14 January 1997

National Lottery Charities Board awards £9.6 million to UK-wide Health, Disability and Care charities

The National Lottery Charities Board today announced 65 grants worth £9.6 million to health, disability and care projects benefiting people across the UK.

The largest grant is £500,000 to the Samaritans to develop and fund their 0345 90 90 90 helpline number. Other groups receiving awards include the National Deaf Children's Society, the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, the Burma Star Association for war veterans, the RNIB, Contact a Family, Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund and Community Service Volunteers.

David Sieff, Chairman of the Board, said: "Today's announcement includes projects helping people with leukaemia, spinal injuries, cancer, multiple sclerosis, deafness and blindness and also projects supporting older people, sick and disabled children, carers and victims of abuse.

"This final announcement brings the amount of money awarded under the Health, disability and care programme to £159.4 million for 2,008 projects. We have funded both research and support work at a national and local level. The groups awarded grants are working with people with a range of medical conditions and disabilities, and are also providing support for their carers and families.

"We have published a full analysis of all the grants awarded in the Health, disability and care programme today. This shows that of the 2,000 grants awarded 859 are working with carers, 1,098 are supporting people with disabilities, 575 are benefiting people on low incomes and 521 will help people with physical illness. We have also made 133 grants are to hospices or groups working with terminally ill people."

Today’s announcement brings the total amount of money awarded by the Board since October 1995 to £477.7 million for 6,925 projects across the UK.