Frequently Asked Questions
What do would you like to know about?
General
We support children with a wide range of disabilities. You can find all of our services here.
Our centre is based in Keele, Newcastle-under-Lyme. The full address is: Innovation Way, Caudwell International Children’s Centre Keele Science & Innovation Park, Newcastle-under-Lyme ST5 5NT.
Unfortunately we are only able to provide funding towards the items listed on our application form. Any applications submitted for items that are not on this list will unfortunately be declined.
Once an application form is received we aim to process this within a few days; a second set of forms are then sent out to you advising what information is required to complete your application. After all of this information has been received it can then take between 4 & 12 weeks for the charity to process your application for a decision. This time frame is dependent on the number of requests we are processing at that time and the availability of funds.
Yes.
Caudwell Children support children on an individual basis.
Yes.
We are able to support a child regardless of the family circumstances providing that our charity criteria is fulfilled. If the child is residing in a short term foster placement of less than two years, no financial information will be required as part of your application. If the child is residing in a long term foster placement of two years or more we will require financial evidence as part of the application process.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide support to families who earn over £45,000; regardless of the number of disabled children living within the household. Please bear in mind that the £45,000 criteria is based on a combined basic salary and does not include a family’s benefit income.
As a mean testing charity we do require evidence from families to confirm that they do fall within our charity criteria. Unfortunately we will not be able to process applications for a decision without the financial information requested. If, when providing this type of information, you would prefer to blank out details, such as your account number, that would be fine.
Yes; we do ask families declare these during the first part of the application process.
Yes; please bear in mind that we can only offer one donation per child within a 12 month period. We are also unable to provide the same piece of equipment within certain time scales e.g. you can only apply for a powered wheelchair once every five years. If you are looking to apply for the same piece of equipment that Caudwell Children has provided to you in the past please contact the office.
Autism Assessments
To track the progress of your application please contact our Family Services team on 0345 300 1348 or familyservices@caudwellchildren.com
We offer charity-funded (means-tested) autism assessments for eligible children and self-funded assessments for those who don’t meet the eligibility.
Children must be referred by a health, social care or education professional using the form on our website.
Once the referral has been clinically accepted, our applications team will get in contact with you to complete the financial application process. This can take up to 6 weeks from the initial referral, depending on the amount of applications we’ve received.
Day one of the assessment will be completed by telephone or video conferencing, but the family must attend the centre in Keele, Newcastle-under-Lyme for their day two appointment.
At the moment we don’t assess for anything else other than autism. If during the child’s autism assessment we observe indicators that maybe suggestive of other diagnosis such as ADHD, we would recommend that parents/guardians discuss this further with their GP and or Paediatrician.
Our process involves collecting Financial information, information from home and school, and once all this has been returned, we conduct a risk assessment. Following approval after the risk assessment, appointments are usually in less than eight weeks.
We do not assess children younger than 4 years old or older than 11 years old. However, our Family Services team offer a signposting service to help you find other services which may be helpful.
Any health, social care or education professional that knows your child and has observed potential autism indicators that would benefit from an autism assessment can refer the child. We do not accept self/parental referrals. Your health, social care or educational professional will need to complete the form here: https://www.caudwellchildren.com/ccas-professionals/ You may also find our referral guide helpful: https://www.caudwellchildren.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CCAS-A5-Referral-Guide.pdf
Our centre is based in Keele, Newcastle-under-Lyme. The full address is: Innovation Way, Caudwell International Children’s Centre Keele Science & Innovation Park, Newcastle-under-Lyme ST5 5NT. Day one of our assessment is completed via telephone or video conferencing software such as Zoom. Day two of the assessment is completed at Caudwell International Children’s Centre, on Keele Innovation and Science Park, located on Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Yes, as long as the referral is completed before the child’s 12th birthday.
Yes. The first day of assessment is completed by telephone or video conferencing software such as Zoom. Day two of the assessment requires the family to attend Caudwell International Children’s Centre on Keele Innovation and Science Park, located on Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Caudwell International Children’s Centre is the UK’s first purpose-built centre dedicated to autism. We are able to complete the assessment in two days as we have everything we need in one place, including our own in-house multi-disciplinary clinical team.
No, regardless of the outcome of any previous assessment, we do not offer a 2nd opinion or repeat assessment for any child that has already undertaken an Autism Assessment
Equipment
We provide support for the following pieces of equipment: therapy tricycles, sensory equipment, sports equipment, car seats, car harnesses, buggies and powered wheelchairs.
If you are applying for a piece of equipment then yes; Caudwell Children is able to provide up to 80% of the cost. Our percentage is calculated based on the cost of the piece of equipment and the amount of funds the charity has available. We call the balance the ”family contribution”.
Caudwell Children will work with families, where possible, to help them in sourcing this contribution from other charities or trusts. Ideally these funds should be paid to Caudwell Children, so that we can place the full order, but we understand that some other charities may not be able to do so. You can also pay the family contribution in smaller amounts as and when you have the money available or you can fundraise yourself.
If you are applying for a piece of equipment we do require an Occupational Therapist of Physiotherapist to support it. Sensory equipment applications have to be supported by an Occupational Therapist. Powered wheelchairs, buggies, car seats and harnesses and tricycles can be supported by either a Physiotherapist or Occupational Therapist. A questionnaire will be sent to you by Caudwell Children during the application process for completion. We will accept a supporting letter in lieu of this form, providing that it is on headed paper. If you are applying for a piece of sports equipment, your application will need to be supported by your sports coach.
No.
All of the equipment that we provide is for the child to keep. Once a piece of equipment is no longer suitable for a child any profits made from the sale of the equipment can then be donated back to the charity; enabling us to support more children.
Unfortunately we are unable to cover the cost of any maintenance or insurance. We do advise families to add specialist equipment on to an existing insurance policy if possible but in some cases you should get the equipment insured through a specialist insurer (e.g. for powered wheelchairs). We also recommend that you look into the maintenance costs of any piece of equipment beforehand and consider taking a maintenance agreement and extended warranty.
Unfortunately this means we are unable to complete your application.
We cannot order your equipment until we have received the family contribution and you have returned your signed Donation Agreement. Then it will be dependent on the company providing the equipment and the amount of stock that they have available when we place our order. It can range from just a few days to several months for a bespoke wheelchair.
Get Sensory Packs
You can apply for a Get Sensory pack here.
To track the progress of your application please contact our Applications team on 0345 300 1348 or applications@caudwellchildren.com
Short Breaks
No.
Our Short Break programmes are only available in areas where we have been commissioned or where we have secured grant funding. You can see what is available by visiting our Youth Zone on our website.
We put all the information about our activities on the Youth Zone on our website. For our Aiming High activities in Staffordshire, there is also an activity guide which is sent out to parents by Aiming High themselves. Please contact them if you are not already on their mailing list by phoning them at 0300 11 8007 and selecting option 5.
This depends on the activity. Our Aiming High activities in Staffordshire are for children between the ages of 8 and 18 years old. However other activities may have a different age range.
This depends. Some of our activities are designed to give the parents a short respite from caring and children may be left with our friendly team of staff and volunteers.
However, if your child needs personal care we are unable to provide this and you would need to stay. Some of our other activities are designed for the while family including parents and siblings.
No we are unable to offer any form of personal care which includes giving a child medication.
This depends on the activity. Our Aiming High activity clubs in Staffordshire are meant just for one child with a disability. However some of the other activities are designed for the whole family including parents and siblings. You would have to contact us to find out or visit the Youth Zone.
Generally speaking no, although this may depend on the terms of our funders or our contractual obligations.
Generally speaking no, but we do try and find venues that are easily accessible either by car or public transport. Very occasionally there are trips where we put on a coach. We would advertise this in advance.
Please let us know as far in advance as possible, although we do understand that sometimes you are unable to give us much notice due to illness etc.
You should call or text the activity co-ordinator as soon as you know that you can’t attend (contact details are provided prior to each activity). We plan each activity so that we have the correct ratio of volunteers to children and families. For some activities we have to pay for tickets/fees in advance so failure to notify us will mean that we can’t give your place to another child/family and this will result in a financial loss for the charity.
Family Support
No, we are only able to provide funding towards the items listed on our application form. However, we can help identify other potential sources of funding for these items.
This depends on your individual circumstances and support needs. We are able to offer a comprehensive signposting and information service.
Contact will be made by either email or telephone.
No, but we can try and identify other local sources of support for this.
We are able to offer support via telephone but if more in depth support is needed we would signpost to other local services.
No, we are unable to do so.