Welfare Grants Programme

Be in receipt of one or more of the means-tested benefits listed below:

• Income-based JSA
• Income-related ESA
• Income Support
• Universal Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Working Tax Credit
• Child Tax Credit
• Pension Credit
• Council Tax Support

Have right of residency in the UK.

Applications must be submitted, on-line, by a suitable referring organisation. Suitable referring organisations include: statutory agencies such as social services, NHS professionals, local authorities or the probation service; registered charities and housing associations

Prior to submitting an application on behalf of an applicant you need to ensure they understand how the data will be used and to obtain their consent to their data being processed by Family Action, for the purposes of making an application for a grant from the Fund.  For full details please refer to the Terms and Conditions attached to the on-line application form.

1. Those who do not meet the criteria above.
2. Asylum seekers or those with no recourse to public funds.
3. Employees of the referring organisation and members of their family.
4. Employees of Family Action and members of their family.
5. Applicants with savings of £1,000 or more.

The average grant for essential personal and household needs is likely to be in the region of £200 to a maximum of £300. Grants of up to £1,500 can be made for women’s holidays (depending on the size of the family).

1. Press CTRL and click on this link: https://family-action-trustsearch.org.uk/apply/wel/intro.aspx
2. Enter your email address and click on the link to continue. Please note:  You will not be able to submit an application unless your email address has a suitable domain name such as “org.uk” or “nhs.uk”.  Generic emails such as “gmail.com” are not acceptable.
3. If you are new to the system, the system will ask you a few basic questions about you before creating your account. It will then email you a temporary password.
4. Click on the link provided in the email and follow the instructions to set up your account password.
5. Click “Create a new Welfare application” and complete the application form.
6. The application is saved automatically as you move from one page to another. If you wish to save your application form and return to it later click the save button on the last screen completed.
7. Click “Submit” to send your application to Family Action. Note:  After you click “submit” you will not be able to make changes as you will no longer be able to access the application.

NOTE:  Once you have a password it can be used for all applications.  If you forget your password just follow the instructions on the screen to create a new password.

1. Press CTRL and click on the link provided above.
2. Enter your email address and click on the link.
3. When prompted, enter your password and click on the link.
4. Either click on “create a new application” OR select an incomplete application by clicking on the application number to continue.

Yes, we will require a copy of the applicant’s bank statement, showing their name and means-tested benefit(s) received that is less than three months old (the statement provided should be for the complete month).  If the applicant is only in receipt of Council Tax Support or Housing Benefit, which may not be detailed on their bank statement, we will also require the most recent documentary evidence that they are in receipt of these benefits.

If you are making an application under the “older people” priority group you will also be required to provide evidence of age, e.g. passport or driving licence.

If you are making an application under the “Women living in Greater London” priority group you will also be required to provide evidence that the applicant is recovering from a long physical or mental illness such as a letter from a NHS professional. Please note that recuperative holidays can only be applied for during a course of treatment OR within 6 months of discharge from hospital/end of treatment.

Email the Grants Service at [email protected] detailing your problem and using screen grabs to illustrate your problem, if appropriate.  The grants service will get back to you as quickly as possible. We review all emails and if our automated response does not answer your questions we will reply individually and telephone if necessary if a contact number is provided.

We are only able to offer limited telephone support so in the first instance please email your enquiry to [email protected]. Our telephone helpline is currently open between 1pm to 3pm from Tuesday to Friday. Calls will not be taken outside these hours however you can always email us. 

1. You will immediately receive an automated email providing you with a unique reference number for the application submitted (please quote this number in any future correspondence) and the date of the meeting at which the application will be considered by the grants panel.
2. You will be informed of the grants panel’s decision, by email, within 2 working days of the meeting date at which the application is considered.
3. If the grant application is deferred then you will have 2 weeks in which to provide the information asked for so that the application can be assessed. If the information has not been received within 2 weeks then the application may be made unsuccessful. If you wish to appeal this decision and can supply the information requested when the application was deferred we will be happy to reconsider our decision providing sufficient funds remain available. See below on how to appeal.

Payment of grants to successful applicants will either be made by BACS to the referring organisation OR by an Argos eGift card which will be sent directly to the beneficiary by Argos. If the payment is to be made by Argos eGift card Family Action will email the beneficiary direct with the pin code with which they can activate their eGift card so a personal email address of the beneficiary must be provided on the application form. Argos eGift cards cannot be sent to the referring organisations email address.

The eGift card may be used at any Argos store, or online at www.argos.co.uk

Payment options for Family Action service users are detailed on the application form.

The referring organisation will make the choice as to which payment method is preferred on the application form.

The majority of unsuccessful applications are because the applicant does not meet our eligibility criteria so it is very important to check these before taking the time to submit an application. The other key reason is because funds are not available – we have allocated all the funds.

Eligibility criteria are published on the website where we also publish updates on funds available at any given time so it is important that you read ALL information available on the website before submitting your application.

If your grant application is unsuccessful and you would like us to review our decision we are happy to do so on receipt of an email detailing the reasons why you feel a review is required. In your email please provide the unique reference number of the application in the subject line of the email and send it to [email protected] We will respond to each review request individually as soon as we can which will usually be within 7 working days.

Please note we will only enter into correspondence with the referring organisation that submitted the application.