Vicar’s Relief Fund

The Vicar’s Relief Fund helps people who are at risk of, or currently experiencing, homelessness by providing crisis grants to support access to accommodation. As a paid frontline worker, you can apply for a grant on behalf of individuals you are supporting.

What they fund.

They will consider funding of up to £500 to support access to accommodation including: 

• Government regulated deposit schemes
• Rent in advance
• ID fees
• Emergency accommodation costs
• Removal costs for relocation of furniture / belongings

They only accept applications from paid frontline workers providing direct support to people who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.  This includes staff working in the voluntary, statutory and public sectors:   This includes, but is not limited to, staff working in: 

• Housing and homelessness services (e.g. outreach, resettlement, supported housing) 
• Advice and support roles (e.g. CAB, welfare, housing rights, debt and money advice) 
• Health and mental health services (e.g. GPs, CMHTs, drug and alcohol support, inclusion teams) 
• Statutory and criminal justice services (e.g. social workers, probation, prison in-reach, police) 
• Local authorities and public sector teams providing direct support 
• Charities and community organisations working with people facing homelessness 

The VRF Application Portal is open for submissions Monday to Friday: 9:00am to 12:00pm. This may be subject to change, with notice.

You cannot register if you are: 

• a volunteer or in an unpaid role 
• employed by an organisation that is not registered with the relevant UK authorities (e.g. the Charity Commission or Companies House), or part of a group that cannot provide a constitution with an asset lock 
• not providing direct support to people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness 
• applying on behalf of friends or family 
• using a personal or non-work email address (e.g. Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo), unless we can verify the organisation and that the email is used solely for work purposes 

Before a grant application can be made, frontline workers must register with them by following this link to the St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity website.

• They do not accept applications from members of the public or volunteers; The applicant must be a paid frontline worker from a registered organisation providing support to the individual.
• They cannot accept applications where the applicants’ organisation will become the client’s new landlord. They do however accept applications from organisations who are currently the client’s landlord and are supporting them to move to accommodation with a different provider.
• Grants will only be paid to the organisation who employs the frontline worker. They cannot make payments directly to landlords or other service providers.
• They are unable to consider applications where the client already has access to their new accommodation.