Household Support Fund Winter Food and Energy Scheme Launch 2026
Funded by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the UK government, the Household Support Fund scheme supports vulnerable Kent households in need of help with significantly rising living costs. The Government has announced that this current round of HSF funding will be the last.
This final round of Household Support Fund will provide Winter Food or Energy support, and will run from January to end February 2026, offering an online public application route that enables individual self-referral, or professional referrals on behalf of individuals requiring digital assistance, to be made.
This scheme has provisionally been scheduled to open for online applications from Mid-day on Thursday 8th January 2026 and will close at Mid-day Thursday 26th February 2026. These dates subject to change at short notice. The Scheme may close earlier if all the available HSF funds are allocated, therefore early application is recommended.
There is a limited amount of funding available for this scheme and funds will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. Support is offered on a one award per ‘household’ basis, therefore applications from more than one resident deemed to be within the same household will not be approved.
Please note that online registration is required for energy card support, those applicants being referred who do not have access to the internet or a smart phone will be offered a food voucher, which can be delivered by post or email but does not require online security registration.
If successful, energy support will be provided in the following ways depending on their bill payment method:
A £90 virtual pre-paid energy card* to be used to pay directly to energy providers for electricity, gas, or water bills. Energy providers including British Gas, EDF, Eon, Bulb, Octopus and many more. Sent to applicant via email by our provider Evouchers.com. Any help you may need to redeem your food or Energy card can be found at:
*The prepaid card is issued by Paynetics UK (company number 1248133), with its registered address at 1st Floor, 18 Devonshire Row, London, England, EC2M 4RH. Paynetics UK is an electronic money institution authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under firm reference number 942777 for the issuance of e-money and the provision of payment services in the UK.Weavr Ltd acts as a distributor of Paynetics UK in the UK territory.For more information, including the terms and conditions and privacy notice, please visit our website at Evouchers. Google Wallet is a trademark of Google LLC. Wonde Limited trading as Evouchers is a company registered in England and Wales (registration number 08645640) with its registered office at Furlong House, 2 Kings Court, Newmarket, CB8 7SG. Wonde is not an authorised electronic money institution
All applicants receiving a ‘virtual’ energy card will need to complete the online card registration and activation process, those without internet/email access will require professional referrer assistance. Alternatively, you may wish to refer off-line applicants for food vouchers, as these can be used without online activation and delivered by post if needed. Applicants opting for food vouchers will be able to choose a retailer from a list of selected retailers during the application process.
Where possible we ask that you keep Food voucher postal referrals to absolute minimum as this helps to reduce the scheme costs and enables more residents to be supported from the limited HSF funds provided.
We welcome any support you can offer to assist those applicants being referred to download their vouchers. Postal fulfilment requests will take longer to be processed (please allow an additional 2-3 weeks) and will require a delivery signature.
Applicants on a pre-payment meter required to top-up in-store using a key or card will receive either a PayPoint or PayZone energy voucher by email/sms which can be redeemed at their local kiosk. If making a referral, please ensure that the correct voucher payment type is requested on the application form as refunds are not possible for these top-up vouchers once issued.
Who is eligible?
There is an expectation for professionals to complete due diligence checks of applications to ensure that beneficiaries meet the scheme eligibility criteria as set out below:
Applicants that self-refer will be required to submit evidence to prove that they are the energy bill payer for the household and a Kent resident, within an eligible Kent district, at the point of application.
Applicants must
- be aged 16 or over
- be a Kent resident, permanently living within one of the 12 local authorities covered by Kent County Council (this excludes Medway, Bexley, or Bromley)
- be in receipt of means tested benefits or, if you are not in receipt of means tested benefits, you have a household income of £33,000 or less per year
- not be eligible for free school meals.
We will check proof of residency against the live Department for Work and Pensions database and may request further evidence from applicants such as a recent utility bill or bank statement. We expect professionals who complete the application on behalf of someone else to make sure the applicant meets all the eligibility criteria. All professional referrals must be submitted from an official organisation email address, we may conduct a further email verification check with the organisation before processing the application.
Families who are eligible for free school meals support are, as is usual, excluded from this scheme as they will receive a voucher and holiday support, funded by the Household Support Fund, for each eligible child via their child’s school outside of this scheme. FSM families should contact their child’s school in the first instance if you believe they are entitled to this FSM support.
Residents with no recourse to public funding are eligible to be considered for the scheme by exception. If a National Insurance number is not available, please email kcc-hsffoodandenergysupport@kent.gov.uk with circumstances and reasons why the applicant should receive this support (please attach all supporting evidence to the email).
Application link:
If support is required because of the increase in cost of living, apply for the Household Support Fund on the following link:
Household Support Fund - Kent County Council
(application form link will not appear until the scheme opens at noon on Thursday 8th January 2026)
Only one application is permitted per household, applicants are reminded that this is taxpayers’ money so please spend it wisely on your energy, food and essential household items only.
All applications must be completed online, an offline bulk upload application (minimum of 6 applicants) template will be made available to professionals on request once the scheme opens.
Citizens Advice will also provide support to applicants who struggle to make online applications by calling the Citizens Advice freephone helpline on 0300 304 8003 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm – this line opens Thursday 8th January until scheme closure) they will submit online applications on behalf of applicant. This line is expected to be busy so please warn potential applicants to be patient if contacting the Citizens Advice Team for help.
Processing timescales
We aim to send the relevant Energy (virtual) cards and Food vouchers out as quickly as possible, however due to the high volume of demand and increased DWP fraud prevention measures we anticipate a processing time of approximately 4 weeks of a successful application being made. Applicants requesting Postal Food vouchers will usually take an additional 2 weeks to manually print and post. We strongly recommend email as the most secure and fastest delivery method where possible. The applicant and referrer (if applicable) will receive email confirmation of the application outcome.
Be aware of scammers
Be aware of criminals trying to capitalise on schemes like this. This scheme does not require any bank account details, and we will never request these details over the phone or via email or text message. Be sure to check whether links and emails are genuine before responding. If you are in any doubt about correspondence you have received, which relates to the scheme or an application, please email/phone the HSF team at the contact address below.
Additional Queries
Any additional queries can be directed to
kcc-hsffoodandenergysupport@kent.gov.uk
or via the direct contact number 03000 412424.