Grant for furniture etc when leaving care home

Specific disabilities and conditions
1

Hello,

My husband wants to leave the care home in which he has been residing for the last year and a half. He would like to live closer to me. We have completed a housing application form for local authority housing, and my husband has priority status.

My husband’s social worker sent a support plan to accompany the application, and this stipulates the type and level of support he will need. The support will be at quite a high level at first.

Recently, we have bid for one or two properties. They are all unfurnished, so we asked the social worker if help is available to furnish properties if people are moving out of residential care. The social worker said we need to try sites such as ‘freecycle’ to see if we can pick up a bed or white goods. The problem is, I do not drive and cannot pay for transporting these items. Another problem is that there is no guarantee that anyone will be giving away the items we need when we need them.

When my eldest son moved from residential accommodation to supported living, I am sure he had a small grant so he could get some basic furniture and essential equipment like a microwave and a fridge. Does anyone know if these grants are still available?

2

You could try Turn2Us to see what grants might be available

Alternatively the Salvation Army used to provide second hand essential furniture items to families starting out - but not sure if they still do.

Plus the British Heart Foundation furniture charity shops usually have a good selection of second hand (and sometimes new) furniture and white goods at very low prices - plus they also deliver for a small fee. Certainly worth checking out if you have one near you.

3

Hi @Janet_1601
I seem to recall @Coolcar98 looking into grants for her Mum. I think the council can give small grants but you need to apply well in advance. They won’t pay out in retrospect.

4

Have a look at Shelter’s website.

5

Thank you. These are really helpful ideas. I will make the necessary enquiries.

1 Like
6

Let us know how you get on.