Financial support

When you’re struggling with kidney disease, we understand that the additional pressures of trying to make ends meet on a low income can make life very difficult. Our grants are intended to help you with essentials or to help improve your overall quality of life.

Who can apply for a Kidney Care UK grant

We provide financial support to low-income families, who are significantly impacted by kidney disease to the extent it seriously affects your health and wellbeing.

You must have an eGFR of less than 29% or be a transplant recipient. This includes those on dialysis or receiving conservative care.

All of the following must also apply:

• Be a legal resident of the UK.
• Be over the age of 18 or have an adult or guardian apply on your behalf.
• Have a UK bank account and provide a summary of your household finances.
• Have the support of a healthcare professional referrer. This can be your renal social worker, consultant, or a member of your kidney team.

Please contact us directly to discuss how we may be able to help, even if you don’t otherwise meet our eligibility criteria for a grant. We offer a range of free services and may be able to provide advice or support.

While we can’t guarantee every application, we will always do our best to help where we can.

If you do not have a renal social worker or other healthcare professional referrer, please contact us.

What we can fund

We provide grants to give a helping hand for a variety of situations, such as:

• Replacing essential household items including furniture or kitchen appliances
• Enabling home dialysis by providing practical storage or comfortable seating
• Contribution towards mobility aids
• Travel costs to specialist hospital appointments out of area
• Meeting the additional needs to maintain a warm, safe home
• Contribution towards a much-needed holiday or respite break
• Supporting training, education, or equipment to help your wellbeing or to gain employment

What we can’t fund

We are unable to consider grants for the following:

• Payments towards phone bills, water bills, medical equipment, home improvements, building work, or other alteration costs.
• Payments towards council tax payments, fines, credit card or loan repayments.
• Funding which involves ongoing financial commitments
• Purchase of a car or similar vehicle
• Cost of travel insurance or dialysis when on holiday, either in the UK or abroad

These examples are a guide but all Kidney Care UK grants are discretionary, and the charity’s decision is final.

Please always wait for a decision about your grant as we are unable to reimburse you for any goods, services or deposits that you have already been paid.

How to apply

Download a copy of our grant application form and fill it out.

Your application will need to be supported by a healthcare professional referrer, this can be your renal social worker, transplant consultant, or a member of your kidney team. They should complete the referrer section of your application form and provide a letter of support on the hospitals headed paper confirming your eGFR or transplant status.

If you do not have a renal social worker or healthcare professional referrer to support your application, please contact our grants team before applying.

Please send your completed application along with any supporting information to the grants team at Kidney Care UK by post or email.

Need some extra support? We are committed to making our application process as accessible as possible. If you have any questions or need any additional support with your application, please call our Grants team on 01420 541 424.

What happens next

Once we have your completed application, it will be received by the grants team and you will usually receive a decision within three to four weeks.

If successful we will send you a grant award confirmation letter with details of how you will receive your grant.

If your application is incomplete or missing any information, we may need to contact you, your renal social worker or referrer for more details. This may mean it will take a bit longer.

How we review grant applications

Our aim is to support as many people as possible but there is huge demand for financial help and our support is limited. All Kidney Care UK grants are discretionary, and the charity’s decision is final.

We have income and savings thresholds to help us determine those most in need, but we consider each application on its own merits. We do take in to account any awards made previously.

We are only able to contribute towards reasonably priced items and our contribution should either purchase the goods or services outright or make a significant contribution toward the overall cost.

Where possible, we will always pay the supplier of the goods, or services directly. Personal payments are provided only in exceptional circumstances.

For more information, please contact us.

How can I say thank you

We are often asked by grant recipients who want to say thank you or find out how they can support our work at Kidney Care UK. Some people choose to support us by joining in with fundraising activities or by leaving a gift in their will.

Many people choose to write a personal letter to share their experience. Sharing your story with few photographs can be incredibly helpful in helping us to show donors how our grants make a positive and lasting difference in people’s lives.

If you have received a grant and feel comfortable sharing how it has improved your quality of life please email [email protected] or write to us at Kidney Care UK, 3-4 The Windmills, St. Mary’s Close, Alton, GU34 1EF.