The Household Support Fund (HSF) has been created to help people experiencing immediate financial hardship to pay for food and household energy bills.

Support is offered in five ways:

• Support for pensioners who are struggling financially
• Trusted Partners
• Cambridgeshire Holiday Voucher Scheme (CHVS)
• Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme
• Support with food and household energy

It is money the council has been awarded to help those in need and most affected by the cost of living crisis to support them to resolve their financial issues. It is not charity.

Support for pensioners who are struggling financially

Eligibility

You are eligible to access this support through the Household Support Fund if:

• You were born on or before 30 September 1956
• You live in Cambridgeshire
• You are experiencing financial hardship
• No one under the age of 19 (born after the 30 September 2003), lives with you

How to apply

Support for pensioners is being delivered on our behalf by Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Apply by phone on 01223 221929 or by email at hsf@ageukcap.org.uk

In South Cambridgeshire contact

• Housing Advice – South Cambridgeshire District Council
• Duty Housing – South Cambridgeshire District Council
• Benefits – South Cambridgeshire District Council
• Community Team – South Cambridgeshire District Council

Contact South Cambridgeshire District Council

Support with food and household energy

Eligibility

You are eligible to access this support through the Household Support Fund if you earn less than £17,940 per year or are in receipt of one of the following:

• Income Support
• Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit
• Working Tax Credit

How to apply

You can apply directly to the fund by completing the online application form.

Please note: We are only accepting one application per person; multiple applications will not be processed. Do not submit duplicate applications or contact us to check the progress of your application. This will not speed up your application.

We are currently aiming to process applications in 8 working days

Access the application form here

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/coronavirus/household-support-fund

Cambridgeshire Holiday Voucher Scheme (CHVS)

Assistance through Household Support Fund ends on 31 March 2022. However, this has been replaced by one-off funds for the purposes of extending a similar scheme for the families in Cambridgeshire for a further year as part of the pandemic recovery, to provide support to families. This new scheme is called ‘Cambridgeshire Holiday Voucher Scheme’ (CHVS).

For the CHVS, it is proposed we will continue to use the same eligibility criteria we used for the Household Support Grant and a supermarket voucher will be allocated to parents/carers whose child/ren meet the following criteria:

• Funded Childcare and Education for 2-year-olds under the income-based criteria (children aged 2)
• Early Years Pupil Premium under the income-based criteria (children aged 3 and 4)
• Free School Meals (children and young people aged 4 to 16)

A detailed list of criteria and information on how to apply for income-related Free School Meals can be found here.

Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme

This is a national scheme and not restricted to Cambridgeshire families as with the CHVS scheme above.

If your child is eligible for Income-related Free School Meals, you can also access free childcare over the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays, subject to availability. Each participating holiday scheme offers a healthy meal, a variety of activities, experiences, sports and the opportunity for children and young people to socialise and have fun. A voucher was issued on 28 February by email and/or text to the nominated parent or carer in relation to the Easter HAF Programme. The voucher has no monetary value, it provides an eligibility code for your child to attend for 16 hours for no charge at a holiday scheme.

Please follow these instructions to redeem your voucher. Further information about the programme is available on our website at HAF Programme. If you have any further questions, email HAF@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Household Support Fund privacy notice

In these difficult times, we are working very closely with our district and city council partners, schools, voluntary sectors as well as the volunteers who are helping to deliver the really vital support to our local communities. This means that we will need to receive and share personal information about our residents. Our Household Support Fund privacy notice provides information about what kind of personal information that may be, what we may do with it and who may have access to it.

I have directly copied this from the County Council website.