hi everyone i was wondering if anyone can tell me if they recieved a grant from the macmillan fund. i have bc i was diagnosed last june but i didnt know anything about the fund at the time. i am enquiring on behalf of my friends mam who has recently been diagnosed with bc and has just had a mascectomy, she is 70 yrs of age and has just recently lost her husband and she is struggling financially. can any of you ladies tell me if she is entitled to help or does she have to be diagnosed as terminal to recieve it? thankyou xxx suzee
Hello
Yes,I had a grant from them as we were struggling after my diagnosis. I went through my BCN and she filled the forms in for me and brought them round for me to sign. She also personally delivered the grant money when it came.
Through her I also had a grant from my local breast cancer group which she also arranged and dealt with.
I had a partner at the time of application and he was working but we were still in dire straits for a time. As I understand it the Macmillan fund looks at your income as a whole and deals with the application accordingly. They responded very quickly.And I was certainly not terminal at the time of claiming.
Your friend should look into benefits such as pension credit -telephone 0800 99 1234 and council tax benefit ( plus housing benefit if she rents her house).
A chat with Citizens advice should highlight any other possible benefits…
Una
Hi Suzee, how ya doing ??? Macmillan nurses will advise you on this issue, I think it’s based on hardship issues
Take care
Marge
xx
Hi I have just received a cheque from the McMillan fund for some new glasses. I have had specs since 4 years old and am useless without them Whilst going through chemo I lied on them ( I have 2 pairs one for reading) They were all squashed out of shape then the arm fell off one pair amd I broke the reading pair. I used to read a lot but haven’t been able to because of the broken ispecs. I am on half pay of 400 pounds a month plus incapacity of about 70 pounds a week. I do get a voucher as on low income but it isn’t due for a few months. I applied for some specs got a quote and sent it off. A lady from welfare at Christies helped me. I am so excited as I am going to get some varifocals. I have a very strong lense so my specs are very expensive. Can’t wait as I have cellotape all round them and superglue split on lense so will be able to see lol Not been too bothered about seeing myself mioght get a shock!! good luck Eileen
Hi suzee
You don’t have to be terminally ill to get a grant.
My breast care nurse applied for a grant for me because I was planning to return to work but she felt I needed a bit more time.
Although between my half pay and my fiance’s full pay we were pulling in a reasonable monthly income we were still having to pay our mortgage, council tax and other bills in full and were beginning to struggle. My washing machine had also just broken down and she put that down to support the claim.
I see not reason whatsoever why your friend’s mam should not qualify. If she has a breast care nurse that’s the best place to start.
Lola
You don’t qualify for a grant if you have over £6k in savings I’m afraid. It cost us about £400 in travel expenses when I was shuttling back and forth for rads and we couldn’t get anything. I only get my NI covered, can’t get IB as I have a 3 month gap in NI relating to when I had to give up my job and move 400 miles to care for my late father who had dementia. We were advised by Macmillan to try for Working Tax Credit as we had just started a business 6 weeks before I was diagnosed last October and are on a very low income (some weeks no income at all). We have only just managed to get it a couple of weeks ago on the third attempt. I think the whole system stinks, I know people who haven’t worked for years who are getting everything under the sun. It just makes me mad that we both paid a huge amount of NI and were taxed at 40% when we worked in London, yet we get penalised because I had family commitments. I was told that “breast cancer is no excuse for trying to claim benefits”.
The 3 month gap in my NI was created by the DWP giving me all the wrong information about which benefits I should claim as a carer btw - by the time I got the right information and got things sorted out they could only backdate my claim for Disabled Carers Allowance so far. I wouldn’t mind, but I went back to work for a year as soon as dad went into care, then we went S/E developing property for a while before we started our current small business. We have pretty much spent a huge part of our savings on council tax etc., so OH is now looking for a contract job as we need the money.
Hi Suzee
There seems to be some confusion on who is entitled to a Macmillan grant. I received a one-off grant of £500 about 8 months after being diagnosed. I am not terminal. I did have to give them details of my income and my outgoings but at no time was I asked about my savings. I was not aware that your savings had anything to do with getting the grant. Like Lolag has said, your BCN would be able to advise. You could try ringing the Macmillan CancerLine on 0808 808 2020. Incidentally, I have seen a leaflet recently suggesting they can offer you a one-off payment if you are in need of a holiday, so don’t be afraid in asking for help. At first I didn’t want to take money from a cancer organisation but was told that they put monies aside for this very purpose and that I should not feel guilty about getting help.
Good luck.
Jeannie
You get a 25% reduction in Council Tax once you are the sole occupant.
If of interest to anyone, the guidelines are here:
macmillan.org.uk/Documents/Support_Material/About_us/Factsheets/Financial%20help.pdf
Margaret