Thousands of parents can get a free £70 voucher to spend on food and other essentials. Each local authority decides how to allocate its portion of the fund so what households will get depends on where they live.
Britons on benefits or low incomes are urged to check what help their local council can give them. The vouchers or grants on offer vary by location so people will have to check to see what they can get and how their council will pay them.
Portsmouth Council is offering residents cash or vouchers as part of three new schemes under the Household Support Fund.
Part of the scheme includes a £70 voucher for struggling parents.
They can get one voucher per child to spend on food and household essentials.
To be eligible, families must:
- Have missed out on earlier vouchers distributed by schools or nurseries
- Live in the Portsmouth area
- Be responsible for a child born on or after September 1 2006, or be at least 10 weeks pregnant
- Be eligible for the Healthy Start scheme or have total household earned and unearned income of below £935 per month (or £863 per 4 weeks if paid weekly)
- If you think you may be eligible, you can apply online on the council’s website.
- But applicants only have until March 31 to apply, or they’ll miss out.
Plus, thousands of residents in North Yorkshire are also due electronic supermarket vouchers worth up to £325.
Residents in Camden can receive appliances to help them reduce costs such as a slow cooker, air fryer or microwave.
People can apply for money from their Cost of Living Crisis Fund if they are in urgent need of financial help.
If one’s local council doesn’t provide them with appliances under the HSF, there are other options available to them.
Some energy companies are giving away freebies including electric blankets and smart thermostats.
To help struggling households, Ovo Energy is handing out free electric blankets and smart thermostats to some of its 1.5 million customers.
Claimants can get two electric blankets and one smart thermostat per household via their £50million customer support package. The support is available until March 31.
When people apply for help, the supplier takes into account things like household and disposable income and medical needs.
That means that not everyone who applies will get the package, and they might not get everything that is included.
