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BBC Children In Need Emergency Essentials Support for Children and Families

  • Fearless Youth Association is an approved referrer for the BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme. Fearless Youth Association (FYA) can support eligible children, young people and families to apply to the BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme, delivered by Family Fund Business Services.
  • The programme supports children and young people who are experiencing a crisis or emergency and whose families do not have the resources or access to other support needed to meet their essential needs.
  • Support can include essential household items such as a child’s bed, cooker, washing machine, fridge or other items that are critical to a child or young person’s wellbeing.
  • Parents, carers and young people cannot apply directly to the Emergency Essentials Programme. Applications must be submitted by an approved professional referrer.
  • As an approved referrer, Fearless Youth Association can assess your circumstances and, where appropriate, submit an application on your behalf.

Who can FYA refer?

  • The Emergency Essentials Programme is intended to support children and young people from birth up to and including the age of 17 who are currently living in the UK.
  • Young people aged 16 or 17 who are living independently may also be eligible.
  • To be considered, the child, young person or family must be experiencing a crisis or emergency and have insufficient resources or access to other support to meet their essential needs.
  • The programme is designed particularly for children and young people facing exceptionally difficult circumstances, severe poverty or deprivation alongside additional social welfare issues.
  • These circumstances could include:
        • Domestic abuse
        • Family breakdown or estrangement
        • Disability or serious illness
        • Mental health or behavioural difficulties
        • Abuse or neglect
        • Substance misuse within the household
        • Other significant circumstances affecting the child or young person’s wellbeing.
  • Financial hardship on its own will not normally be enough to qualify. The application needs to demonstrate the crisis or emergency affecting the child or young person and the impact it is having on their wellbeing.

Financial circumstances

  • Families will normally need to be experiencing poverty or destitution or be receiving an eligible means-tested benefit.
  • This may include:
        • Income Support
        • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
        • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
        • Housing Benefit or an eligible housing element
        • Universal Credit.
  • As part of our assessment, FYA may need to ask you about your household income, benefits and financial circumstances and may need supporting evidence.

What can the Emergency Essentials Programme help with?

Depending on your circumstances and the availability of funding, support may be available for essential items including:

      • Beds and furniture
      • Children’s beds
      • Children’s bedding
      • Cots
      • Essential furniture
      • Essential household appliances
      • Cookers
      • Fridges
      • Freezers
      • Fridge-freezers
      • Washing machines
      • Tumble dryers
      • Kitchen equipment
      • Small essential appliances
      • Children and babies
      • Essential baby equipment
      • Clothing where there is an emergency or crisis

This is not necessarily a complete list. FYA can discuss your circumstances with you and determine whether the item you need may be eligible.You can request more than one item where there is a genuine need. Where several items are requested, we will need to put them in priority order and explain why each item is needed and how it will improve the circumstances of the child or children.

What can’t the programme pay for?

The Emergency Essentials Programme does not normally provide funding for:

        • Gas, electricity or other utility bills
        • Council Tax
        • Rent
        • Rent deposits
        • Loans or debts
        • Bankruptcy fees
        • Household repairs, adaptations or additions
        • Flooring
        • Holidays
        • School trips
        • Play schemes
        • Childcare or childminding
        • Afterschool clubs
        • Toys or Christmas presents
        • Specialist medical equipment
        • Computers or laptops
        • Mobile phones
        • Televisions and entertainment equipment
        • Musical instruments or lessons
        • Driving lessons
        • General day-to-day living or subsistence costs
        • Funeral costs or headstones
        • Items solely for the use of a parent or other adult, such as a parent’s bed.

Please speak to FYA before assuming that an item is or is not eligible, as programme guidance can change.

Important eligibility rules

Before asking FYA to make a referral, please be aware of the following conditions.

Only one application per household can be made within a 12-month period.

If several children live in the household, their needs should be included together in the same application where appropriate. Please tell us if anyone has previously made an Emergency Essentials application for your household during the last 12 months.

Referral Form

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