| APPLICATION PROCEDURE |
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Who is eligible for VBF help? Financial help may be offered to
current and past Members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and
Veterinary Practitioners on the Supplementary Veterinary Register and
their dependants. Usually a
beneficiary has to be resident in the United Kingdom.
When a person loses his or her dependency, becomes self-supporting,
marries or re-marries, then only in exceptional circumstances will the VBF Trustees exercise their discretion to offer continuing financial
assistance. Membership of VBF, whilst welcome, is not a prerequisite. Who is considered to need help? Every person’s circumstances are
different. Each application
for assistance is reviewed individually.
It is impossible to set hard and fast rules.
However the guiding principle in the VBF Articles of Association
is that an applicant must be ‘necessitous and deserving’.
VBF Council, the Trustees, decide who should be helped and the
extent of the financial assistance.
Applicants on Income Support, Housing Benefit or other State
allowances are those most likely to be eligible, but VBF also helps many
others in the short and long term. Who gets help? Beneficiaries fall into a number of
categories:-
What sort of help is given? VBF ought to be the fourth source of
assistance to an applicant after the State, Self (equity) and Family. If there is little or no equity, cash grants may be awarded
to needy applicants and their families to meet everyday expenses not
fully covered by State benefits. Help is given in many ways: payment of
regular monthly grants, providing occasional gifts and (exceptionally) by
granting short-term loans to tide beneficiaries over times of crisis. Beneficiaries in receipt of Income Support from
the Benefits Agency may only receive limited regular grants from the
Fund, but they may accept assistance for specific expenses such as
television licence fee,
television rental, telephone line rental, car tax, car insurance,
holidays and additional heating in cold weather.
Payments have also been made for an operation not available on
the National Health Service, purchase of a special wheel chair, purchase
of a dictation system for use with a PC and provision of a specially-adapted car. VBF also
owns four bungalows at Burton near Christchurch, Dorset which are occupied by
veterinary surgeons and their families. Under no circumstances can VBF offer
financial help simply because someone is unemployed.
Neither will VBF become involved in business or partnership debt,
the costs of mandatory training courses, indemnity insurance, etc. How are applications for help
processed? The Honorary Secretary is responsible
for all matters relating to beneficiaries including processing
applications for assistance. Most
beneficiaries are referred to the VBF by members of the profession. Applications are quickly processed, particularly for those in
crisis. There are, of
course, certain formalities to be completed before assistance is finally
approved. These are:- Initial contact and completion of
Preliminary Application for Assistance Form - this takes just a few
days. For people in urgent need of help an initial payment may be
made at once. Completion of the full Application for
Assistance Form. This is
usually completed during a visit to the applicant by a VBF Trustee or a BVA
Divisional Liaison Officer. It
doesn’t take long provided the potential beneficiary has all the
information needed at hand. VBF Executive will make an interim decision on the level of
support, usually within a fortnight. Ratification of the interim Executive
decisions by VBF Council. Council
needs to know full details of assets, liabilities, income and
expenditure. Who decides the level of help? VBF Council (which includes the
Executive) make the final decision on all applications and on the level
of continuing support at an annual case review.
As Council meets three times a year and to avoid delays,
Executive (President, Hon Secretary and Hon. Treasurer with the
assistance of the Secretary and his staff) make interim decisions on
urgent or straightforward applications. Executive meets at least six times a year but deals with
applications between Council and their own meetings by phone, fax and
E-mail. Executive interim
decisions are referred as recommendations to Council for approval. Who are VBF Trustees? VBF Council is made up of the following
Trustees: Patron - Lord Soulsby of Swaffham
Prior How long does the whole process take? Executive interim decisions, for those
in crisis is virtually immediate. On
less urgent or straightforward applications an interim decision will be
made by Executive usually within ten working days of receiving the completed
Application Form. Applications
which Executive decides to refer to Council will take longer. How do I contact VBF? Veterinary Benevolent Fund, 7 Mansfield
St, London, W1G 9NQ. Telephone 020 7636 6541
In the first instance it is best to ask for Vanessa Kearns who is the
Fund's Administration Manager. Please don’t be too shy or too proud
to seek our help. At the
moment VBF is helping about 130 people (beneficiaries and their
dependants) and many of them may well have had similar difficulties to
your own. Please be assured
that all applications are dealt with in strict confidence and with
utmost discretion. Remember
that VBF is the
profession’s own charity and is entirely devoted to ‘Vets helping
their colleagues and families in need’.
You do not have to be a supporter to qualify for our help. |