Lawrence Atwell’s Charity

Lawrence Atwell's Charity aims to help young people free themselves from poverty and disadvantage by heading into the job they want.

Through tailored grant-making to those people who are most in need, the Charity will invest in their talents and aspirations to help them find their way – either straightaway or through a series of steps – into satisfying work.

How can we help?

We can offer grants towards:

• vocational training.
  We define ‘vocational training’ as an accredited course which, once completed, will be recognised by an employer and enable someone to find work. Such courses include NVQ Level 3, BTEC National Diplomas and City & Guilds courses. You may find the following link useful when considering what qualifications are needed for particular careers:
  nextstep.direct.gov.uk
• 'first step' qualifications that help people to become qualified for work.
  These are courses that people need to take in order to reach the kind of higher level vocational training described above. Courses include NVQ Levels 1 and 2, BTEC First Diplomas/Certificates and access and foundation courses.

We can consider courses that take place over a number of years as well as shorter training courses. In all cases, the course to be taken should be an essential ‘first step’ towards a vocational qualification or towards employment. The course also needs to be accredited or recognised by a regulatory or independent professional body.

Who can apply?

• Individuals aged between 16 and 26 inclusive who come from
  low-waged families. By ‘low-waged’ we mean households where the parent/s’ total gross income is less than £26,000 per year and has been at this level for some time.
• We can support applications from UK citizens, refugees with leave to remain in the UK, and asylum seekers in the process of obtaining leave to remain. We can also help nationals of other countries, provided they have been ordinarily resident in the UK for three years prior to the start of their course.

Priority applications

Among those who meet the conditions given above, we are particularly interested in applicants who face additional barriers in life, work and training. Typical examples are those who:

• have no or few qualifications after leaving secondary education
• have very limited or no support from their families, either because they have lost one or both parents, have been in local authority care, or family relationships have broken down
• have a disability (this includes mental health issues)
• are lone parents
• have fled persecution in their home countries
• are ex-offenders or at risk of offending.
  

How to apply

If you meet our criteria and think you may be eligible for a grant, you are welcome to take our online eligibility quiz. You can also login here to return to an existing application. We can only accept online requests. If you have any difficulties with this, please contact us for help.

For all enquiries, telephone 020 7213 0561 or email us at atwell@skinners.org.uk. Our offices are open every day between 9am–5pm but we are usually closed to telephone callers on Wednesdays. When writing to us, please ensure you include your name, address, day-time phone number and/or your email address.

We are a small and busy team. If you cannot get through, please leave a message and we will contact you as soon as possible.

We cannot consider grants for:

• Anyone under the age of 16 or 27 and over
• International or foreign students who have not lived in the UK for three years prior to the start of their course (this includes people from EU countries)
• Young people still in secondary education
• Non-vocational courses such as GCSEs, ‘A’ levels, or GNVQs
• Higher Education courses or courses for which government funding, such as a student loan, is available.
• Courses at Level 4 or above. If you are unsure of the level of your course, information is available from the following websites:
  www.qca.org.uk and www.qaa.ac.uk
• Undergraduate or first degrees
• Postgraduate or second degrees
• Dance and drama courses which take place at private schools and colleges
• People who are already qualified to work or who have had significant work experience
• People whose current qualifications are Level 3 or above
• Payment of any already existing fees or debts (including loans)
• Cases where it is unclear that the applicant will realistically be able to raise the balance of funds to complete the entire course
• Expeditions, travel or study abroad
• Business enterprises or startup costs

 

• Frequently asked questions

 

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