Charities that support carers

Some charities and trusts have specific grants and funds for carers. Others don’t but may help towards the cost of essential household items, equipment and breaks for the person you care for which will in turn benefit you.

Download our latest grants and other sources of funding guide

For a list of charities and trusts that might be able to help you or the person you care for have a look at our guide Grants and Other Sources of Funding.

Finding funds with Turn2us

You can also search for suitable charitable funds  using the Turn2us Grants Search. It has details of around 3,000 funds.

Turn2us Response Fund to help with financial hardship caused by life-changing event

The Turn2us Response Fund helps support people when they have had a life-changing event in the last 12 months which has left them in financial hardship. Grants are provided for specific needs which are essential to financial stability, wellbeing and independence, to maintain normal daily living.

How to apply

You can apply to the Turn2us Response Fund if you are in financial hardship and meet the eligibility criteria of the fund. Applications to the Turn2us Response Fund must be made through one of the Turn2us intermediary partners, who will check that you are eligible to apply to the fund and then complete an application. To apply, check if your local carer service is an intermediary partner and can help you apply.

What is a charitable fund?

Charitable funds are usually run by charities or organisations and will have their own rules about who they help. Most will help people on low incomes who have something in common, such as:

• Working or having worked in a particular profession or industry.
• Having a disability or illness.
• Being a member of a faith.
• Having a certain nationality.
• Living in a particular area of the UK.
• Belonging to a specific age group, for example, ‘older people’ or ‘children and young people 0-18 years.
• Struggling with situations such as homelessness, unemployment, relationship breakdown, bereavement, addiction or fuel poverty.

Many funds also help the dependents of people their fund supports, for example their partners, ex-partners or children.

What help do charitable funds give?

Each charitable fund is different but most give grants and some may offer other services as well:

• Grants - A grant is a sum of money, given as a gift or award, so it doesn't have to be paid back. Grants that may be available include regular amounts of money to help you with your bills and other living expenses, one-off grants to help you pay for items or services you need (such as household goods, furniture disability equipment or house repairs), educational grants to help with the costs of educational and training courses, or funding to improve your job prospects or quality of life, for example, respite breaks and travelling expenses.
• Other services and support – larger charities might offer counselling, financial advice and debt counselling, or housing services.

Thanks to Bridget McCall (Turn2us Information Specialist) for helping us write this page. You can find out more about welfare benefits, charitable grants and support services on the Turn2us website.