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Grants Spotlight: FILT

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This month our Grants Spotlight is on the Foundations Independent Living Trust (FILT). The Trust is the charitable arm of Foundations – the national body for home improvement agencies in England.

FILT helps older and vulnerable people who are often on low incomes and facing the challenges of living with their own homes. The trust provides support by:

  • enabling people to feel warm, safe and well in their own homes
  • helping people to feel less socially isolated
  • reducing the risk of going into hospital, for example through trips and falls and cold-related illness
  • enabling people to come home from hospital to a safe and warm home
  • improving peoples’ financial situations, for example through reduced fuel bills

FILT’s work is delivered by a network of around 200 home improvement agencies across England. These are local trusted agencies that provide a range of measures to help older and vulnerable people stay at home, from minor/major adaptions to energy efficiency measures.

Read more about The Foundations Independent Living Trust

Mr and Mrs Bradshaw’s story

Mr Bradshaw is 73 and in poor health. He has suffered two life threatening illnesses over the last 3 years. He is diabetic and partially deaf. His wife Edna is 75 and suffers from chronic arthritis in her hip and spine and can only walk short distances.

Mr & Mrs Bradshaw have lived in their home since 1973 and have never been able to afford central heating. As a result of their health issues, they both have poor mobility and have struggled with the cold over the last few winters. Their only source of heat was a gas fire in the living room where they spent their time trying to keep warm and a calor gas stove in the kitchen.

Mr & Mrs Bradshaw contacted St Vincent’s Homecare & Repair to ask for assistance with installing gas central heating. One of our technical officers surveyed their house and found that essential electrical work would need to be done before central heating could be installed.

To help with the necessary improvements, we applied for financial help from FILT’s npower Health Through Warmth Hardship Fund and secured £750. We were also able to source £4,250 in funding from several occupational charities.

When the work was done, Mr & Mrs Bradshaw said that having gas central heating has made a huge difference to their lives and made their home much more comfortable.

If your fund is on our Grants Search and you’d like to feature in Grants Spotlight, read our Grants Spotlight page for more information on how to apply.