To apply to the Foundation for help with your water debt, you must be a customer (the account holder) of a company who donates to the EOS Foundation. For help with other bills you must live in a household supplied by a company who donates to the Eos Foundation. These companies are:

• Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water

• Cambridge Water

• Portsmouth Water

• South East Water

• Veolia Water East (formerly known as Tendring Hundred Water)

• Veolia Water Southeast (formerly Folkestone and Dover Water)

The Trust can help you with:

• arrears of domestic water charges

• other essential household bills and costs. You can apply for such help even if you do not apply for help with your water charges. These are known as Further Assistance Payments.

You may also be eligible for help from other trust funds:

The Eos Foundation is administered by Charis Grants alongside a number of other utility Trust Funds, namely the British Gas Energy Trust (an applicant must be a customer of British Gas or Scottish Gas), the EDF Energy Trust (an applicant must be a customer of EDF Energy), the Three Valleys Water Trust (an applicant must be a customer of Three Valleys Water) and the Anglian Water Assistance Fund (an applicant must be a customer of Anglian Water or Hartlepool Water. All Trusts operate within a shared scheme with a common application form and assessment process. So it may be possible to arrange for water, sewerage and / or energy debts to be cleared at the same time.

By signing the Eos Foundation application form you give your consent to be considered for assistance from any of the Trust Funds administered by Charis.

See also the Shared Programme of Giving page.

What the Trust cannot help with:

The Trust cannot give you a loan or give you help with bills you have already paid or items you have already bought.  In addition the Trust cannot help you with the following:

Important Announcement

Trustees would like to announce that after more than 6 years of operation the Foundation will no longer be accepting applications after the deadline of 31 March 2010, at which point the Eos Foundation will start to wind up its activities. Please click here for more information.

How to apply:

If you would like to apply for help, you will need to fill in the Trust's application form. You can either apply online, by email or by post.

Please note that due to the current postal strikes, which are continuing to badly affect the Peterborough area, we strongly advise submitting applications by an alternative method to post.

If you are asking for help with your water charges, we will contact the water company to confirm how much you owe them.

Completing our online application form:

The quickest way of applying is by completing and submitting the online application form by clicking here. On receipt of the application we will provide an email acknowledgment. Supporting evidence (detailed in Section 13 of the application form, e.g. income proof) should be scanned and emailed to eos@charisgrants.com in order for the assessment of your application to begin. Please ensure your email is titled with the applicant's name and postcode and that the applicant's name and postcode is stated on each scanned document.

Email your application:

Alternatively you can download a copy of the application form by clicking here and complete on screen. Save the application and email to eos@charisgrants.com. For the most speedy assessment, scan documents of supporting evidence (detailed in Section 13 of the application form) and attach to your email. Your application will be acknowledged by email. We will write to ask for any missing supporting evidence and also for the applicant's signature (unless a signed Section 12 of the application form has been scanned and provided).

Applying by post :

Alternatively applications can be submitted by post (see address below). Click here to download the form which can be completed on screen or by hand. The application must be signed in Section 12 and supporting evidence attached (detailed in Section 13 of the application form) before assessment of your application can begin. Your application will be acknowledged by post.

Supporting documentation:

Please note we cannot begin to assess your application until all the necessary supporting evidence (detailed in Section 13 of the application form) is provided.

Requesting an application:

If you would prefer us to send you an application form in the post, please telephone us on 01733 421060 or email eos@charisgrants.com stating the name and full address to send the form to.

When filling in your application form, please read page 7 carefully to see what information you need to send into us with your completed application.  Don't forget to sign the application form in section 12 - if the form is not signed we cannot assess your application.

Sending in your application:

Once you have completed and signed your application, you should send the form and the necessary information about your income, medical condition, etc. to:

Please check that you have put the correct postage on the envelope. Incorrect postage will result in delays in our receiving and dealing with your application.

If you think you may have difficulty in completing the application form, a local money advice centre such as a Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to help you fill it in.

How will we deal with your application?

When we receive your application, we will send you a letter. This letter will either say:

• that you have sent us everything we need and that we are able to assess your application,
or
• there is something missing or the information you have sent is unclear. Once you send us the information or explain the situation, we will then begin to assess your application.

If you are asking for help with your water charges, we will contact the water company so that they can confirm how much you owe.

• If you are eligible for assistance from the other Trust Funds within the shared programme we will also let you know by letter and request any additional information required to assess your application under that Trust.

If, whilst we are assessing your application, we believe we need more information from you, we will write to you.

How will you know if you have been successful?

If we are able to help you with your water charges, a payment will be made directly to the water company. We will write to you to let you know that the payment is being made.

If you are asking for help with other household bills and costs and we are able to help, we will write to tell you this and will provide a cheque payable to the supplier which can only be used for that purpose.

If we are unable to help you with either kind of payment, we will write to tell you this.

How often can you apply to the Trust?

If you receive an award from the Foundation, you cannot apply again for two years.

If you do not receive an award from the Foundation, you can reapply after six months.

Can I find out why my application was unsuccessful?

We regret that the Trust cannot disclose to applicants why applications are unsuccessful.

However, the following may give you some guidance on why we are unable to help everyone.

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The Trust Fund does not have enough money to help everyone who applies with everything they ask for

• At present the Trust receives more FAP applications than it has money available. On occasion this is true for water applications. This means that we cannot help everyone and Trust staff have to make very difficult decisions about who they can help.

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The Trust needs to be sure how the debts have arisen

• Where applicants are looking for help with water charges, the Trust will always look for a full explanation of how the arrears have arisen.
• Sometimes applicants do not fully explain how the arrears have come about. It is difficult for the Trust to consider making a payment if it cannot see how the arrears have arisen.
• Similarly, where it is a bill like rent or energy charges, the Trust will need to understand how and why the arrears have built up.

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The Trust wants to try to make a long-term difference.

• Sometimes the application shows that applicants have more money going out than they have coming in.
• In such cases, the Trust is unlikely to make a payment since it looks likely that the applicant will get into difficulties again with the same bills.
• In cases like these, the Trust will usually suggest that an applicant gets money advice from an agency like Citizens Advice to help them sort out their finances.
• Once their financial situation is more stable, people can apply again to the Fund for help after six months if they have not received any award.

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