Benefits and grants 11 to 16

A personal budget is the money Wiltshire Council allocates to an individual to meet their assessed support needs.

An outcome based assessment will be carried out to establish an approximate figure for how much the council would need to spend to meet an individual's needs.

Types of personal budget:

• a personal SEN budget is a sum of money made available to an educational setting by a local council, above and beyond the basic funding settings receive for all children and young people (top up funding), to allow them to meet a child or young person's educational need. This budget will be used to support a child or young person to achieve pre-agreed educational outcomes. The need for a personal budget is considered as part of the statutory assessment. If you have questions about this you can talk to your lead worker if you have one, or call our single point of contact.

• a personal social care budget is the money that can be made available if a child or young person is assessed as needing additional support at home or in their community. This assessment is carried out by a social care team.

• a personal health budget is the money that can be made available to a child or young person with complex, long-term and/or life-limiting health conditions, who is assessed as needing continuing health care.

Childcare Choices is the national government scheme to support parent/ carers with the cost of childcare. This covers a range of hours and budgets depending on the age of the child and their needs.

The Childcare Choices website displays all the eligibility requirements and calculators to make sure you know what amount to expect from the various offers available.

For more information please visit:

Childcare Choices website (opens new window)

Wiltshire's Short Breaks Scheme, designed in consultation with parents and carers, enables eligible children and young people, who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), support to access activities and leisure opportunities.

Short Breaks

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children may help with the extra costs of looking after a child who:

• is under 16
• has difficulties walking or needs much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability.

They will need to meet all the eligibility requirements (opens new window).

The DLA rate (opens new window) is between £24.45 and £156.90 a week and depends on the level of help the child needs.

All information can be found by visiting the GOV.UK website (opens new window).

To go straight to the claim form you can visit  GOV.UK: Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children claim form (opens new window).

The Household Support Fund (HSF) was put in place by the government to help households that would otherwise struggle to buy food, pay essential utility bills, or meet other essential living costs during the current cost-of-living challenges.

The fund is intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need including:  

• families with children of all ages  
• pensioners  
• unpaid carers  
• care leavers  
• households with a disability 
• homeless  
• Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and Boater communities 
• as part of the Armed Forces Covenant, we will also ensure there is support for those who are serving, have served and their families where need has been identified.

Household Support Fund

You do not have to be receiving benefits to be eligible for support from the HSF.

All information can be found at GOV.UK (opens new window).

All information can be found at familyfund.org.uk (opens new window).

If you or someone living in your property is permanently disabled you may qualify for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) towards the cost of providing adaptations and facilities to enable the disabled person to continue to live there. Such grants are given by the council under Part I of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and are means-tested except in the case of adaptations for children.

There are strict eligibility criteria for Disabled Facilities Grants.

Mandatory grants - include access into and around the property and the main rooms used by the disabled person, safety of the disabled person and adapting the heating and lighting controls

Discretionary grants - In certain circumstances this provides a top up if the grant exceeds £30,000. If you require further information about this please contact the Private Sector Housing Team (PSHT).

All the information you need can be found on:

• Home adaptations, repair grants and loans 
• GOV.UK (opens new window)

The Wiltshire Community Foundation (opens new window) is a registered charity and grant making trust.  They offer financial assistance to young people who want to make the most of their potential.  The offer a variety of funds to help support 0-25 year olds across Wiltshire.

Vocational Grant

This grant places all the emphasis on vocational training.  It makes grants to individuals aged between 16 and 25.  Applicants must usually have lived within the boundaries of Swindon or Wiltshire Councils for 5 years and the applicant or their parents/carers or guardians must be in receipt of means tested benefits.  Grants are available up to £1000.  The Foundation is particularly keen to fund "tools of the trade" or vocational training.

Full information can be found at Wiltshire Community Foundation (opens new window).

Information and advice on what you might need to consider while in hospital. Disability Rights UK: Benefits while in Hospital (opens new window).

National Government have a central website with the most accurate and up to date information on all kinds of benefits and monetary supports. Including:

• Blind person's allowance
• Carer's allowance
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

They also have helpful tools like benefits calculator and complaints procedures.

More information on the GOV.UK (opens new window) website.