Nottinghamshire Household Support Fund (HSF) Phase 4
If you are in receipt of Free School Meals or Pension Credits but have not yet applied or received your automatic payment, then please contact the Household Support Fund team at HouseholdSupportFund@nottscc.gov.uk
Phase 4 of the Household Support Fund is now live. If you are not in receipt of Free School Meals or Pension Credit and are in need of support, then please contact a professional, such as a social worker or health worker, that you are working with. If you are not working with a professional but think you may be eligible for support, please contact your local district or borough council and they will be able to determine your eligibility. Please see below for further details. Please contact HouseholdSupportFund@nottscc.gov.uk with any queries.
If you have received a letter inviting you to apply, please complete the Household Support Fund Application form
The fourth round of the Household Support Fund is worth £11.2 million in total, and has been provided by the Department for Work and Pensions to cover a full year (April 2023 to March 2024) and will once again be administered by Nottinghamshire County Council in partnership with local district and borough councils.
Summer and Winter support payments, both worth around £100 per household (based on number of eligible household occupants), will continue to support families with children entitled to Free School Meals as well as other households and individuals struggling with rising costs.
Families in receipt of benefits related Free School Meals, or with early years children in receipt of an equivalent benefit, will once again be contacted directly by the County Council with details of how to apply for a seasonal support payment.
If families applied during the previous phase and gave permission to keep their details then they will not need to apply again, as the payment will be issued automatically to them in the same format that was requested before.
Any family that is not in receipt of Free School Meals, but is in need of support, can contact their local district or borough council and ask to be referred into the Household Support Fund.
The first set of payments have been made through summer, and any application that has been made before 30 September will be registered to automatically receive the Winter Support Payment without needing to reapply. Any application made after 30 September will only be eligible for the winter payment and will not be backdated for the summer payment.
It is also important to be clear that this support is a one-off payment in summer and in winter and is not linked to school holidays, therefore it should not be expected to arrive during any school holiday.
To see other support that may be available to you, please visit the Government's Cost of Living Hub.
Frequently asked questions
We will be using data gathered from DWP and the School Census to enable us to contact all residents who are eligible for benefits related FSM/Pension Credit. We will be sending letters out inviting you to apply, letters will be sent out from 24 July.
If you have not had your letter by 11 August please contact HouseholdSupportFund@nottscc.gov.uk
If you are not in receipt of either FSM or Pension Credit, then you will need to be referred into the fund by a professional referrer, if they feel it is appropriate to do so. Please contact a professional that you are working with or your local district or borough council and ask them to make a referral into the fund on your behalf, they will assess you in accordance with the criteria, and then make the referral if it is considered appropriate to do so.
Households that are eligible include those
- in receipt of benefits related free school meals or early years equivalent
- that are in receipt of Pension Credits
- that have been assessed by a professional and are in need of support
We will be accepting applications for the Summer Support Payment until 30 September. Any application made before 30 September will be added to a list to receive an automatic Winter Support Payment (in line with the table below), when it is due, you will not need to apply again. Any application made after 30 September 2023 will only be eligible for the Winter Support Payment and this will not be backdated.
Winter Support Payments will be issued five months after the initial application was submitted, on the last day of the month.
The below table outlines the dates:
Month of Summer Payment (any date) |
Date Winter Payment will be made |
May |
31 October 2023 |
June |
30 November 23 |
July |
29 December 23 |
August |
31 January 24 |
September |
29 February 24 |
No, payments will be automatically provided on those dates stated above, we cannot make any changes.
No. The fund is designed to make two support payments to help households over a longer period and to encourage households to plan ahead.
No. Automatic Winter payments will be issued in the same format as was chosen for your Summer payment. If you need to change the bank account details please contact the Household Support Fund team and we will be able to assist you. Householdsupportfund@nottscc.gov.uk
Please allow up to ten working days for the team to get back to you, as this is the standard time to investigate and provide an outcome.
If ten working days have already passed then we can look into this further for you, however we will require all your details to do so, including your email address, home address and phone number.
If you received a bank transfer in Phase Three, and you gave us permission to retain your details, then we will be issuing a payment to the same bank account as before. You will not need to apply. Please contact Householdsupportfund@nottscc.gov.uk if you need to change your bank account details or have any further queries. Please provide all your details when doing so, including your full name and address.
Unfortunately, once the voucher has been activated, or posted to you, we cannot change the supermarket, and it must be redeemed at the supermarket originally selected.
Unfortunately, we cannot reissue vouchers after they have expired or have not been activated in the time window.
If you can provide us with your bank details, name, address and email address, we can look into it and respond within ten working days
For this phase of the fund we are not issuing support payments that are aligned with any school holidays. Instead, we are paying a one-off lump sum in Summer to cover all Summer holidays, and a one-off lump sum in Winter to cover all Winter holidays. These are referred to as the Summer and Winter Support Payments respectively.
We contacted those who we found to be eligible throughout the phase, on numerous occasions, if you have not been contacted, unfortunately you were not eligible. We are not able to backdate any payments from any previous phases of the fund, as each fund is classed as a separate fund and previous funds are now closed.
Further Support
If you need further help or support, find out more about accessing benefits and other government support that you may be eligible for.