Frequently Asked Questions

If you have worked for three years (36 months) in total in ballet or contemporary dance (dancer, dance teacher, choreographer) you should be eligible for support. Dance forms including South Asian, ballroom and street dance will also be considered.

Each case is assessed on the applicants' individual needs, based on what they have included in the Assessment of Needs form. Each grant section will normally give a maximum amount that can be applied for, so it is best to check when applying.
Most of our grants fall between the threshold of £500-£3,000.

In order to help you most effectively, we need to assess your requirements accurately. The best way for us to do this is to ask you to fill in an Assessment of Needs form. The form gives us a better understanding of your individual circumstances, and how we can help you to improve them.

As well as details of your income and expenditure on the form, we need to see your CV so we can confirm your professional career, together with any supporting documentation we ask for. You will also need to supply a recent bank statement together with any savings accounts; we are not interested in where you shop! We use the bank statement to verify your identity, as well as key information such as benefits received. We will then delete it in line with UKGDPR as we will no longer require it.

It may be the case that state benefits will not be enough to pay all your outgoings. In these instances, we will be able to pay you an amount to make up the shortfall until you are able to support yourself again. Some applicants may not be eligible for Universal Credit, and in that case we need to see evidence that you have applied/checked via one of the online benefits calculators. As a Charity, we are not able to support you financially if you are eligible to receive statutory help, such as Universal Credit, but have not applied for it.

Usually there is no specific deadline as we aim to help you as soon as we can after receiving your application. With retraining grants, we may add specific deadlines so it is worth checking on the retraining page for these.

We aim to let you know the outcome of your request within 21 days. Decisions are made on the day of the meeting; you will be informed as soon as possible via email thereafter. However, if your situation is urgent you can apply for a Crisis Grant, which will be assessed within one week of receiving your completed application form.

If you do not hear from us within 21 days you can normally assume your application has been unsuccessful as we will aim to let you know if will take longer to process your request. We understand that you will be disappointed if you do not receive support, however if you have read through the guidelines thoroughly before applying as it is likely that your request will be successful.

If you are awarded a grant it may be paid into your bank account usually in one or more payments. Exclusions might be where we pay the provider directly, for instance an overdue utility bill. If you have requested help with Medical Costs, such as a course of physiotherapy, then we will pay the third party on your behalf.

All eligible requests are collated and forwarded for approval by a small committee each month. Your personal information is taken off the application so they will not know your identity. The committee membership is several of the Fund’s trustees.

You can apply for funding for another person but not without their knowledge and consent. If you do apply on behalf of someone else, they must sign and date the declaration form.

You do need to have worked for the equivalent of three years (36 months) in the UK, adding all your professional engagements together i.e. paid dance work. For instance, live performance, stage, dance on film. Promotional work, e.g. appearance in adverts, can be included if you have been contracted to perform as a dancer or are the choreographer.

Steady teaching work, either in your own school or in someone else’s dance business. We would consider three days a week of daily classes as being in regular employment. We can also accept teaching work that is delivered via online platforms so long as it is paid employment.

It doesn’t matter how long ago you gave up working in dance, but we would need evidence of your dance career. This would normally be your dance CV. For dance teachers, we would need evidence if for instance you ran your own dance school. We are most likely to give you a one off grant, for things that you cannot afford yourself out of your retirement income. This might include items such as replacement of household goods. So we would need to see evidence of the likely cost from a reputable supplier, or we can help you source the item if you wish. We can also help you with home adaptations, subject to certain conditions including the fact that you are not able to meet the cost yourself.

We do require you to complete an Assessment of Needs form if you are retraining. However, we understand that in many cases there will not be the possibility to apply for state benefits. What we need to see is details of how you will support yourself while you are training, including details of any amounts that you are receiving to support your studies, including Student Loans.

We do require you to complete an Assessment of Needs form if you require medical costs. What we also need to see is a medical recommendation as well as a treatment plan, with costs, from the person carrying out your treatment.

For crisis applications you will need to complete a crisis form.  If you state the nature of your crisis with any evidence, such as a termination of tenancy letter, it will help us to deal with your request as soon as possible.

For Living Costs assistance, Crisis support and Medical Costs grants, when you approach us for the first time, we will try and help you resolve your situation in full. You can reapply to us at a later stage, if it becomes necessary but we would need to know what steps you have taken to improve the situation since our award. Retraining grant applications, for courses that span more than one year, will require a new application as funding is given annually.

Our support is given to dance professionals in personal need. We are not able to fund either the production of touring of dance work.

Our charitable objects do not allow for the provision of supporting those who have yet to commence a career in dance. We cannot help dance students. If you are looking for help CDET will be able to give you more advice.