New Online Scheme To Help Families Caring For Sick And Disabled Children, Wales

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 05 Jul 2009 - 0:00 PST

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Help for families with sick and disabled children in Wales is now available at the click of a mouse, Deputy Minister for Social Services Gwenda Thomas will announce.

Ms Thomas will officially launch a new online scheme from the Family Fund Trust called Family Fund Extra, which gives disabled children's families discounts at leading retailers.

More than a hundred companies are signed up to the scheme including Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Comet, Argos, Boots and Haven Holidays.

General shoppers can also buy through www.familyfundextra.org.uk and raise money for the Family Fund Trust at the same time. The Trust receives commission on every purchase which can then be re-distributed as grants to help families.

The Trust provides financial support and information to families for a range of things including holidays, transport, household equipment and driving lessons.

Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas, said:

"All parents have a demanding job raising children. Families with disabled children are more likely to be in poverty because of the higher costs involved in bringing up a child with a disability and the loss of income associated with either being a lone parent or in two parent families the need, in many cases, for one of the parents to give up work.

"The Family Fund Trust is able to provide the extra help needed for things that make such a difference to everyday life - such as holidays, washing machines and even driving lessons for carers. These are things the household income cannot cover and statutory agencies do not help with."

The Welsh Assembly Government helps fund the Trust providing £2.6 million in 2008-09 and £2.7 million for 2009-10.

Ms Thomas added:

"I am delighted that the Trust is now able to help all disabled children and young people and their families across Wales through their new online scheme Family Fund Extra.

"This scheme has the potential to make a real difference. The more people that use this service, the more money the Family Fund Trust receives."

The launch of the Family Fund Extra scheme is part of a series of 24 special events to mark the half-way point of the Welsh Assembly Government's One Wales programme.

Notes

- Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas, will officially launch the Family Fund Extra scheme at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay at 5pm on Thursday, 2 July.

- The Family Fund Trust (FFT) was set up by the UK Government in 1973 to give practical help to families with severely disabled and seriously ill children under the age of 16. For over 20 years the FFT operated under the wing of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, but in 1996 it became an independent charity.

- Since 1998 the FFT has been funded by the national governments of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and provides care services across the whole of the UK, one of the few publicly funded bodies to do so.

- The Trust extended the age range in Wales last year to include children and young people up to the age of 18. And as of 1 April 2009, the age limit was raised in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland to match Wales.

- The FFT provides grants and information in relation to the care of the child including holidays, transport, household equipment and driving lessons to families of severely disabled children up to the age of 18. During the 2007-08 financial year, the Family Fund Trust distributed £28.7m in grants to families 48,000 across the UK, helping almost 3000 families in Wales.

- The FFT is almost entirely funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the devolved administrations. The FFT received £22.773m grant funding in 2006-07 from DCSF, and a further £7.3m from the devolved administrations.

- The Welsh Assembly Government funding to the FFT for 2008-09 was £2.652m and for 2009-10 is £2.739m.

- Family Fund Extra is a new online buying and lifestyle club which helps disabled children's families to make their money go further. It does this by giving all families with disabled children, as well as disabled young people themselves, online discounts of up to 25% from leading retailers such as Argos, Comet and Haven Holidays.

Source
Welsh Assembly Government