SIA and Aspire awarded nearly £500,000 in National Lottery funding

Spinal Injuries Association and Aspire awarded nearly £500,000 in National Lottery funding to support the spinal cord injury community during the cost-of-living crisis.

We are delighted to announce that SIA and Aspire have been awarded a joint funding grant of over £496,176 from the National Lottery Community Fund. This vital funding, granted over the next three years, will support both organisations in our work dedicated to helping people with spinal cord injury to navigate the challenges of the ongoing cost of living crisis.

The grant will fund SIA’s existing advocacy and campaigns work, targeting our efforts to influence and improve policies that are important to the spinal cord injury community, while at the same time advocating on behalf of individuals to access the care and support they deserve.

In addition, the grant will support Aspire’s Accessible Housing, Housing Advice and Welfare Benefits Advice services, which provide critical assistance to people with spinal cord injuries in securing housing and navigating the complexities of the benefits system.

Nik Hartley OBE, Chief Executive of SIA said:

“It is hard to overstate how groundbreaking this collaboration is.  SIA believes that all people affected by spinal cord injury, whoever they are and wherever they live, should be able to find and access the best advice, support and representation for any challenge or barrier they face, for any need, at any time in their life after spinal cord injury. This collaboration means our members will not just be accessing SIA’s services but seamlessly access the vital, life-saving support and representation from Aspire’s dedicated, expert welfare benefits and housing teams.”

Brian Carlin, Chief Executive of Aspire said:

“We are delighted to have been successful in our collaboration with SIA to receive this funding.  By enabling Aspire to expand our Welfare Benefits Advice team and further support our Housing Programme this grant means that, together with SIA, we will be able to support more spinal injured people move from injury to independence.”

As two of the leading spinal cord injury charities, SIA and Aspire’s services together can address the urgent needs of people with spinal cord injury. With this funding and through our partnership we aim to ensure that no one with a spinal cord injury has to face the challenges of the cost of living crisis alone.

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes over £600m a year to communities across the UK, raised by players of The National Lottery.

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