not meet the criteria.’ I spoke to several people and even asked to speak to a manager but no one would assist me further or provide me with any further information. I feel from what was said by the DM last week that I am being told that because I have been living here for some time I am not technically homeless, therefore there is no urgent need for me to move, even though on my statement I did with the CO I clearly explained that my CPN had advised me to move to enable me to live independently. I feel very strongly that the DM who was handling my case from the beginning has failed to handle my case with due care. I also feel I am being penalised because I did not feel comfortable because of my situation with disclosing the extent of the problems I am living with. I would doubt the letter will come tomorrow but in the meantime I am stuck here and I really cannot take it any more. Do you think if I asked my CPN to call when she is back tomorrow that she might be able to get any further information or failing that help me to apply for a Crisis Loan to a least get me out of here this week until we can get the issue of the CCG sorted out? Do you think I could a least get that in the meantime if she helped me? Thank you.
Hi katrina,
I don’t know that having your CPN call would help to be honest as the DM has already made a formal decision, so were at the stage that we need to look at adding new evidence, OR questioning the reasoning behind the original decision.
If you found a new property to move into you could ask for 1 months rent in advance as a Crisis Loan, when within 48 hours of moving- but again you need to establish that you are homeless. Had you considered applying for a Budgeting loan for the household items?
I posted a note earlier but it isn’t showing up, have I done it wrong?
I suffer from a number of mental and physical health problems. I am under the care of the Community Mental Health Team. I applied for a CCG three weeks ago because I have been living with my mother since suffering a mental breakdown three years ago but cannot continue to do so as her own issues and behaviour is severely affecting my mental health. I suffer from both verbal and physical abuse from her and cannot take it any more. I have been injured several times through her outbursts and extreme mood swings. My CPN advised me to move ASAP and I found a house which I took over the tenancy of nearly three weeks ago. However because of my circumstances and me being on benefits I do not have any furniture etc with which to move in as all the furniture here is my mother’s. So I applied for a grant for essential household items. On 22 March I received a telephone call from SF but they did not leave a message so I called back twice on 22 and then again on 23 to be told by everyone I spoke to that no one had called me and my application had not been received. But then on 24 I received a letter saying they needed more information from me before a decision could be made so they had called me on 22. I called back last Tuesday. It was a very difficult conversation and I did not find the DM very nice to me at all. A short time afterwards someone called to say she was a Compliance Officer and she had been sent to see me to clarify some points on my application. She then came last Thursday. She was very nice and I felt that she could see how difficult my situation was with my mother and that she was sympathetic to my need to move. She even said to me when my mother went out of the room that she could tell the situation was very strained. When she left she said she hoped I would be more settled and happy in my new home leading me to believe that her report would be supportive of my claim. I was shocked therefore after yet another weekend of abuse and violence to be told when I called that my application had been declined. The lady I spoke to on the helpline was rude to me and very unhelpful. I have since tried to speak to someone, anyone to help me, but no one will help and they just keep telling me to wait until the letter arrives in the next few days and then to appeal the decision in writing. But what am I supposed to do in the meantime? This could take at least another couple of weeks and even then not be successful. Meanwhile I have an empty home I have nothing at all to move into with and I am living in an intolerable and abusive situation which is having a serious impact upon my health. I have tried to commit suicide because of all this in the past. I have phoned my CPN today for help but she is on annual leave. Perhaps I did not make it clear just how bad my living situation is or the extent of the abuse I am living with but when you are living in fear and your every move is being watched and controlled it is very hard to be free to explain fully and talk. All of my domestic situation is well documented on my medical records and if my CPN was here I know she would support me. Please could someone help me because I am honestly in a dire situation and I cannot just sit here waiting for letters to arrive and paperwork to be passed back and forth. I really would be so grateful for any help you could give me, please. I just cannot take it here any more.
Hi Katrina,
your situation does sound very difficult, and i am surprised that you were turned down after a compliance visit. Did they give you the statement of reasons ( over the phone)for being turned down?
Technically, you can only appeal a decision that has been served, so even though you learned the outcome of the application via the telephone, you have not officially ben notified of it ( in writing) and as such there is no decision to appeal as yet, hence you being told to wait for the letter.
However, if you do already know EXACTLY why you were turned down, then there is nothing stopping you writing your appeal today. To speed up the process you could take your appeal letter to your local job centre and ask that they fax it to the section that made the decision, asking for a review. This can be carried out in days rather than weeks.
To know what to advise we would need to know exactly why you were refused..
my name is charmaine and im just wondering am i eligble for a grant as ive seen a private rented property which i am interested in im a single parent and the house is only partly furnished i need quiet a bit of things ie washing machine fridge freezer carpets tv ect.
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