BRAILLE CHESS ASSOCIATION
Registered Charity No. 263049

Congress Support Policy

Please note, due to limited funds, to be eligible for the Congress Support Scheme you must be a visually impaired UK resident and a member of the BCA.

OBJECTIVES

1. To encourage and give financial assistance to visually impaired UK BCA members who have faithfully attended our own events, to also take part in mainstream congresses in the UK or overseas.

2. To help promote the good work of the BCA amongst the chess community and the wider media.

FUNDING AND ELIGIBILITY

Under the Congress Support Scheme, eligible VI UK resident BCA members can claim funds to assist them in playing in a non-BCA chess congress, whether the event be in the UK or overseas.  Moreover, claims can be made for both mainstream chess congresses and most tournaments that are specifically aimed at VI players but are not run by the BCA. 

Under the scheme, during the period of the BCA financial year (1 October to 30 September) an eligible member can claim up to £300 over a maximum of four non-BCA chess events.  These claims should be appropriate to expenditure.

To be eligible to claim under the Congress Support Scheme you must meet the following criteria:-

1. You must be a visually impaired member of the BCA who is a UK resident.

2. During the current or previous BCA financial year, you must have played in at least one over the board BCA weekend tournament, Championship or Chairman's Cup, or have played in at least one BCA Email Tournament, Remote Summer Cup or Remote New Year Cup.

3. You must not have received international funding, for example to take part in an IBCA tournament.

GUIDES

To encourage eligible members who may be apprehensive about attending their first mainstream event or non-BCA overseas congress, a novice to such events (which includes a person who has not attended such an event for ten years or more) can also claim up to £150 (appropriate to expenditure) for a sighted guide.

PERSONAL ASSISTANTS

In exceptional circumstances, where it is deemed by the Congress Support Officer that a person eligible to the scheme would not be able to partake of its benefits without being accompanied by a personal assistant, extra funds should be allocated for this purpose at the discretion of the BCA Committee.  In such cases, the personal assistant would receive the same funding as the person he/she is assisting (subject to expenditure).  However, the Committee reserves the right to refuse such a claim if it is felt to be unwarranted, and such funding will only be granted in cases of genuine need.  

HOW TO CLAIM

In order to make a claim there are three simple steps:-

1. Contact the Congress Support Officer by telephone or email at least one week prior to the event, giving full details of the tournament in which you wish to compete.  (See your gazette for the Congress Support Officer's contact details.)  Retrospective claims will not normally be accepted.  The Congress Support Officer must have enough time to check your eligibility and establish whether funding exists to cover your claim.  This scheme is subject to available funds so if there are a lot of claims in a financial year the money may run out.

2. Send a receipt or proof of expenditure to the Treasurer on return from the congress.  Claims can include the entry fee and reasonable expenses for accommodation, travel or other justifiable costs.  All claims should be appropriate to expenditure.  The Congress Support Scheme does not cover claims for insurance.

3. Provide feedback on the event to the Congress Support Officer. This does not need to be formal.  Feedback will be stored as an anonymous record for our database. It may benefit other BCA members thinking of attending the same event in the future.

Please note that, in the spirit of the Congress Support Scheme, failure to complete all of the above steps may mean that we cannot guarantee that your claim will be processed successfully, as the scheme is subject to available funds.

Last reviewed October 2026