Our grants can help parents and carers who have worked in the UK fashion or textile industry and whose household income has reduced as a result of ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

If you're struggling to make ends meet, our grants can fund items for your children such as clothing, bedding and essential household items. 

Please read on to find out if you could apply and what we can fund. There is a link to our enquiry form at the end of this page. 

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We're sorry but we can't fund household bills, food costs or replace lost income.

If you're struggling to cover the cost of household bills or food, find out what government support is available to replace lost income and help with bill costs .

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Who can apply?

To apply for an FTCT grant, one parent/carer must have worked in the UK fashion and textile industry, for at least one year within the last nine years. Find out more about our trade criteria. 

The person whose employment has been affected does not need to work in fashion or textiles, provided the other parent meets our trade criteria. 

It doesn't matter where you've worked in a fashion or textile business, from store, to head office and distribution.  As long as the work was paid, for at least a year and your end date was within the last nine years, you could apply.

When we can help your family

Our grants typically help families who are already struggling financially (in arrears on your household bills or have debt) OR have limited savings to cover lost earnings.  

You might want to apply if you or your partner's income has been affected in any of the following ways:

• Made redundant or were already redundant and now can't get a new job
• Have been furloughed and can't afford to fund the 20% or more reduction in income
• Have been put on reduced working hours 
• Have been made to take unpaid leave to care for your children
• Have lost self employed income and are not eligible to apply for the new Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and can't fund your lost income. OR can't fund your lost income until the SEISS scheme pays out
• Have to self isolate and are not entitled to furlough/sick pay or your employer can't/won't pay it

There are many other ways families are being affected at this time, so if you are experiencing hardship in other ways, please read on. 

What we fund

We encourage parents and carers to apply for items your children will need for the year ahead.

These might be items you were planning to buy, but now can't due to lost wages, including: 

• Essential clothing, e.g. seasonal clothing and school uniform and PE kit 
• Baby clothing, equipment or bedding 
• Children's bedroom furniture, e.g. beds, bedding, clothes storage furniture (chest of drawers)
• Essential White Goods, e.g. replacing a broken appliance such as fridge/freezer, washing machine, cooker/oven.
• Specialist items for children with additional needs, e.g.sensory toys, adaptive clothing or SEN adapted computers

Depending on your situation, we also offer a number of grants programmes such as:

• Rehousing grants
• Kinship carers grants
• Therapy grants
• Specialist equipment grants
• Grants for when a parent is ill

Why we can't fund bills? 

We know this is a worrying time and your most pressing concern will be your household costs and regular payments.

Unfortunately it is not in our remit to fund these items. But, by funding other essential items your children need, we hope to free up money during this difficult time and give you one less thing to worry about.

If you need help with household bills read more here about the support you can access from the government, suppliers and more. Read more

Make an enquiry

If you would like to apply for funding for any of the items listed above, the first step is to complete our online enquiry form. Click on the button below, to proceed to the next page. 

Make an enquiry