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Household Support Fund

The Household Support Fund helps residents with energy bills, food, and essential costs like Council Tax. Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible for help from the Household Support Fund.

The scheme runs from 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024. We'll be releasing the money in phases so we can support the people who need it most.

To be eligible, you must:

  • be liable for the Council Tax, rent, or mortgage for a property in Middlesbrough, and live at that property
  • have less than £6,000 in savings

Please do not try and contact us about the Household Support Fund. All the information you need is on this page.

The timetable below shows when we expect to open applications for different household types, so please check back then. We'll also post updates on Facebook.

The Household Support Fund is funded by the UK Government.

Timetable

Household type Timetable
Households who get benefits and do not have children Applications are now open
Households who do not get benefits Applications open in early June
Households who get benefits and have children

Automatic payments made in early July

Applications open in early July

Pensioner households

Letters to apply sent in late June and early July

Payments made in August

You can find out more about all of these below.

Household types

Households who get benefits and do not have children

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Eligibility

If you're getting one of these benefits you may be eligible for support:

  • Council Tax Reduction
  • Income-based Employment and Support Allowance
  • Housing Benefit
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
  • Pension Credit
  • Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit

What you'll get

If your application is approved, you'll get a voucher for:

  • £37.50 if you're single
  • £50 if you're a couple

Applications

It can take up to 21 working days for us to process applications. Please do not call us during that time, as it slows down how quickly we can look at applications.

Households who do not get benefits

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Eligibility

This payment is open to people with and without children.

To be eligible, you must:

1. Have an income (before tax) of:

  • £30,000 or less if you're single
  • £50,000 or less if you're a couple

2. Have less than £6,000 in savings

3. Not be getting any of these benefits:

  • Council Tax Reduction
  • Income-based Employment and Support Allowance
  • Housing Benefit
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
  • Pension Credit
  • Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit

What you'll get

How much you get will depend on who's in your household.

If you're single, you'll get a voucher for £37.50.

If you're a couple, you'll get a voucher for £50.

If there are children in your household, you'll get a voucher for £70 per child rather than the amounts above. This is the same whether you're single or a couple.

We can apply some, or all, of the payment to your Council Tax account. This will mean you have less to pay, or it can reduce the amount of arrears (debt) you have. This can help free up money to spend on other things like energy bills or food. We'll discuss this with you once you've applied.

Applications

Applications will open in June, so please check back then.

As well as filling in the application form, you'll also need to provide your most recent bank statement and payslips as evidence. We'll contact you and let you know how to do this once we've received your application.

Households who get benefits and have children

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Households with children who meet the free school meals eligibility criteria will get a voucher for £70 per child. We'll send vouchers automatically, based on schools' records.

We hope to send the vouchers between 1 and 12 July 2024, but this depends on receiving information about eligible children from schools. We'll update these dates closer to the time.

You can also apply if your child is getting income-related free school meals and is:

  • under 5, if another child in the household is eligible for free school meals
  • goes to a school outside of Middlesbrough, but lives in Middlesbrough

You can also apply if your child is not eligible for income-related free school meals, but your household gets one of these benefits:

  • Council Tax Reduction
  • Income-based Employment and Support Allowance
  • Housing Benefit
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
  • Pension Credit
  • Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit

You'll be able to apply online once the automatic payments have been made, so check back in July.

Pensioner households

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You may be eligible for support if you're:

  • of State Pension age
  • getting Pension Credit Guarantee Credit or Council Tax Reduction

We'll be writing to eligible households where we need more information from the end of June. Please check back later for more details, and a link to the application form.

We'll be making payments in August. If you're eligible, you'll get a voucher for £37.50 if you're single or £50 if you're a couple.

Other support

We know people are struggling right now. If you’re not eligible for help from the Household Support Fund, you might be able to get other help. You can find out more in the cost of living section.

We’re working with partners including the White Feather Project, Together Middlesbrough, food banks, and Middlesbrough Environment City, and helping them to cope with increased levels of demand.

The government has lots of support available for people who are struggling. You can find out more on the government's cost of living hub.

Funded by UK Government