Support for cost of living
Round 7 of the Government's Household Support Fund runs from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026, with £9,631,345 being made available to Lincolnshire.
The main aim of the fund is to support vulnerable households most in need with the cost of essentials such as food, energy and wider essentials.
The council is working with district councils and partners to distribute the funding as follows:
Schools and Early Years providers
Approximately 64% of the grant funding will be provided to Schools and Early Years providers, targeting children eligible for benefit related 'Free School Meals' (FSM),'Early Years Pupil Premium', (EYPP) and families with a 2-year-old eligible for 'Early Years Entitlement' (EYE). Funding will be automatically awarded to eligible children via their school or early years provider without the need to apply. This will usually be in the form of a supermarket voucher, distributed to all eligible children in June 2025 and again in December 2025.
Care leavers
1% of the grant funding will used to provide financial support to eligible care leavers via the Lincolnshire Leaving Care Service.
Vulnerable households
Approximately 34% of the grant funding to made available to Lincolnshire District Councils to provide support to vulnerable households via local schemes. District Councils (or Third Sector/Voluntary organisations operating on their behalf) will also provide an application-based process. Please contact your district council for details of local schemes and eligibility criteria.
Further details on each district’s application process will be published once finalised. You’ll be able to find this information via the following links:
- City of Lincoln Council
- North Kesteven District Council
- South Kesteven District Council
- Boston Borough Council
- South Holland District Council
- West Lindsey District Council
- East Lindsey District Council
We appreciate that not all households will be eligible for support via this grant programme. However, the government have a number of arrangements in place, and this is just one.
Residents facing financial difficulties can also visit the government’s Cost of Living Hub and Help for Households.
If you need help with the cost of replacing or repairing your boiler or making your home more energy efficient you may be able to get help directly from your energy supplier.
In addition, there is a Holiday Food and Activity programme for children eligible for benefits-related free school meals.
If you are finding it difficult to manage, please remember Citizens Advice offer free, confidential and impartial advice to everyone to find a way forward whatever problem you may face. So please call their national advice line 0800 144 8848.
A range of support can also be found via Connect to Support Lincolnshire.
Privacy information
District councils
District councils use personal data already held about households to determine eligibility.
For application-based processes, details about why and how personal data is used, are provided to householders at the time of application, as appropriate.
Lincolnshire County Council (LCC)
For the Early Years element of the funding and associated entitlements, information is provided to LCC via parents’ declarations, for the purpose of checking eligibility. For free school meal eligible (FSM) children, LCC have used information from parental FSM applications.
LCC uses information already held about care leavers, to determine eligibility.
Information is processed by LCC in order to perform tasks carried out in the public interest and in the exercise of official authority. We use the minimum amount of personal data required to meet HSF objectives.
We are required to retain your information for as long as is necessary, after which it will be securely destroyed. Retention schedules are in place that set out in detail how long information will be held for.
You have several rights in relation to the information that the council holds about you. For more information about how LCC handle personal data, your rights, when they might apply and how to make a request to exercise them, please see our customer privacy notice.
