Households can get free £240 cost of living cash - here's how to claim

Wokingham Borough Council is providing grants of up to £240 to help cover the cost of energy, food and other household bills through its Household Support Fund

Households can claim up to £240 in cost of living cash through the Government's Household Support Fund.

The Household Support Fund scheme gives pots of cash to local councils which they can then spend on providing support to vulnerable people living in their community. Each council gets a certain amount depending on how many people live there and they can decide what the money is spent on.

Wokingham Borough Council is providing grants of up to £240 to help cover the cost of energy, food and other household bills. Applications reopened for this help in December and it will run until March 2024.

According to Wokingham Borough Council's website, the grant is available to people who are not part of a household where children receive means-tested free school meals. Households with pensioners, carers, and disabled people can claim a grant of £240. Households which have four or more people living there can also claim this amount. All other households can claim a grant worth up to £120.

However, Wokingham Council says that higher amounts are being paid to households which are likely to spend more money on daily essentials like food and energy. You can claim the support if you do or do not claim benefits.

To apply for the money, you can either call Citizens Advice Wokingham One Front Door on 0808 278 7958, apply on Citizens Advice Wokingham website, call Age UK Berkshire on (0118) 959 4242 or email Age UK Berkshire on info@ageukberkshire.org.uk. Once you have applied it will take around two weeks to process your claim. You will then be sent vouchers which can be exchanged for cash.

Every local council in the country has received a pot of cash through the Household Support Fund. The help which each council offers is different and you can only claim help from your local authority. Support often includes free cash payments, supermarket vouchers, and energy bill support.

Each council website should have a dedicated page set up with details of its Household Support Fund. You will be able to find what help you can access through there. If you don't know who your local council is you can find it through the official Gov.uk page here. All you need to do is enter your postcode.

The Household Support Fund started in October 2021 and since it has been extended several times. The most recent extension came last year when the Government gave the scheme another £842million in funding from April 1 until March 2024. This takes the total amount allocated to the fund to over £2billion since it first started.

All the money provided to each council has to be spent in its entirety before the end of March this year, if it hasn't been spent whatever is left has to be returned to the Government.