Applying for grants

Who can apply?

The BKPA offers financial assistance to adults and children at any stage of treatment if kidney disease is having a serious impact on quality of life and they are struggling on a low income.

What might the BKPA pay for?

Financial aid
We can help with the cost of domestic bills such as car insurance and tax, heating costs, telephone installations and television licences. We may also help with the purchase of domestic goods like washing machines and carpets.

Travel costs
If you can't recover the cost of travel to your hospital via your kidney unit, we may be able to help you if you have to visit regularly and have to travel a long way. We don't help with costs of getting to ongoing dialysis.

Further education and training
We may be able to cover the cost of university or college fees where appropriate, or the cost of books, equipment, lodgings or other expenses involved with educational and job opportunities.

Holidays
We give grants to individuals and families towards the cost of a basic holiday in the UK or overseas. The grant can be used to cover the total cost if it is modest, or it can be used as a contribution towards the final cost of the holiday. We also fund children's activity holidays.

What can't the BKPA help with?
It's important to remember that we can't reimburse patients for bills already paid. In addition, we don't give grants for:

• telephone bills
• court fines
• improvements to a patient's home eg showers, stair lifts, central heating
• credit card and loan repayments
• medical equipment such as wheel chairs
• council tax payments
• reimbursement for loss of items due to theft

How to apply for financial aid

You'll need to contact your kidney unit social worker as all applications for financial aid should come to us on a grant form completed by your social worker or a member of your kidney care team. Your kidney unit social worker will have a copy of our grant application form, but it can also be downloaded below:

	Web Version (Complete in Adobe Acrobat Reader and save)
	Printable Version (Print off and complete)

For a copy of the leaflet Applying for Financial Aid - Guidelines for social workers, click here.
For a copy of the leaflet Applying for Financial Aid - Information for patients, click here.