GrantRadar

Birkdale Trust for Hearing Impaired Ltd

Grants for the Deaf

The Birkdale Trust for Hearing Impaired Ltd, which trades online as Grants for the Deaf, makes grants to children and young people with a hearing impairment and to organisations that work with them. Applicants must be resident in the UK and up to an age in their mid-twenties; both individuals (or a parent, guardian or professional applying on their behalf) and organisations can apply, using the same online portal. Typical awards cover specialist hearing equipment and other aids, speech and language or auditory-verbal therapy, extra tuition, professional assessments and BSL courses, and the Trust also supports appeals against local authority educational placement decisions and can fund other charities for hearing impaired people. Awards for equipment and services are paid direct to the supplier wherever possible, and the Trust asks families to contribute towards the total cost if at all possible so that it can support more applications.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Amount not specified
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Moderate
full application with documents

Who can apply

  • Applications are accepted UK-wide from, or on behalf of, children and young people with a hearing impairment up to an age in their mid-twenties who are resident in the UK, and from organisations linked to young people with hearing impairments (the Trust's objects also let it support another charity for hearing impaired people)
  • When you start the form you state whether you are applying as, or on behalf of, an individual or an organisation
  • If the applicant is under 18 the form must be completed in full by a parent or guardian
  • Where the pupil, student or applicant will own the equipment personally the request must be submitted as an Individual application, not an Organisation application
  • The online applicant bears responsibility for the accuracy of all information provided
  • The Trust asks families and individuals to contribute towards the total cost requested if at all possible
  • Submitting an application does not guarantee a grant, or the full amount requested

What it funds

  • Assistance with the purchase of specialist hearing equipment or other aids benefiting an individual or an organisation (including IT hardware such as tablets, laptops and printers where it supports education)
  • Funding for special courses, individual tuition, or speech and language / auditory-verbal therapy
  • Costs of professional assessments
  • Costs of a BSL course (applied for in the name of the person with the hearing impairment, whoever will attend)
  • Support for appeals against local authorities' educational placement decisions
  • Financial support of another charity for hearing impaired people
  • Other special projects

Each application is considered on its own merit.

What it will not fund

  • Payment of an individual's salary within an organisation
  • Building alterations
  • Retrospective costs - grants cannot be retrospective, so apply well before the funds are required

website print-outs are not accepted in place of formal written quotations from suppliers

How to apply

  1. Read the Grant Application Form Guidance Notes (BTHI Ltd, April 2026) in full - the website form asks you to confirm you have done so
  2. Complete the short form on grantsforthedeaf.co.uk with your name and email and whether you are applying as, or on behalf of, an individual or an organisation
  3. You will be sent a link to the Trust's secure portal, where you create a login and password
  4. Complete and submit the full online application form through the portal, attaching all supporting documentation

only online applications are accepted from January 2026

general questions go to enquiries@grantsforthedeaf.co.uk, but once an application has been submitted all correspondence must go through the portal and that address must not be used

if a grant is made, receipts for completed purchases must be sent to the Administrator of the Birkdale Trust

Have ready

  • Formal written quotations from suppliers, with a full breakdown of costs (website print-outs are not acceptable)
  • Audiogram or hospital letter confirming level of hearing
  • Letter from a Teacher of the Deaf, school or other independent professional in support of the request
  • EHCP, if available

for therapy or tuition requests, a written quotation showing the hourly rate and number of sessions, plus details of the provider's qualification to work with a deaf child

for professional assessments, details of the person or organisation conducting them and their fees

supporting documentation should be appropriate to the nature of the claim; applications with insufficient information or documentation are returned to the applicant until complete

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