The Health and Social Care Involvement Fund is a source of funding available to local voluntary and community groups, and to individuals. It aims to help these groups to break down the barriers to getting people involved in the health and social regeneration of their community and in influencing the provisions of service.

These barriers can be very varied and can include problems around childcare or support to look after someone who is dependant on you, travel expenses to attend meetings, or the need for interpreters to help you understand the speakers or for them to understand you.

What does the Fund aim to do?

To enable these barriers to involvement in the development and planning of health and social care service to be broken down.

To enable local people to become actively involved and empowered to make changes in their community and influence the health and social aspects of their community.

To support local voluntary and community groups in encouraging hard to reach groups of individuals to become involved in these activities.

What grant is available?

Any sized grant will be considered up to a maximum of £1500. Applications over this amount will be considered if they if they can show evidence of partnership working and have been submitted in partnership with at least one other group or organisation.

What can the money be spent on?

All applications will be considered which can show that they are helping to break down the barriers to involvement. These could include applications for the following:

Expense to attend meetings	Childcare
Interpreters/signers	Training
Specialised equipment	Transport
Carers support needs	Access to information
Funding for community-led initiatives	Specialised consultants for specific groups/areas of involvement

Who can apply for a grant?

• Any community or voluntary group representing the needs of, or providing services for, communities
• Any individuals wishing to attend activities organised by these groups.
• Groups linked to statutory bodies (e.g. tenants and residents associations), but they must prove that the money they are requesting is not to provide a statutory service.
• Statutory services where the beneficiary of the application is communities or individuals, e.g. PCTs wishing to enable individuals to participate in their community involvement activities. However, the money requested from these organisations must be for breaking down barriers to involvement, not for providing the activity itself

Applications will receive priority if they are aimed at involving hard to reach groups, including people from ethnic minority groups, people who have difficulty leaving their homes or people that have particular requirements to enable them to become involved (i.e. sign language interpreters, provision of information in an accessible format etc.). Priority will also be given to applications that target specific geographical areas which are disadvantaged or isolated.

Who do you contact?

For further information or an application pack

Contact:
Ann Kelsey
Patient and Public Involvment Manager
Doncaster PCT
White Rose House
Ten Pound Walk
Doncaster
DN4 5DJ
Tel: 01302 320 111

An application for and guidance notes can be downloaded directly from the Doncaster PCT website: www.doncasterpct.nhs.uk

updated 21/04/08

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