Households getting free £200 cost of living payment to help cover bills

03 December 2023 , 07:00

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The help is being given through Birmingham's Household Support Fund (Image: Getty Images)

Thousands of households will get £200 paid directly into their bank accounts to help with the cost of living.

The help will be given to residents in Birmingham through the council's Household Support Fund. This is a national scheme which provides help to struggling Brits through their local council. It was first introduced in 2021 and this year the scheme received £842million worth of funding from the central Government to provide further support from April 2023 until March 2024.

Each local council received a pot of cash to spend over the course of the 12 months and they decide exactly how they would want to spend it. Birmingham City Council will be providing its residents with free cash payments worth £200 through its Hardship Grant Community Fund. The council says the £200 payments aim to support residents with food costs and energy payments.

To be eligible for the cash you will need to be a resident of Birmingham, experiencing financial hardship, and have not received a hardship grant over the last 12 months. This means if you received a Hardship Grant on September 30 2022, you would not be able to make an application for another one until October 1 2023.

According to Birmingham Council's website, to be eligible to get the payment you will need to be currently engaging with support services or be willing to engage with available support services. You must also be able to show proof that you are currently struggling to cover your energy bills or are in arrears or that you are struggling to cover your food costs.

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You will also need to provide proof of address and proof of any means-tested benefits you may receive in your application. However, you do not need to be claiming them to be eligible for the grant. Birmingham Council confirms that any other benefits you may receive will not be affected by the cash. You can apply for the £200 payment through the council's website here.

As mentioned before, each local council has their own pot of cash to spend and you can only access your local council's Household Support Fund. You can usually find out what help your local council is offering through its website as many will have a dedicated page for its Household Support Fund help. Councils more commonly provide support in the form of free cash, supermarket vouchers, or energy bill vouchers. However, others are giving struggling households free white goods, and boilers repairs.

Ruby Flanagan