Household Support Fund

On this page
About the Household Support Fund
How will the funding be used?
Who will receive payments, and when?
Find out if you can apply
Application decisions and appeals
More information and support
We’d like your feedback
Frequently asked questions
Appendix – previous funding and decisions

About the Household Support Fund

The Household Support Fund is a government grant allocated by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to councils in England.

Reading has received £1,130,648 to help residents in need, including low-income families, care leavers, and pensioners. The grant helps families and vulnerable individuals who may struggle to pay for basic living costs, such as:

energy and water
food
wider essentials – such as clothing
housing costs

How will the funding be used?

Each council has the flexibility to use the funds in ways that best support their residents. In Reading, we will use the funding as follows:

direct financial support for low-income households with children who receive free school meals or pupil premium, and for care leavers
a scheme that allows residents to apply for financial help if they are struggling
cost-of-living support for low-income households, including specific funding for charities that help with school uniforms
financial support for pensioner households on low incomes who do not qualify for the Government’s Winter Fuel Payment

A small proportion of the funding will be used to cover administration costs, as allowed by the government.

Who will receive payments, and when?

If you fall into one of the following categories, your payment voucher will be sent to you automatically. You do not need to apply.

Vouchers will be sent in December 2024 and must be cashed by 3 February 2025. Vouchers cannot be used after this date.

Families with children who are automatically eligible pupil premium / free school meal support

You will automatically receive a £125 voucher by post from the Post Office.

Care leavers

Most care leavers will receive a £125 voucher by post from the Post Office. Some may receive their vouchers directly from the Leaving Care Team.

Pensioners on low-incomes

Pensioner households with claimants who receive Council Tax Reduction or Housing Benefit, but are not eligible for Pension Credits, will receive a £200 voucher by post from the Post Office.

If you have any queries about these vouchers, please check our frequently asked questions. Alternatively, you can contact us by:

calling the Council’s Household Support Fund helpline on 0118 9373797 - open between 10am to 12pm, and 2pm to 4pm Monday to Friday
emailing household.support@reading.gov.uk

Note: The Council’s Household Support Fund helpline will be closed between Friday 20 December 2024 and Monday 6 January 2025. It will not be possible to make enquiries about existing applications or check the status of a voucher during this time.

Find out if you can apply

Due to high levels of demand, applications are temporarily closed. Please check from Monday 6 January 2025 to see if applications are available again. Any applications that have already been submitted will be processed.

Reading residents on low incomes who are struggling with the rising cost of living can apply to receive a £125 Household Support Fund voucher.

Households that receive income-based benefits are automatically viewed as having a low income, and are therefore eligible to apply.

If you do not receive income-based or state benefits but are facing challenges that affect your cost of living, we will do a basic assessment of your income, essential outgoings and savings as part of the application. Essential outgoings include:

rent/mortgage payments
council Tax
utility bills
food
transport
clothing
childcare costs

Completing an application does not offer immediate financial support to residents. Each application will need to be processed. The time to complete processing depends on the number of applications received.

Support will be prioritised for:

residents over state pension age
carers
Care Leavers
people with disabilities
families with children on Pupil Premium
people living alone 
residents in unstable jobs
large households 
people with energy inefficient homes 
households with prepayment energy meters 
private renters
victims of crime 
veterans
residents whose first language is not English
residents with diverse ethnic backgrounds

How to apply

To apply, you will need:

Council Tax account number – starts with a 6 and can be found on your Council Tax bill
National Insurance number for you and your partner (where applicable)
Details of income/benefits for you and your partner (where applicable)
Details of essential outgoings for you and your partner (where applicable)
Details of any savings you and your partner have (where applicable)
Details of how you plan to use the support for things like food, energy, water, wider essentials and housing costs*
Details of current circumstances that have led you to request support

Note: if you have more than £2000 in savings, you are not eligible to apply.

*Applicants needing help with housing costs may be referred to other support. Government rules state that rent support should come from Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, or Discretionary Housing Payments before using the Household Support Fund.

Application decisions and appeals

The decision to approve or reject will be made by council officers administering the scheme. Their decision will be final and there will be no right to appeal.

More information and support

For more cost-of-living advice or support, please visit our Money Matters advice pages.

There are also other government funded schemes to help with the cost of living. You can find further details on benefits and financial support on the GOV.UK website.

You can find more information about government support for rising living costs on the government’s cost of living support page.

If you have any queries about these vouchers, please check our frequently asked questions. Alternatively, you can contact us by:

calling the Council’s Household Support Fund helpline on 0118 9373797 - open between 10am to 12pm, and 2pm to 4pm Monday to Friday
emailing household.support@reading.gov.uk

We’d like your feedback

Reading Borough Council would like to know how the Household Support Fund support has helped you. To help us understand this, you may be contacted using the contact details we have for you.

Please tell us how the Household Support Fund has helped you by completing our feedback survey.

Complete feedback survey

Frequently asked questions

Who is the Household Support Fund for?

Funding is aimed at anyone who is vulnerable or struggling to pay for essentials. You don’t need to be on benefits to get help from your council. If you do receive benefits, they won’t be affected by a Household Support Fund payment.

Why does each local council use their Household Support Fund grant differently?

Each council must follow some rules for using the Household Support Fund, but they also have flexibility to address local cost of living issues.

The amount of funding each council receives varies. The government decides the amount based on the level of need in each area.

Within Berkshire, here is the amount of Household Support Fund grant each local council receives for the year 2024/25:

Reading Borough Council: £1,139,648
Slough Borough Council: £1,177,691
West Berkshire Borough Council: £694,849
Wokingham Borough Council: £525,573
Bracknell Forest Borough Council: £555,468
Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead: £587,905

Why doesn’t everyone get financial support?

The Household Support Fund has limited money, so we have to make choices about how it’s used.

Reading Borough Council prioritises helping families with children who are struggling. This is why we send vouchers directly to families eligible for pupil premium/free school meals and care leavers.

Many charities and voluntary and community organisations also support low-income households in Reading.  Through our Public Health team, we’re adding extra help to these efforts.

What if I don’t receive a voucher?

If you believe you are eligible for a voucher but haven’t received one, please wait until after 31 December 2024 to contact the council.

Appendix

Previous funding and decisions

The Household Support Fund (HSF) started in October 2021 and has since been extended several times. The HSF provides support to households who would otherwise struggle to buy food, pay essential utility bills, or meet other essential living and housing costs. So far, there have been three rounds of HSF funding. Each previous round lasted for six months. The current round of funding is available for twelve months.

The first round of HSF funding in Reading provided food vouchers to families who needed extra support over school holidays, as well as energy vouchers for targeted residents. Further funding was allocated to support Reading residents with rising food costs, as well as funding for Reading Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations.

The second funding round focused on the rising cost of energy for residents with a targeted Energy Voucher scheme for those in need, especially older people, and families.

For the third round of funding, the council combined the energy and food voucher schemes into one Cost-of-Living voucher for those who required support. This approach provided added flexibility to residents who could choose how to use the funds according to their individual needs. A Cost-of-Living payment was also introduced for Reading households in receipt of Housing Benefit.

Specific details of what support was provided to Reading residents in previous Household Support Fund rounds can be found below: