Apply for the Household Support Fund

The Household Support Fund is a none repayable grant to help people living in Sheffield with food and home essentials.

It is not a loan, and you are not expected to pay any of the award back.

If you have no recourse to public funds, you are still eligible to apply for the household support fund.

We may be able to support you regardless of your immigration status, and your immigration status will not be affected by any award made under the household support fund.

We are currently experiencing a high volume of applications, so you may experience a delay in processing your application. We’re working our way through each and every enquiry as soon as we can.

The Household Support Fund can help you with:

  • food and housekeeping (groceries, toiletries, baby essentials etc)
  • telephone and broadband (mobile phones, top-ups, broadband charge etc)
  • gas and electricity
  • clothing, including school uniforms
  • white goods
  • wider essential needs not linked to energy and water, should the local authority consider this appropriate in your area

It cannot be used for:

  • advice services such as debt advice
  • mortgage costs
  • statutory activities / requirements that either the Council or another public sector organisation is responsible for delivering
  • rent or housing arrears under normal circumstances

If you need help paying rent or housing arrears, you must apply for Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, a Discretionary Housing Payment or a Homelessness Prevention Grant.

If you can prove you are ineligible for these benefits, in extreme circumstances we may be able to help with rent arrears or deposits for new tenancies.

What to include with your application

You will need to include a recent bank statement for every adult account holder in the household. These bank statements should:

  • be issued within the last 30 days
  • show incoming and outgoings payments and current balances
  • show the sort code, account number and account holder name
  • be saved in pdf format (not screenshots)

What happens next 

A council officer will look at all the information on your application before deciding if we can make an award. The information you provide will help us decide: 

  • whether you meet the eligibility criteria
  • the amount awarded to you

If you have provided us with an email address, written confirmation of the decision will be sent to you by email. If you do not have an email address, the decision notice will be sent to your home address by second class post.

If you need to appeal

If you don’t agree with our decision, you can contact the Household Support Fund team and ask us to look at your application again.

You must appeal within one month of the date of your decision. You should provide any information you feel may help your application and we’ll review our decision and write to you with the outcome.

Contact the Community Helpline

0114 273 4567
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm
1 Union Street
Howden House
Sheffield
S1 2SH

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