You may be eligible to apply for money toward a particular purpose, like housing costs, from your local council. Here are some grants available across Suffolk.
This grant is designed to help ease the financial pressure from housing and other essentials. Areas of potential support include children’s meals during school holidays, housing support and food and non-food items for Suffolk food banks/pantries.
To find out more, visit the Household Support page here.
If you’re going through financial hardship, the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme (LWAS) can offer some financial support. You could be struggling to afford the basics like food, heating, clothing, or pay your household bills. The LWAS is not intended to be emergency or long-term financial support, and only one award can be made to an eligible household in a 6-month period.
The easiest way to make an application and check your eligibility is via the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme web form. It takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
You may be eligible to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment. If your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit doesn’t cover all your rent, a Discretionary Housing Payment can offer a short-term or one-off payment for those experiencing exceptional financial hardship.
If you are of retirement age or working and living in Supported or Temporary accommodation, you can apply for Housing Benefit to help towards your rent.
Note that you can also apply for a reduction in your Council Tax bill if you are on a low income or claiming benefits.
The Help for Households campaign, funded by the Government, is there to help those on means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Tax Credits. These people will receive an additional £900 this year.
Learn more about the Help for Households campaign.
Local District and Borough councils have been given funding via the Household Support Fund to support local people with housing costs.
You should speak with your local Housing Needs Team so they can better understand your circumstances and see what additional help is available.
Follow the links below to speak with your local council:
Or, if you’re not sure who your local District or Borough Council is, use the Government Postcode Checker here.
Alternatively, you can contact Safe Suffolk Renters. We will do our best to signpost you to the most suitable financial support.
You can join platforms like Freecycle and Freegle to connect with locals offering or looking for free items. There’s a huge range of unwanted items.
For those struggling with loneliness and can’t afford to buy the technology, Wavelength can provide free radios, televisions and tablets to help you.
End Furniture Poverty offers financial support to those on a low income struggling to afford furniture. You can find out more about them here.
Similar to the above, the Government’s Help for Household campaign is also helping with money towards energy costs. Find out more about the Help for Household campaign’s help with energy bill payments here.
The Warm Homes Suffolk programme is helping Suffolk residents, through different energy efficiency measures, save money when heating their homes. There is a range of support available to both tenants and landlords.
Warm Homes Suffolk also offers specific support for prepayment meter customers.
Help includes the following:
You can find out more about other pre-payment energy meter support here.
If you use oil for your home’s heating, you may be able to benefit from Community Action Suffolk’s community oil buying scheme. They work by buying oil as a group and earning better deals.
Find out more about Community Action Suffolk here. Or, to find your nearest Oil Club, head here.
For further financial support towards paying your energy and utility bills, you should speak with your provider because some have schemes and other means of helping you.
For more information on saving money on your home bills, you can view Suffolk County Council’s website.
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New rules introduced by the Renters’ Rights Act have changed how and when rent can be increased, creating a clearer and fairer process for tenants, landlords and letting agents.
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