Household Support Fund

The UK government's Department for Work and Pensions have extended the Household Support Fund to be made available to councils in England to help with significant rising living costs until March 2025.

It is intended to help those who do not have enough resources to meet immediate short term needs and require assistance with essential items over the coming months.

Please note that you do not need to be on benefits or unemployed to receive this funding if you can demonstrate need.

Select the relevant option below to view more information.

• support available
• energy support
• food and other essentials - children and families
• emergency food support
• important information on accessing support
• accessing help now

Apply for the Household Support Fund

Support available

In Chorley we have developed our approach to distribute this funding by working collectively in partnership with our community organisations and voluntary groups to provide support whilst also linking residents with wider support.

The fund will help with short term living costs such as food, energy and essential items. The scheme will also signpost you to other sources of advice and assistance. 

Please note that Household Support Fund processing times for support may vary between organisations. This support is not provided immediately.

Type of requests that will be not be covered by the Household Support Fund:

• any requests for items that are not essential
• applications from those with sufficient income or savings
• requests for support where this is the responsibility of the landlord.

View information on other support available to hep with the cost of living. 

If you need additional help or have further questions please contact us on 01257 515151 or email hsf@chorley.gov.uk and use the description "Household Support Fund" in your email.

Energy support 

We are partnering with Citizens Advice Lancashire West to support residents who are struggling with electricity, gas, and water costs.

Apply for the Household Support Fund

Due to the demand and high volumes of applications the Energy Support element of Household Support is now temporarily closed.

Funding availability is being reviewed by Chorley Council and we will provide updates on this webpage when the energy support will reopen.

All other forms of support are still available.

• you cannot apply if you or someone in your household received a Household Support Fund payment in the last 6 months
• you must be aged 16 or over and the named account holder of your energy accounts
• you must be a resident of the borough of Chorley

If you are not yet eligible to apply, help can be provided in other ways by:

• contacting your energy supplier to see what support they can offer you. Unless you have large arrears or have failed to meet agreed payment plans, they should be able to offer you support
• if you rent from a social landlord, contacting them and see what support they can offer
• contacting Citizens Advice Lancashire West for a referral to their Cost of Living Support Worker who can check your benefit entitlement and help you access other support

How to apply

You can apply by completing the Household Support Fund application form.

Please Note

• this is not emergency support and due to the high number of applications it can take 28 days to process your application
• during this time please do not submit further applications or try to contact us regarding your application  
• depending on the level of demand, we may have to temporarily freeze the application process as we process those who have applied.  We will provide timescales when the fund reopens if this happens
• we are expecting a high level of demand, therefore the fund may close earlier than March 2025 or the amount paid is at our discretion to attempt support as many residents as possible.
• submitting an application does not guarantee acceptance
• in line with current government guidance you do not need to be on benefits to apply and this money does not need to be paid back.

Apply for the Household Support Fund

Receiving support

• if you are successful, Chorley Citizens Advice will send you a Charis code. Charis is the name of the company being used to obtain and manage the codes
• the code will be sent to you either by email or text message (applicants that are not online or don't have a mobile phone will receive a code in the post)
• you can redeem your code for cash to use for your energy payment at any appropriate pay-point store. Find your nearest pay-point store  
• if there are any difficulties with redeeming the voucher, please call pay-point on 0330 400 0002 whilst still at the pay-point store. Do not call Chorley Council or Citizens Advice as we are unable to assist with problems redeeming voucher codes
• we will only re-issue codes where the code issuer (Charis) agrees that the code is faulty and not when redeemed incorrectly by the retailer, or where a claim is made that the codes have already been redeemed. Please be aware that the date, time, location and CCTV footage is recorded by the pay-point till for all transactions
• you are responsible for the security of the devices you receive text messages and emails onto and replacement codes will not be issued when a device has been accessed by another person and the codes fraudulently redeemed.

Food and other essentials - children and families

Home-Start Central Lancashire

Home-Start Central Lancashire is based in Chorley and offers a range of family support services. They are a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support staff, helping families with children through their challenging times.

They offer a home-visiting support service for families struggling with issues such as post-natal depression, early childhood development, isolation, challenging behaviour and much more.

Office hours are Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm.

Website - Home Start Household Support Fund 

Telephone number - 01257 241636

Email admin@homestartcentrallancs.org.uk

Important information on accessing support

As this funding is allocated to Chorley residents in financial difficulties you may be asked to provide proof of residency or other supporting documentation, but our delivery partners will work with you to make this as simple as possible.

Our partner organisations will talk to you about your situation and work out the best way to help you including offering wider and if needed longer term support.

You can access support for food and essentials and fuel support, but you should only access the fund through one partner unless you are referred to a different delivery partner by one of the delivery partners.

Your details will be used to contact you about this support or refer you to one of the other delivery partners listed above if they are more appropriate to support you. We will also cross check applicant details provided between partners to prevent misuse of the fund. As Chorley Council are a delivery partner, we may also receive your details to provide support as part of this fund.

We may collate information to help us target support in the future and may ask if you would be willing to provide follow up information to advise how the fund has supported you.

Accessing help now

• if you are successful, Chorley Citizens Advice will send you a Charis code. Charis is the name of the company being used to obtain and manage the codes
• the code will be sent to you either by email or text message (applicants that are not online or don't have a mobile phone will receive a code in the post)
• you can redeem your code for cash to use for your energy payment at any appropriate pay-point store. Find your nearest pay-point store  
• if there are any difficulties with redeeming the voucher, please call pay-point on 0330 400 0002 whilst still at the pay-point store. Do not call Chorley Council or Citizens Advice as we are unable to assist with problems redeeming voucher codes
• we will only re-issue codes where the code issuer (Charis) agrees that the code is faulty and not when redeemed incorrectly by the retailer, or where a claim is made that the codes have already been redeemed. Please be aware that the date, time, location and CCTV footage is recorded by the pay-point till for all transactions
• you are responsible for the security of the devices you receive text messages and emails onto and replacement codes will not be issued when a device has been accessed by another person and the codes fraudulently redeemed.