Support accessing appointments during COVID-19

Family Fund

• Provide grants to help families across the UK who are raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young person aged 17 or under.
• Grants often provided for tablets and computers.

Everyone Can

• Provide assistive technology (any technology which can assist or help with everyday tasks and challenges) to people with disabilities, including children and young people.
• People with disabilities can self-refer or be referred by others for an assessment.

Guide Dogs

• Parents and young people with sight loss can apply for a grant towards the cost of access technology, including laptops, tablets and computers.
• Grant criteria

Turn 2 Us

• Database of charities that offer non-repayable grants to help individuals on low incomes.
• Offers search function based on individual’s circumstances.

Disability Grants

Disability Grants also provides a guide to charities which have been known to fund ipads/tablets in the past or may consider applications.

Get Online @ Home

• Information provided by choose.co.uk
• Get Online @ Home supplies refurbished desktop PCs from £99, laptops from £169 and Windows 10 tablets from £139. Customers are eligible if any of the following apply:
  • They are a charity registered in the UK
  • They part of a low-income family that receives state benefits
  • They live in a community with “limited access” to technology
  • They have a disability
• If a customer is looking to switch their broadband supplier at the same time, it’s also possible to get these machines even cheaper. Get Online @ Home have a deal with Carphone Warehouse where people who sign up to one of the approved ISPs can get a PC or Netbook free of charge, or a refurbished laptop for £59.
• Customers who do not meet eligibility criteria can still purchase the refurbished equipment, but at a slightly higher price.

Anyone who receives one of the following benefits could get BT Basic:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Pensions Credit (Guaranteed Credit)
• Employment and Support Allowance (Income related)
• Universal Credit, with zero earnings
• £5.16 per month for just phone calls, or £10.07 per month for phone calls and broadband.
• The broadband has a 10Mb average download speed and is limited to 15GB usage per month. Customers will be charged for going over their limit.

Turn 2 Us

• Database of charities that offer non-repayable grants to help individuals on low incomes.
• Offers search function based on individuals’ circumstances.

The Charity Commission

• Search for particular charities according to personal circumstances.

Disability Grants UK – grants for children and grants for families

• Information and database of charities providing grants to disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.

Citizens Advice

CA advise the following if you cannot afford to pay for phone, mobile, internet or TV bills:

• You should be able to get help from most providers.
• Contact your provider and ask what they can do to help. For example, they might agree to help you by:
• reducing your bill
• giving you more time to pay
• increasing your data or download limit
• moving you to a contract that suits your needs better

If your provider won’t help you, you might be able to switch to a different provider. If you owe money to your old provider when you switch, you’ll still have to pay them.