A KENT scheme offering short-term respite care to carers is among community projects to benefit from 33 grants in the South East worth £3,645,176, announced this week by the Big Lottery Fund.

On Monday, Weald of Kent Crossroads Caring for Carers, based in Tunbridge Wells, learned it had been awarded more than £80,000 to extend its respite care service.

The grant will pay for more carer support workers to help meet the high level of demand for the service.

The bulk of the work involves providing regular weekly short-term respite care within carers’ own homes.

Ross Morgan, the charity’s co-ordinator, said: "The Big Lottery Fund grant will help us enormously. There is a great demand for our service, and we already provide 700 care hours a month.

"The grant will allow us to expand the short-term respite care service so that carers can take a break, improve their quality of life and consequently the life of those they care for."

Alison Rowe, head of the Big Lottery Fund in the South East, said: "We are delivering lottery good causes money to some of the most disadvantaged people in our region, so that the grants can make a real difference to people’s lives."

The Big Lottery Fund is improving the way it makes grants for voluntary and community groups in England, and is to launch new funding programmes.

Full details of programmes and grant awards are available online at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.