Anyone struggling financially with the current restrictions might be able to apply for a grant from the discretionary assistance fund. The following information will explain what’s available and who’s eligible.
Overview
The Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF) provides grants to people in Wales. Furthermore, grants do not need to be paid back.
Do I Qualify?
The Individual Assistance Payment (IAP)
To be eligible to apply for this, you, or the person you care for must be getting either:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
You, or the person you care for, must also be:
- Leaving an institution such as a hospital, care home or prison after having lived there for three or more consecutive months (or on a frequent or regular basis), or
- Planning to care for someone leaving an institution as described above and neither of you can afford to meet their needs, or
- Needing help that could correspondingly stop admittance to an institution, or
- Part of a planned resettlement after a period of homelessness or leaving supported accommodation, or
- Experiencing exceptional and urgent pressures on your household, for example, due to domestic violence, chronic illness, disability or an accident, or
- In need of help with a one-off or short-term travel expense, which is also essential to you continuing to live independently.
The Emergency Assistance Payment (EAP)
To be eligible to apply for this, you must:
- Not have the money to meet your needs which have come about as a result of the emergency or disaster, and
- Have no other way to get the money, and
- Think there will be serious damage or indeed a risk to your family’s health and safety if you don’t get awarded an Emergency Assistance Payment.
How Do I Apply?
You will usually need support from your local authority or another organisation such as a housing association to make a claim to the Discretionary Assistance Fund.
You can find your local authority’s contact details by using the gov.wales website. Furthermore, if you decide to apply directly to the Discretionary Assistance Fund, you can use the Discretionary Assistance Fund form on the gov.wales website.
We hope you found the article “The Discretionary Assistance Fund” useful. To read more of our Covid-19-related stories, please click here.
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