Staff Hardship Fund

If you would like to donate to the Staff Hardship Fund, please consider donating here or donating monthly. More information on how to apply for a grant if you are facing financial difficulties and work for Surrey and Borders is below.

We launched our Staff Hardship Fund as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. When NHS staff here at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust face a change in circumstances which causes urgent financial hardship, we want to be able to help. Because the wellbeing of people working in the NHS directly affects their ability to deliver high standards of care to the people who use our services. Colleagues employed on a substantive contract who need help with short-term funding due to an exceptional issue can apply for a grant of up to £500 in any one year.

Hardship definition

Hardship is defined as something or circumstances that have caused difficult or unpleasant conditions of life – an example might be financial hardship causing a person or people (e.g. a family unit) hunger and suffering, deprivation, oppression or a lack of comfort as a result.

Hardship Fund grants can be considered for all types of reasons such as, but not limited to, the following costs such as:

• childcare
• travel
• general living costs, such as rent, food, utilities, and clothing.

Consideration can be given for grants to help meet exceptional costs, such as:

• repairs to or replacement of essential household equipment
• assistance with reasonable priority debts
• other emergency situations

Information to consider

• The aim is to help as many people as possible in hardship and grants can only be awarded up to the value in the available fund.
• These grants are only available to people employed by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, who are facing urgent financial need.
• Please note that households with savings in excess of £4000 will not be eligible for the grant (this includes the savings of a partner with whom a staff member is cohabiting and contributes financially to the household).
• There are other Trust policies that support relocation, sickness, and leave provisions which should be reviewed prior to making an application.
• The Hardship fund will not be able to provide financial assistance to meet every identified need. However, each person’s circumstances will be fully considered and awards tailored to maximise support. When considering whether to grant an award, an assessment will be made on the severity of the hardship and to what extent you have already taken steps to try and alleviate the hardship i.e. contacted your union for support, Citizens Advice, the Employee Assistance Programme and reprioritised your expenditure.
• Applications will be promptly reviewed by the Director of Workforce, Cheryl Newsome, and Chief Operating Officer, Lorna Payne.  All applications are treated confidentially and with discretion - your name will only be known to the Charity team, a wellbeing colleague and a finance colleague (necessary for responding to your application), but will be removed from the form which goes to the assessing panel, to protect your privacy.

Before you apply

1. Before applying for a hardship grant, we ask that you first make contact with the Surrey and Borders non-clinical wellbeing team at OccupationalHealthandWellbeing@sabp.nhs.uk, this is required before a grant application can be considered.
2. Staff who are struggling are encouraged to access help via the Trust's intranet wellbeing support hub (This will work for Surrey and Borders colleagues and take you to our internal intranet). The hub contains a full section on financial support, benefits, debt advice and more.
3. We also encourage colleagues to look at Surrey County Council's cost of living Directory of Support.
4. You can also contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau as they are well-versed in supporting people in need.

Next steps

• Check the examples below of the types of requests that would be eligible for a grant and examples that would not be accepted. These examples are not exhaustive. 

• Review the information and instructions above and if you still need urgent help, please complete the electronic request form below providing all the required information (this can also be found by searching ‘Staff Hardship Fund’ on the intranet)

Applying for support from our Hardship Fund (This will work for Surrey and Borders colleagues and take you to our internal intranet) 

Payment

If your application is successful, payment of the grant may be made in one of the following ways: 
1.    Payment for goods/services may be made direct to the supplier 
2.    Payments to reduce/clear debts may be made direct to the creditor or, if appropriate, payment will be made out to the creditor and sent direct to the grant recipient. 
3.    Payments needed to meet everyday expenditure may be made direct to the individual via BACS transfer. 

Donations to the Hardship Fund are designated for use for the purpose of providing hardship grants to staff in unexpected financial crisis. If at some stage in the future the hardship grants scheme is no longer needed, or funds cannot be used in this way, any money remaining in this fund will be used for other charitable activities for the people we support and staff across Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

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