Rest & Relax grants

Cystic Fibrosis Trust provides grants towards short breaks, experiences and trips for children and adults who have cystic fibrosis. These grants of up to £450 help children and adults living with CF spend time with loved ones and do the things that make them happy, when they are going through or have recently been through a difficult time with their CF.

We aim to fund short breaks and trips in full and we only fund trips, breaks and experiences in the UK. Examples of trips or breaks we can fund might be a weekend in a cottage or holiday park, a city break, or a theme park visit. We will ask you to tell us about the trip you’d like to go on when you fill in the application form. Please discuss your travel plans with your CF team as early on as possible as they will need to support your application.

We can’t accept applications for trips that have already been booked or paid for.

The information you provide will be looked at by a panel who will make a decision on your application, so please give us as much detail as you can. The panel meets every 2 months.

Following feedback from the CF community, Rest & Relax grants are only available to people who are on a low income and would be unable to afford a break – if you can afford a break yourself, we ask you not to apply.

Rest & Relax grants are only available to adults and children with CF who have been through, or are going through, a difficult time with their CF. This could be related to their physical or mental health. We’ll ask you for information to help us understand why it’s important for you/your child to have a break.

The applicant, their parent/carer, partner or a member of their CF team can complete the application form.  On the form, the ‘applicant’ is always the person living with cystic fibrosis. If the applicant is over 18, they need to be made aware that the application is being made for them.

We get lots of applications for grants for holidays and short breaks and due to pressure on our budget our panel can only consider applications from those who are most unwell or facing the most challenges with their CF.

Please read the information on this page. Once you have done this, please download and complete the application form.

Download the application form

Our Helpline team can support you if you have any questions or need any help filling in the form.

Please email applications to [email protected].

You can apply for a maximum of £450. We aim to fund short breaks/trips/experiences in full, and we can only fund these in the UK.

We’ll ask you about the costs of your holiday on the application form - don’t forget to include the cost of travel (public transport or car fuel) to get there if you would struggle to afford this.

Please contact us before you apply if the break will cost more than £450 and the grant would be a contribution to the total cost, as we are not usually able to part-fund.

Yes – please provide us with details of where you want to go and what this will cost. This can be a link to a webpage, a screen shot, photo, formal quote or price list. If this is not included, the application won’t be taken to the panel for a decision.

If your application is successful, we ask that you book a break that is similar to, or the same as, the trip you told us about in your application. If you need to change your plans a lot, we ask you to discuss this with us before you book.

Yes. The supporting statement needs to be completed by a member of the applicant’s CF team (the endorser) and emailed to us from their professional email account. You can also send your completed application with the endorsement to us and we’ll contact the endorser to check they provided the supporting statement.

Our panel consider the endorsement carefully when making their decisions. It should provide more details about the applicant’s CF health and about how the holiday, short break or trip requested will specifically help the health and wellbeing of the applicant. General information, for example, on the benefits of holidays for people living with CF, will not be enough for the panel to give a grant. This is due to our limited budget. We need to know why the grant is so important for the applicant at this particular time.

When we receive an application we do some initial checks to make sure the application meets our criteria and that we have all the information we need.  All applications must also have an endorsement and evidence of costs before they can be taken to the panel.

If any information is missing or we are not able to accept the application, we will contact the applicant or parent/carer to let them know. We may also contact the endorser for further information.

The applications are anonymised before being taken to our independent panel for assessment. The panel meets every two months, and our panel members have a detailed knowledge and understanding of cystic fibrosis. They will consider whether to provide a grant based on the applicant’s need for a holiday or short break and the difference it would make to their CF health.

Meetings are in January, March, May, July, September and November each year.

Upcoming panel dates:

Thursday 16th May 2024. Application deadline is Tuesday 7th May 2024.

We inform applicants and endorsers of the outcome within two weeks of the panel date.

If the application is successful, payment will be made two to four weeks after the panel date. If bank account details are not included in the application this will delay payment being made.

If your application is successful you will not be able to apply for another Rest & Relax grant for a short break or trip for 3 years. If you have already received a Rest & Relax grant from us in the past 3 years we will not be able to accept your application.

If you do apply again in future, we may prioritise people who have not received previous grant support from us.

Yes. We are happy to consider reapplications if there is extra information you want to add or if the applicant’s CF health has changed.

We will contact you (or parent/carer if a child) after you receive the grant to request a copy of a receipt or a booking confirmation. We might also ask for feedback or offer other support. If you do not provide a proof of purchase/booking confirmation you may not be able to apply for future grants from us.

If your application is successful, we ask that you book your short break, trip or experience within 6 months of receiving the grant. Please let us know if you have to delay your plans for longer than 6 months for any reason.

If the application is successful and you are booking a break that comes with free cancellation cover, we ask that you sign up to this when you book. We also recommend taking out UK travel insurance including cover for cancellation. Our helpline team can provide a list of travel insurance companies that people with CF have told us have offered them reasonably priced cover. It is your choice whether you take out travel insurance; unfortunately, we won’t be able to provide another grant if you have to cancel your planned trip for any reason.

Yes. Please contact our Helpline if you have any questions or need any help applying for a grant.