Posted 03.09.2020

Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) COVID-19 Emergency Fund is opening soon for applications.

The £1.5m National Emergencies Trust (NET) funding will support grassroots DPOs across the UK, who have found it difficult to access funding, to respond to the COVID-19 needs of Disabled people[1]. The funding will be administered and distributed through a partnership of DPOs across the UK.[2]

What work will be supported by the DPO Covid-19 Emergency Fund?

The DPO COVID-19 Emergency Fund aims to support DPOs to meet the needs of local Disabled people. We are looking to fund COVID-19 related work in the following broad three areas:

• Independent living: covering any COVID-19 related issues affecting Disabled people’s choice and control over their lives for example: COVID-19 changes to the built environment, streetscape and transport, advice and advocacy support to help ensure health and social care needs are met, employment advice or advice to individuals about their rights if they feel they need to continue to shield
• Isolation: covering work to tackle isolation for example: providing IT equipment and support so people can access on-line support or setting up and running peer support networks
• Income: covering work to support Disabled people to access benefits and entitlements and manage debt issues

Read more on how to apply when applications open

[1] We use the term Disabled people to mean all groups of people with impairments including: people with learning difficulties, people who experience mental distress, people with a visual impairment, Deaf people, people who are neuro diverse, people with long term health conditions and people with physical impairments  

[2] DPO partners are: Disability Action Northern Ireland, Inclusion Scotland, Disability Wales and Inclusion London who in turn will be working with 6 regional DPOs across England