Page 22 - CAMPAIGN Spring 2021

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CAMPAIGN Spring 2021
Great Improvements in Provision and Response Times Revealed in Care Wellbeing and Inclusion Fund Application Progression
The NCCF is set to publish the results of their key impact review into aspects
of the CWI Fund performance. They have provided Campaign with an exclusive preview of the results and details of specific measures they developed to achieve this landmark improvement.
Between 2016 and 2020 the Care Wellbeing and Inclusion Fund have approved around 70% of applications submitted. In 2020 the approval rate was 10% higher than the success rate for the first year of the fund, this and many other improvements in the ability to deliver targeted grant support to the vulnerable members of the British Nuclear Community highlights how the NCCF continues to make that difference year by year.
One of the most satisfying figures
is the rejection rate. Rejecting applications which are not valid for support due to grant conditions is a waste of time and expectation for the applicant and a waste of resource for the fund. Refinement of application systems and regular information on the fund within xposure magazine and more recently the Campaign magazine has resulted in a reduction from an average 14% rejection rate experienced throughout the first four years of activity down to just 7%.
This is a great achievement especially when you consider total applications during 2020 increased over 30%. Daily living adaptations continue to be the majority of support provided with mobility
measures in second place, accounting for 25% of the grants processed. One of the other notable developments the NCCF have shared with us is the increase in support to veterans' grandchildren.
Measures for this generation are significantly more costly due to their nature. Very often veterans and spouses only need items like rise-recline chairs, stairlifts or profiling beds. Grandchildren, on the other hand, have issues such as extensive dental work or complex care support. This development will become even more important as time passes because the potential beneficiary pool of grandchildren is 11,000% greater than the surviving number of nuclear veterans.
When factoring the internationally established 26% congenital defect or serious illness rate, we find that there are over 200% more potential beneficiaries for CWI Fund support. This illustrates the need for an increase in the monies available to the CWI Fund: Considering that in 2020 alone grandchildren made up 10% of applicants as opposed to veterans who accounted for 48%.
Contrast this to the comparative spend where veterans received 12%,
whilst grandchildren accounted for 42%. The greatest achievement by the NCCF since undertaking the CWI Fund has been to drive the timescale of ‘Application to Decision’ down from an average of 88 days under Phase I to just 30 days in 2020. This figure will improve even further because the 2020 figure was inflated by Covid restrictions which prevented the timely delivery Independent Living Assessments as part of the pre-decision process.
The NCCF will be publishing further information on the findings of their Impact Assessment and they reveal some very interesting trends in the need for support within our British Nuclear Survivor Community. These trends are being taken into the joint planning consideration of both charities and will help form our public strategy recommendations for progression with both the Veterans’ Minister and the Department of Health and Social Care.
By Nigel Heaps
If you would like to receive your free copy of Exposure Magazine please contact editor@exposure.press or write to The NCCF, PO Box 8244, Castle Donington, DE74 2BY