Please note that what was the final Household Support Fund 5 (HSF5) is now CLOSED.
When the HSF was open, funding was provided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to local authorities to provide crisis support to households most in need.
How did the scheme work?
Financial support will be provided in the following ways for eligible Derby households:
- Free school meals: Over 15,000 Derby city households with children receiving free school meals will be supported with supermarket food vouchers during the Easter, May and Summer term breaks. Over 700,000+ meals will be provided with supermarket food vouchers to households with children who receive free school meals between April 2024 and September 2024.
- Food vouchers: The food voucher scheme supports eligible households in financial crisis with food vouchers towards the cost of living. The online food voucher application form is now open for applications to the end of September 2024, or until all the allocated £200,000 funding is awarded. Only one award will be made per eligible household. The voucher values are allocated as follows: £25 for a single adult household / £40 for a multiple adult household / £75 for a household with children under the age of 19.
- Warm Welcome Hubs: The fund also provides financial support for up to 39 local community services and organisations across the city to further develop a community led cost of living support network that includes a warm welcome, hot meal, help towards energy costs as well as help accessing other cost of living support. During winter 2023/24, the hubs received over 55,000 visits from adults and over 7,200 children. Find out more about Derby's Warm Welcome Hubs here.
- Energy support: The fund provides access to financial support for help with energy costs in the form of energy vouchers. This support is available to vulnerable households and those in financial crisis through the Warm Welcome Hubs across the city (more details to follow soon). Over £239,000 in support was issued between April 2023 and March 2024 to over 4,090 vulnerable households to support with energy costs.
For more information visit: derby.gov.uk/advice-and-benefits/benefits/household-support-fund
