Sefton Council has re-opened the Household Support Fund today (Monday 8th April), after the Chancellor announced it would be extended for a further six months in the Spring Budget.

Essential household bills

Households in Sefton can apply to the fund for support with food, energy costs and other essential household bills.

To qualify, households will need to show they are on a low-income and need immediate financial help towards energy, food, and essential household bills. Those who receive a grant from the Household Support Fund will not have to pay it back. Neither will it be treated as income for tax or benefit purposes.

Funding is not available to those who have received support from the Council’s Emergency Limited Assistance Scheme (ELAS) in the past six months.

You can find full details of the who qualifies and how to apply here. 

Payments will be made through the Post Office Pay Out Service.

Over £1.7 million

By February when it was temporarily closed due to funds being exhausted, the Council had over £1.7 million through the Open Access Household Support Fund and had received and dealt with almost 11,250 applications since the scheme opened in April 2023.

Announcing the extension of the scheme, the chancellor said that £421 million of funding would be made available nationally by the UK Government, through Unitary Authorities like Sefton and County Councils in England.