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Households can apply for cost of living cash worth £500 – check if you’re eligible
Scroll down to see what help you can get if you don't qualify
STRUGGLING households in parts of the UK could get up to £500 in cost of living help – but you’ll need to meet strict rules.
The cash boost is part of the Household Support Fund (HSF), a £421million pot, which helps low-income families with food, energy bills, and essentials.
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But it’s only available if you live in Worcestershire – that includes the districts of Malvern, Worcester, Wychavon, Bromsgrove, Redditch or Wyre Forest.
To check if you qualify, go to – Worcestershire County Council must be listed.
You’ll also need to meet income and vulnerability rules.
Who is eligible?
To qualify, your gross annual income must be:
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- £24,570 or less (for a single adult with no children)
- £31,000 or less (for all other households)
You must also have no savings, unless you’re of state pension age – in which case you can have up to £5,000.
And at least one person in your household must meet ONE of the following:
- Be of state pension age
- Have a long-term diagnosed health condition or be registered disabled
- Have a child under four
- Be in receipt of DWP benefits like Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, PIP or Disability Living Allowance
- Be receiving support from services such as food banks, Citizens Advice, Age UK, mental health or housing support, or your GP’s social prescribing team
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How much can I get?
The amount depends on your household:
- Up to £500 for homes with children under 18 or full-time students under 21
- Up to £300 for adult-only households aged 18–66
- Up to £300 for pensioner households
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Payments can go straight to your energy provider, be credited via an online portal or come in the form of Post Office vouchers for prepayment meters.
You’ll need to supply:
- A recent energy or water bill (dated within 3 months) showing your name, address and account number
- Evidence of your vulnerability
- Extra documents if applying for help with energy debts or heating repairs
What else is covered?
Help is also available for:
- Repairing or replacing broken boilers
- Installing first-time heating systems
- Servicing and upgrading smart heating controls
You’ll need to complete a separate application if applying for these – but forms will be sent to you once your initial claim is made.
Where to send your evidence:
- Email digital copies to: [email protected]
- Post paper documents to:
Act on Energy
Unit 2, Lauriston Business Park
Salford Priors
Warwickshire WR11 8SN
Applications will be closed if evidence isn’t sent within 28 days – so act fast.
In other related benefit news, pension savers have been pocketing thousands in tax refunds after being overcharged — and now fresh HMRC changes could stop millions more being stung.
Over 15,000 people got an average refund of £2,881 between January and March this year after being overtaxed when they dipped into their pension pots.
In total, £44million was handed back in just three months, according to new figures — with hopes the amount overpaid will fall thanks to recent rule tweaks.
HMRC rolled out a new system this month, aimed at stopping retirees from being wrongly whacked with a sky-high emergency tax bill when making a withdrawal.
Other help you can claim
If you're not eligible for the Household Support Fund, you might qualify for other forms of help to cover energy bills or food.
Support may vary depending on your local council – so even if you don’t live in Worcestershire, it’s worth checking what’s on offer in your area.
Several energy firms offer grants to households who are struggling to pay their energy bills worth up to £2,000.
This includes British Gas, Octopus Energy and EDF.
New parents might also be eligible for free food worth up to £442 a year to cover the cost of healthy food and milk via the Healthy Start scheme.
Or, you can get an emergency food parcel from a Trussell Trust food bank.
You can find your nearest via www.trussell.org.uk/emergency-food/find-a-foodbank.
To get a food parcel, you need a voucher from a community organisation like Citizens Advice or your GP. You can then exchange this voucher for a food parcel at the food bank.
It's also worth checking if you're eligible for benefits if you haven't already - billions of pounds' worth is going unclaimed, according to Policy in Practice.
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There are three free calculators you can use to see what you might be entitled to:
- Policy in Practice better off calculator
- entitledto benefits calculator
- Turn2us benefits calculator
Are you missing out on benefits?
YOU can use a benefits calculator to help check that you are not missing out on money you are entitled to
Charity works out what you could get.
Entitledto's determines whether you qualify for various benefits, tax credit and Universal Credit.
MoneySavingExpert.com and charity StepChange both have benefits tools powered by Entitledto's data.
You can use to determine which benefits you could receive and how much cash you'll have left over each month after paying for housing costs.
Your exact entitlement will only be clear when you make a claim, but calculators can indicate what you might be eligible for.
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