PLEASE NOTE: We have received a very large number of applications, and as such there will may be a delay in terms of assessing and responding to these grants. Please be assured the Grants Team are working hard to process grants as quickly as possible but it may take up to 2 weeks for you to receive the outcome of your application
Berkley have partnered with The Care Workers’ Charity to provide grants to help colleagues who are currently experiencing hardship. Grants of up to £750 are available to help with things such as:
- Daily Living Costs (recent full bank statements showing current balance which is low or in overdraft)
- Increase in utility bills (which has resulted in arrears, late payments)
- Increase cost of grocery shopping (which has affected other payments/bills and resulted in arrears or overdraft)
- Travel expenses/fuel costs (which has affected other payments/bills and resulted in arrears or overdraft)
- Rent/ Mortgage repayments or arrears
- Increase in childcare costs (which has affected other payments/bills and resulted in late payments or arrears)
- Car repairs (invoices/quotes)
- White goods or household items (invoice/quotes, evidence that shows not financially affordable)
- Home repairs (invoice/quotes, evidence that shows not financially affordable)
- Letters from debt collectors
The fund will open at the beginning of every month, once we have hit our monthly budget spend, the fund will close and reopen the following month (please check back on this page for the date and time of when the fund will reopen).
The grants will be independently assessed by the Grants Team of the Care Workers’ Charity, and eligible grants will be paid out once approved. You can apply for a grant towards more than one expense – please provide as much evidence as possible. The team aim to turn applications round within two working weeks subject to receiving the necessary documents.
THESE GRANTS DO NOT NEED TO BE PAID BACK.
The Care Workers’ Charity will contact Berkley for employment confirmation prior to grants being agreed. By applying for a grant you give your permission for us to do so.
Do you qualify for a grant?
- You need to be current employee of Berkley
- If a bank worker, you need to have averaged 24 hours per week for the last three calendar months
- You need to be experiencing hardship of some sort
- You are eligible if you previously received a Berkley grant in 2023, if you have also received a CWC crisis grant in 2023 you will not be eligible for a Berkley hardship grant unless it is exceptional circumstances which will be discussed within the grants team
- Due to financial resources, if you have received a total of £2000 worth or more in grants from us, you are unfortunately not eligible for any more funding
The maximum amount you can apply for is £750
What employment criteria do I need to meet?
You need to be currently employed by Berkley as of 4th January 2024
Bank workers must have worked an average of 24 hours a month over the last three calendar months
Do you take my finances into account when assessing my application?
Finance can help give us an overall picture, particularly if you are also receiving benefits but you will not be excluded from receiving a grant based on your financial information, however grant amounts are capped at maximum amounts set by Berkley.
What supporting documents do I need to submit?
- You must include a full recent bank statement. Your name, bank account number and sort code need to be clearly visible, as well as other details. We need this so we can double-check the bank details on your application are current.
- You must include supporting documentation that will help strengthen your grant claim for example:
- Daily Living Costs (recent full bank statements showing current balance which is low or in overdraft)
- Increase in utility bills (which has resulted in arrears, late payments)
- Increase cost of grocery shopping (which has affected other payments/bills and resulted in arrears or overdraft)
- Travel expenses/fuel costs (which has affected other payments/bills and resulted in arrears or overdraft)
- Rent/ Mortgage/council tax repayments or arrears
- Increase in childcare costs (which has affected other payments, or late payments)
- Car repairs (invoices/quotes)
- White goods or household items (invoice/quotes, evidence that shows not financially affordable)
- Home repairs (invoice/quotes, evidence that shows not financially affordable)
- Letters from debt collectors
What’s the application process?
- Your application comes into the Care Workers’ Charity Grants Team
- You receive an email which gives you your application reference code which begins with GA followed by a series of numbers. Keep hold of that number in case you want to check how your application is doing
- The email will come from grants@thecwc.org.uk – it may be in your spam email
- The team check that you meet the eligibility criteria, and that you are currently employed by Berkley
- The team check that you’ve included your bank statement, and other supporting evidence such as bills to show the cost of living increase
- The Grants Team will email you if there is anything missing or if they have any queries. Please respond to their email as soon as you can; we can’t pay you without the required information. Their emails will come from grants@thecwc.org.uk
- Once everything is checked and ok, a team member will mark your application as ‘eligible’ and wait for further confirmation from your HR representatives.
- Another team member does a final check, and approves your application if everything is correct
- Your details are uploaded onto our system, ready for payment and you receive an email confirming that payment will be made and will go into your bank account within two working days (during bank holidays there may be a short delay)
- The money goes into your bank account
What happens when I apply?
- Your application comes into the Care Workers’ Charity Grants Team
- You receive an email which gives you your application reference code which begins with GA followed by a series of numbers. Keep hold of that number in case you want to check how your application is doing
Information for you
If you have any questions, please look at the FAQs here