FAQs
Click on these questions to get answers to your frequently asked questions.
Every applicant needs to upload:
- A Support Worker statement written to support your application
- Medical evidence confirming diagnosis (if relevant to your circumstances). This must be in the form of a statement from your doctor, hospital or other medical professional confirming your condition.
Please provide the following additional supporting documents if you are applying for:
Priority debts (such as including Gas, Electric, Water and Council Tax):
- Your most recent statement - showing amount owed and payments made toward the debt
- Details of debt advice received from a debt advice agency such as Step Change, Citizens Advice, National Debtline, Christians Against Poverty (CAP), or a local money and debt advice agency in your area.
Bankruptcy:
- Evidence of debt advice from debt advice agency such as Citizens Advice, Step Change, National Debtline, or a local debt advice agency in your area, confirming bankruptcy as the best course of action.
Flooring:
- Images of the priority room or area you want to have floored/ carpeted
- A formal estimate from a supplier/ fitter for the priority floor
- Evidence of your medical condition, for example a GP or hospital letter confirming your diagnosis (where applying on grounds of having a medically diagnosed chronic physical health condition or a medically diagnosed severe and enduring mental health condition)
Training and tools:
- Details of the tools or training course
Disability aid:
- Details of the disability aid
Minor home repairs or garden improvements:
- Formal estimate of repair costs
- Images of the proposed repair.
Rent arrears:
- A rent account statement for the previous 6 months which shows arrears
- Tenancy Agreement
- Evidence of debt advice
- Evidence of legal action by landlord
Yes, you can apply for help to pay for floor coverings, on condition you meet the following criteria:
- children under 5 years old must live at the property with the applicant or
- the applicant or someone living at the property must have a medically diagnosed chronic physical health condition or
- the applicant or someone living at the property must have a medically diagnosed severe and enduring mental health condition
You will need to provide:
- Images of the priority room or area you want to have floored/ carpeted
- A quote from a supplier/fitter
- Evidence of your medical condition, for example a doctors or hospital letter confirming your diagnosis (where applying on grounds of having a medically diagnosed chronic physical health condition or a medically diagnosed severe and enduring mental health condition)
Please be advised that it is the responsibility of the applicant and referrer to ensure that the chosen supplier/fitter is genuine and solvent. We are unable to reissue grants if the supplier/fitter fails to deliver the contract.
If successful, our policy is to pay funds for flooring direct to the supplier/fitter.
We are unable to provide funds for goods or services already purchased.
By linking your bank accounts through Open Banking in Lightning Reach this gives us access to view the last 3 months of your statements only (from the date that you connected). We cannot view any other time period, or make any changes to your account. Please provide the email addresses of any other adults in your household as they will need to do this too.
Is it safe to connect my bank account through Lightning Reach?
Lightning Reach uses the latest technology to process your information in a secure way. It is safer to transfer information through Lightning Reach than via email or post. You can read more about this safety here. A demo of how to connect is here.
What if I don’t connect my bank account through Lightning Reach?
If you do not have online banking, we will accept a PDF of a full month’s bank statement no more than two months old (for the account your income goes into). We do not accept screenshots.
If you receive a grant from us, you will need to wait for 12 months before you are able to apply to the National Benevolent Charity again.
However, there are other organisations you might be eligible to apply to – for example, you may have been matched with other grants through the Lightning Reach portal, or you can search on the Turn2Us grants database.
We do not provide funds for goods or services already purchased.
We do not currently offer emergency help.
Our policy is to award grants based on all the available information and in good faith. The budget we have available at the time of decision will also be a factor in some decisions. Therefore, our decision to award or not to award and the value is our decision alone and is not subject to complaint by the applicant or referrer. Consequently, there are no appeals basis in these circumstances.
Most eligible applicants who supply all the information requested are successful and receive a grant, however we cannot help everyone who applies and unfortunately we do refuse some applications.
If we ask for further information we will do so via our Lightning Reach partner. Please respond to messages and upload additional documents through Lightning Reach – Lightning Reach will accept photographs, pdfs, or jpegs. We do not accept postal applications.
We respond to applicants in date order. During busy periods this may mean a delay of 5 working days. But we will get back to you!
Your Support Worker must be an independent person who is professionally involved with you for example a Charity Advice or Support Worker, Social Worker, Housing Officer, Money Advice Worker, CAB Advisor, Health Visitor etc.
They should write a statement or letter which should include:
- a description of your current circumstances
- what you are applying for
- how they are professionally involved with you
- that they support your application
No. We have limited funds, and we try to ensure that our funds go to those most in need. Applications through Lightning Reach cannot be submitted without your Support Worker’s contact details and their statement of support uploaded.
Households can only have one successful application per twelve months and no more than three successful applications in a five year period.
We normally supply a voucher via Select Rewards. You will be able to redeem the voucher online or in store with various retail outlets. We can pay suppliers direct or pay a third party such as a utility company. In exceptional circumstances only, we may pay cash to the supporting organisation or to the applicant. We try to be flexible and make sure that a grant is awarded in the most appropriate way.
If you are applying for yourself, you will need a valid email address to use the Lightning Reach portal and receive notifications of correspondence. If you do not already have an email address, we suggest that you set up a Hotmail or Gmail email address for the purposes of your application.
If you are applying for someone else as a Support Worker then correspondence can go to you and the applicant does not need to provide an email address (although it is still recommended). Please do not use made up email addresses or work colleagues email addresses for applicants.
No, applications can only be made via Lightning Reach. If you are having difficulties, please contact your Support Worker to ask for assistance or try the following:
- Use a different browser
- Refresh your browser
If you need to contact a member of the grants team, please do so through Lightning Reach, supplying as much information as possible of the type of issue you are experiencing.
If you have a technical issue, please contact the Lightning Reach helpdesk hello@lightningreach.org
Provided you have supplied all the information we have requested, and your application is not for an exceptional item, we can usually decide within 15 working days (i.e. roughly 3 weeks). Applications for exceptional items may take up to six weeks.
We will contact you via the Lightning Reach portal and you will receive a notification via email.
We only phone applicants in exceptional circumstances.
We aim to provide an initial response within 10 working days (i.e. roughly 2 weeks) but during busy periods this could take a little longer. If you have not heard from us, please check your junk mail or spam.
