A one-off payment of £400 payment to approximately 3,000 households on low incomes who meet the following criteria:

• In receipt of council tax support and
• Have a dependant child resident in the property (the property must be classed as the dependants main address)

All eligible households have been sent a letter from the benefits team with details of how to apply for the payment before the 28th July 2024 deadline. If you have received a letter and wish to submit your application please ensure you have your national insurance number and your letter with your unique identifier code to hand, and please read the rest of the information on this page before you start your application.

There will also be an award made to those who are of working age and in receipt of council tax support but who are liable to pay 20% of their council tax liability before their entitlement is calculated.

These customers will receive a maximum payment of up to £60 towards their outstanding liability dependant on their remaining balance after the council tax reduction scheme, discounts and disregards have been applied. These claimants will be identified by the council and the award automatically applied to their council tax account. There will be no application process for this support.

If you're not eligible for either of these payments but you or someone you know is having difficulty with bills, keeping warm, requiring assistance with essential living costs or if there's risk to the home, please contact the Welfare Support team on 0345 678 9078 (option 2) who have also been granted a share of this fund to assist people. You don’t have to be getting benefits to be able to apply for help.

For more information on what other help may be available, please visit our 'cost of living help' pages or contact our cost of living helpline on 0345 678 9012 (option 1).

Can I apply more than once?

No - this is a one-off welfare support payment and you can only apply for it once. If you require further financial assistance please visit take a look at the support options we provide as a council, and the 'worried about money?' page for other sources of advice and support.

Before you start

Only those who have received a letter inviting them to apply will be eligible to fill out the form. Please ensure you have your letter to hand as it contains key details you will need to provide as part of your application.

You will need:

• The unique code from your letter
• For verification purposes you will also need to provide your date of birth and national insurance number
• Your bank details. This should be your sole bank account or a joint bank account. If you don't have a sole or joint bank account or if you don’t submit your BACS details, the one-off payment will be paid onto your Council Tax account instead.

Use of your data

We're collecting information from you when you complete this form for the purpose of administering the household grant scheme.

We'll process the data provided by you for the purposes of administering the scheme in order to provide you with the relevant funding and support.

Further information on how we use your data can be found here.

Begin your application

There will also be an award made to those who are of working age and in receipt of council tax support but who are liable to pay 20% of their council tax liability before their entitlement is calculated.

These customers will receive a maximum payment of up to £60 towards their outstanding liability dependant on their remaining balance after the council tax reduction scheme, discounts and disregards have been applied. These claimants will be identified by the council and the award automatically applied to their council tax account. There will be no application process for this support.

The fund will continue to provide free school meal holiday vouchers. Children in receipt of benefits-related free school meals in Shropshire schools and children in receipt of 24U funding and Early Years Pupil Premium in early years settings will continue to receive support, usually through meal vouchers.

Funding is for five weeks during the remaining 2023/24 academic year. It supported 7,500 children during the second week of the Easter holidays, and will support 8,000 children for May half term and three weeks of the summer break, at an equivalent to £15 a week of support during these holiday periods. Distribution will be via the relevant education settings.

If you’re on a low income and you think you could be eligible for free school meals, please visit our free school meals pages.

This includes:

• Keep Shropshire Warm Energy Advice and Support Service
• Help-to-heat vouchers to qualifying households and those in sustained energy arrears.
• Discretionary grants provided to support applications to Sustainable Warmth Shropshire programme for necessary ancillary/enabling works

On average, for every £1 spent with the household support funding, an additional £4 can then be accessed through the other government funds to carry out much-needed improvements to the homes of vulnerable Shropshire residents.

If you’re on a low income and you think you could be eligible for help with energy costs and grants for home improvements to help reduce energy costs please visit our affordable warmth and energy efficiency pages.

Shropshire Council’s Welfare Support Team offers support to low income and vulnerable households in need. Households can apply for help with food, energy and water bills, and with other essential living costs. For more information, and to find out how to apply, please visit our Welfare Support Fund team page.

These provide support to meet the emergency need of vulnerable households in financial distress or hardship to meet the cost of unaffordable essentials. This includes energy bills, white goods, (cookers, washing machines and fridge/freezers) and energy efficiencies to help with reducing future energy costs.

Please note that all applications must be referred by a third-party organisation.

• The Tenbury NILS Scheme provides residents in financial need with a grant to help with essential household items
• Community Resource provides residents in financial need with a one-off hardship grant payment between £50 - £500 to help keep their home warm