Over half of the £20.2m raised for victims of the Grenfell Tower fire has now reached those affected, according to the latest update from the Charity Commission.
According to the update, over £10.8m has now been distributed to those affected by the charities involved. The charities charged with distributing the funds have now received over £16.5m, with more than £4m of public funds still yet to be earmarked for distribution.
This means that frontline charities have now distributed a further £5m since the late August.
According to the figures, the British Red Cross has distributed £5.6m of the £6.3m it raised in total. The Kensington and Chelsea Foundation has distributed £4.4m of the £6m it raised. While the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund and the London Community Foundation has distributed £5.2m of the £6.2m raised.
Much of those funds have passed through both the London Emergencies Trust and the Rugby Portobello Trust, a local community organisation. Both of these organisations have received over £8m worth of charitable funds for distribution.
The Rugby Portobello Trust has distributed over £2m worth of money in £15,000 grants to each of the 139 households from the Tower, and £1.6m in further £10,000 grants to households. The RPT has distributed some £7.8m so far.
The London Emergencies Trust has focused its distribution on payments being made available for “immediate distribution” to next of kin of those declared missing or dead in the fire, issuing over £1.8m in £20,000 grants. The LET has so far distributed just £2.2m.
London Emergencies Trust announces £5.5m worth of funding to be distributed
However the LET, which is working the British Red Cross and the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation, announced yesterday it planned to make available a further £5.5m worth of funding.
Rob Bell, director of the London Emergencies Trust, said: “So far, we’ve been focused on helping families who lost loved ones, and those injured. But we know that many survivors are struggling, and they have said clearly that they want distributors to make funds simple to understand and easy to access.
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“That’s what we’ve done – pooled our funds with the K&C Foundation and worked with experienced and trusted distributor Rugby Portobello Trust who will get money to people quickly without too much bureaucracy.”
Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said: “We have always said that every penny raised by the Red Cross for the London Fire Relief Fund will go to the surviving victims of the Grenfell disaster and their families.
“Through the London Emergencies Trust, we are now going to top up the funds provided to the bereaved and seriously injured and extend funding to the 165 households in the Tower and the Walk who were affected by the fire”.
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