Racing Welfare offering grants to help community members during crisis

Racing Welfare is offering hardship grants for members of the racing community facing financial difficulties due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Single applicants can apply for a fortnightly amount of £150 and members of a family £210 through contacting the charity. The money is aimed to help with immediate basic needs such as food and heating.

The grants are financed by an industry fund established by the Racing Foundation, the John Pearce Foundation and other racing charities. Potential applicants will be subject to a needs-based assessment.

Dawn Goodfellow, chief executive of Racing Welfare, said: "We recognise that the situation is affecting the lives of people living and working in racing in many different ways, with immediate financial need being just one of these.

“We are focusing our response on three main strands of work including the provision of hardship grants, the remaining two are the publication of reliable advice and guidance in relation to the outbreak and its impact, and community support services to prevent loneliness and isolation during this time.

Dawn Goodfellow: the crisis is generating a lot of complex needsCredit: Edward Whitaker

"The crisis is generating a lot of complex needs and so our services are designed to support people who require support on multiple fronts.

“We have streamlined our application procedure to allow for grants to be processed as quickly as possible. We have also altered our verification process to facilitate this being done remotely yet still securely, all of which is set up to get support to those who need it most as rapidly as we can.”

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