Household Support Fund

The Department of Work and Pensions has made additional funding available for low-income households in Kingston who meet the criteria and are struggling to afford food, fuel, utility bills and other essentials.

 We have been allocated £1,520,777.72 in funding, which covers the period 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026 inclusive.

Local Authorities have discretion on exactly how this funding is used. In Kingston, we aim to provide support to households in need, including those with children, pensioners and disabilities, who would otherwise struggle with energy bills, food and water bills. 

We will use the Fund in the following way to provide support to Kingston residents:

• Means Tested Free School Meal holiday vouchers - £875,620 (including 10k admin) provided directly via schools.
• VCSE grants - £400,000
• Residents' applications - £240,157.72
• Administration - £5,000*

Individuals can apply for this grant themselves, or you can make a referral for an individual or household that you are supporting. 

Process

To manage the volume of applications and to ensure support is available throughout the funding period, we will use the following process:

• One application per household during HSF 7
• Provide £300 per eligible household
• Applications open on the first working day of each month, with a limit of 80 applications accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
• The application form will close once 80 applications are received each month and will reopen at 9am on the first working day of the following month until March 2026.

To be eligible to access the support, they need to be a resident of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (or if homeless or with no recourse to public funds, have appropriate links to the borough) and one or more of the following eligibility criteria must apply:

• They have insufficient funds to access nutritional meals
• They have insufficient funds to be able to keep their home warm, electricity or gas on and access to water for cooking
• They have insufficient funds to be able to afford essentials such as food, toiletries (sanitary products, soap, etc), clothing, blankets, boiler service/repair, and access to equipment including fridges and ovens.
• A household has an urgent housing need which can not be funded by an existing scheme, e.g. housing benefits, etc
• The household has a vulnerability or a community care need

Council officers, voluntary sector partners and other referring professionals must assess needs against these criteria and confirm eligibility.  

Individuals may be receiving other forms of support, including Universal Credit. If families are receiving support through other food or utility schemes, this should be taken into account, and you should avoid duplicating existing support.  However, families in receipt of other schemes are not excluded from receiving the grant. For example, a family may:  

• have additional wider needs in terms of food and utilities
• require other essential  supplies 
• include individual family members who are not in receipt of support 

Where needed, support with food, utility bills and other pressures will be provided through a voucher.

If you are working with residents who may be eligible, please use the link below to complete the application form on behalf of families/individuals you are supporting. The application form has all the details of what may be applied for and the eligibility criteria. However, you can also contact the KST Health Improvement Team at householdsupportfund@kingston.gov.uk if you have any questions. 

Apply for Household Support Fund