Wee Breaks Funding

VOCAL’s Wee Breaks Fund is available to carers who care for someone living in Edinburgh or Midlothian. It is designed to give unpaid carers a break from their caring role. Our Wee Breaks Funds are supported by Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership, Midlothian Council and Shared Care Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government. There are also a number of other trusts and grants you can explore to fund you break via the Grant section.

You can apply for anything that would give you a break from your caring role. For example equipment to continue hobbies at home, overnight breaks away, gym membership or employing someone to spend time with the person you care for whilst you take time out for yourself. As we move out of restrictions due to COVID-19, carers might want to consider using grants creatively to support activities that can be undertaken in the house, garden or somewhere closer to home.

For example, going out for lunch, visiting a local tourist attraction, purchasing board games, gardening tools/equipment, Kindle readers or tablets, gaming equipment or subscriptions to TV/movie channels, magazines, online music, exercise, mindfulness or learning tuition. The Time to Live fund is usually only open to carers of those aged 21 years or over. However, currently it is also open to carers of those aged up to 21 years if they have not been awarded a grant from the ‘Take a Break Scotland’ grant scheme in the past 12 months or have an application being processed.

For Midlothian carers, more detailed information about the eligibility criteria for our Wee Breaks Fund can be found in the Wee Breaks Guidance Notes.

Wee Breaks grants and other support offered is subject to VOCAL’s Wee Breaks & Fundraising Policy