Provides grants for sporting or leisure activities for physically disabled wheelchair users.

https://brucewaketrust.co.uk/

The Charlie & Carter Foundation (CCF) provides financial support to parents of seriously ill children with life limiting conditions that require 24 hour nursing care or specialist nursing facilities. Their services will directly pay your mortgage, rent, gas, electricity, provide food vouchers, petrol card, basically help with your day to day living expenses. The foundation will cover a period of three months within their one payment budget

https://thecharlieandcarterfoundation.co.uk/

This won't be for everyone, but we were concerned that our son wouldn't cope well if he were to get Chicken Pox, so we decided to get him vaccinated. The vaccination isn't available on the NHS, but you can get it through Boots and other private healthcare providers. It isn't that cheap, Boots currently charge £140 for a full vaccination, but we decided it was worth paying, compared to if we and our son were to have to deal with him having Chicken Pox instead.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/chickenpox-vaccine/

https://www.boots.com/services/health-pharmacy-advice/vaccinations/chickenpox-vaccination-service

You can apply for a needs assessment from your local Children with Disabilities Service (part of the social care department) to see what help they may be able to offer both your child and you as a carer.

To find out how to apply in your local area, enter your details here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-needs-assessment-social-services

After applying they'll normally get back to you within 48hrs, telephoning to discuss why you think you need an assessment and telling you the next steps. If it's determined that you meet the eligibility criteria to have a full assessment, a social worker will arrange to visit you within 10 working days to complete the assessment (it is a requirement that they see your child as part of the assessment). The social worker will meet with you to discuss your situation, what help you would like and what they might be able to provide you. They will discuss things like your child's care needs, the affect this has on your life and the support network you have. They will complete the assessment within 45 days. Their report will be shared with you and any needs Identified will be developed with you into a child and family support plan.

To many the idea of volunteering to be assessed by a social worker might seem strange, but they can be an excellent way of accessing support services and finding out about assistance that you didn't even know was available. (Support available can include support from an allocated social worker or a child & family worker (CFW), direct payments that enable parents and carers to employ a personal assistant (PA) to support their disabled child and allow some breaks from caring, home care support or support to access the community through a specialist care agency, overnight short breaks, specialist assessments and behavioural support through organisations such as Aspens, access to targeted short breaks provisions, including after school clubs, Saturday clubs and holiday play schemes). Also your report from this assessment can be helpful when applying for other support, such as in a DLA application.

ClearVision is a postal lending library of children’s books in print, braille and tactile books, designed to be shared by visually impaired, sighted children and adults. They lend books all across the UK and Ireland.

http://www.clearvisionproject.org/

Disability and Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Repair (DEPHER) provides vulnerable people with access to affordable and vital emergency works. It relies on public donations to cover all labour and materials, provides free services during winter months and discounted during summer.

When funding is available they are able to offer partial or fully discounted costs on emergency works which include the following: Gas leaks, No heating, No hot water

https://www.depher.com/

Disability Grants is a website that lists a massive number of grants that are available throughout the UK. It also has various other information and resources about various disabilities and a map of holiday caravans that are owned by charities around the UK.

https://www.disability-grants.org/holiday-caravans-for-the-disabled.html

https://www.disability-grants.org/

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust offers four day sailing adventures for 8-17 and 18-24 year olds who have been treated for cancer and also for their siblings.

https://www.ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org/

Formerly known as The Aidis Trust, Everyone Can is a charity which has been doing everything it can so that people living with disabilities are able to control their home environment, communicate, and in short, live their lives with as much ease and independence as possible.

They have been able to transform the lives of hundreds of disabled people by matching them with the best-suited and most innovative assistive technology.

They will conduct an assessment, initially over the phone, but then in person if required, to see what assistive technology would be best suited to help improve your life.

After the assessment they will write up a report which documents the specific equipment or software settings that will really make a positive difference to the disabled person’s life. Unfortunately they aren’t able to fund the technology that they suggest but they will do everything they can to help you find funders or suggest funding options.

They also host regular gaming sessions at their headquarters in Manchester and hold free Assistive Technology training workshops.

https://www.everyonecan.org.uk/

There are many national and local Facebook groups focussed on SEND children and their carers. Just search for the relevant

condition and add your town or area if you want to find one that's more locally focussed. Facebook is then pretty good at

recommending other relevant groups. They can be a great place to ask questions as there will normally be someone who has already been through what you are going through to offer advice. It can also be really useful to see what other people are saying / asking so you can learn from their experiences and if nothing else, just realise that there are others out there going through similar things to you. They're normally well moderated and are usually private groups, so you'll have to apply to join and have your membership approved by a moderator before being able to access them.

There are also a variety of groups offering support and advice to those applying for DLA (Disability Living Allowance) and EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans).

There are also quite a few groups dedicated to special needs equipment and people selling equipment that they no longer need. Some of this equipment can be extremely expensive to buy new and you can save a lot of money when buying second hand. Just search for “Special needs equipment UK” and select the relevant group.

Your local council will often be able to supply you with a larger or additional general waste bin (wheelie bin) if you meet certain criteria. (Our local council's criteria are: Households with five or more permanent residents, households with three or more children in nappies, households with medical needs. Medical needs could be for example having an older child who still wears nappies).

Once we applied our council asked us to prove that we needed the larger bin by leaving all our extra rubbish that would not fit in our regular sized wheelie bin by the side of our bin for two consecutive bin collections. The bin collectors are supposed to assess this, but I would recommend that you take pictures of what you've left out as we initially had our application refused (apparently due to no extra rubbish being left out), but as soon as I provided them with pictures of what we had left out, we had our application approved.

There doesn't seem to be any national guidance on this so Google your local council and apply for larger / additional bin.

You can find your local council here: https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council

JubyLee Bakes is an award winning bakery company run by a group of young people with special needs.

LEAP offers a free energy and money-saving service for people who are in or at risk of falling into fuel poverty. They can come to your home and fit free LED light bulbs and draught-proofing measures to help cut your energy usage. They can also check that you are on the most cost-effective tariff for you and tell you more about other funding you might be able to access for further energy-saving home improvements. If you would benefit from a free money advice consultation they can also arrange this too.

You are eligible for help from LEAP if you are in receipt of certain benefits, on a low income, have one of a defined list of medical conditions or a physical or sensory disability. It is open to all types of householders, whether you own your own home, are a private renter or a social housing tenant.

LEAP Appliances is an initiative to support fuel poor and vulnerable households through the replacement of old, inefficient fridges, freezers, fridge-freezers, washing machines, and cookers with modern, efficient alternatives.

https://applyforleap.org.uk/

The Little Princess Trust provide real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people (both girls and boys) who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment and other conditions.

https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/

Since 1969 the DLF has been providing free impartial advice and information on solutions, gadgets, adaptations and aids to make life easier. Their website hosts the Largest Aids to Daily Living Database in Europe with information on over 10,000 products with direct links to around 1,000 suppliers. They cover help with Leisure & Play, Communicating, Health & Personal Care and more.

https://livingmadeeasy.org.uk/

Portage is a home-visiting educational service for pre-school children with SEND and their families. They offer advice, support and learning through structured play. They're very highly regarded, but as with lots of support services they can often have quite a long waiting list.

https://www.portage.org.uk/about/what-portage

The Sick Children's Trust has "Homes from Home" at 10 locations across England that give families a free place to stay while their child is in hospital.

https://www.sickchildrenstrust.org/

Singing hands offer a variety of Makaton signing courses and workshops, both in person and online, for age ranges from babies to young adults.

https://singinghands.co.uk/

Is an NHS dental referral service for patients with special needs and those who have difficulty accessing General Dental Services. They also provide dental treatment on a domiciliary basis for housebound people and training in Oral Health Care.

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/dental-treatment-for-people-with-special-needs/

Or do a Google search for your local Health Authority and Special Care Dental Services.

Alternatively you can phone 0300 311 2233 to find out what services are available in your local area.

Super Siblings UK is a charity that supports siblings who have brothers and/or sisters with additional needs. Their aim is to build a strong, kind, caring and supportive community for all families who understand what it’s like to live with, and support a child that has additional needs, as well as extending their support to all parents, grandparents and guardians.

https://www.supersiblings.org/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Supersiblingsuk

The Sunflower Scheme aims to bring awareness and visibility to non-visible disabilities. By wearing a Sunflower Lanyard you can easily make others aware that you are someone you care for has a hidden disability. We have found that this can make you feel much more comfortable when out and about and that you don't feel the constant need to be explaining yourself to others. Some settings will have staff who are specially trained to offer extra assistance to those who need it.

You can also enter your postcode on their website to find local places with people who are trained to recognise and support those wearing a Sunflower Lanyard who have hidden disabilities:

https://hiddendisabilitiesstore.com/find-the-sunflower/

"Tree of Hope is the crowdfunding charity that helps children and young people with a disability or illness by supporting their families to raise the money they need to pay for specialist care that is not freely available through the UK healthcare system."

https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/

Watersure is a scheme which caps your water bills. To qualify you need to be on a means tested benefit, have a water meter, and need to use a large amount of water either for medical reasons or because you have 3 or more school age children in your household. Different water companies have slightly different eligibility, with some, being on DLA will make you eligible (not Southern water though).

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/water-supply/problems-with-paying-your-water-bill/watersure-scheme-help-with-paying-water-bills/

or do a Google search for Watersure and your water company.