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Charity offers nurses grants of up to £1,000 to cover childcare costs

Healthcare Workers’ Foundation offers financial support for NHS staff during pandemic

Healthcare Workers’ Foundation offers financial support for NHS staff to help cover childcare costs during the pandemic

Healthcare Workers’ Foundation charity sets up financial support scheme to help NHS staff with childcare costs
Picture: iStock

A charity set up to help nurses and other healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic is offering grants of up to £1,000 to cover childcare costs.

The Healthcare Workers’ Foundation was set up by NHS workers at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and has raised £1 million to financially support NHS staff through a grants scheme.

Assessment of childcare applications based on ‘genuine need’

The grants are available to staff to cover incremental costs incurred during the pandemic, such as extra travel to a childcare provider. All NHS workers are eligible to apply for a grant and the charity’s website says applications will be assessed based on ‘genuine need’. Applications should include NHS ID and evidence of pre-and-post pandemic costs.

Nurses can also contact childcare providers and tutors for free through childcare.co.uk which allows all front-line NHS staff to find and securely contact more than 150,000 childcare providers, including registered childminders, nannies, babysitters, nurseries and private tutors. To access the messaging service for free, staff need to register using a nhs.uk, nhs.net or doctors.org.uk email address.

Last month, HMRC urged nursing staff with young children to check if they were eligible to claim an annual allowance worth between £2,000 and £4,000 to help with childcare costs.


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