Household Support Fund

The Hardship Grant Community Fund is currently closed for applications.

Details of the next round of applications are yet to be confirmed by Birmingham City Council. Once they have been, details of how to apply will be added to this page.

Update 24/04/23

Applications for grant awards from the Hardship Grant Community Fund closed on 31st March 2023. We have awarded funding to over 16,000 households within a seven and half weeks, prioritising households who did not previously apply during the last round, from April to September 2022.

If you were a household that successfully made an application between April 2022 and September 2022, a one-off uplift payment of £40 will be granted to eligible applicants. This will be paid directly into the same bank account using details provided for your previous grant application, once validation checks have been completed.  This involves ensuring the bank account details are valid, the application is eligible, as well checking for any potentially fraudulent activity. Decisions to approve or reject an award for a one-off uplift payment are final.

Please note trusted partners who completed your original application are not able to assist with queries relating to uplift payments.

Please only contact BVSC [email protected] about completed applications and/or payment queries. Any questions about future rounds of the Hardship Community Grant Fund will only receive an automated response.

If your question relates to the £50 vouchers issued to households in receipt of Council Tax Benefit, these are directly managed by Birmingham City Council and BVSC staff are unable to help with these queries. Please contact BCC directly.

Contact us | Birmingham City Council

Update 31/03/23

The Household Support Fund will be closing to all applications today, Friday 31st March 2023 at 5pm.  The current round of HSF has been inundated with requests for support, from Birmingham households, since opening for hardship grant applications.  The fund has paid out nearly £5 million,  since opening on 6th February 2023, which is a phenomenal achievement. 

Existing applications made by Trusted Partners on the portal will still be honoured . If you received an email stating that you are on waiting list for the fund, we are working hard on getting through the enquires before the 14th of April, in order the enquiry was received. Outstanding queries from this date will unfortunately not be made into applications.

Trusted Partners will still have access to the portal to amend/fix existing applications until the 14th April.

Please keep an eye on our website for further details on the next round of the Hardship Grant due later in the year. 

If you would like more information on additional advice and support available, please see below for locations of your nearest foodbank, warm welcome space locations and multiple organisations and advice packs which can help support you during this difficult period.

Update 21/03/23

As of today, we will no longer be accepting new enquiries on our online form. This decision has been made due to demand for the fund and in the interest of converting existing enquiries into grant applications up until our deadline.

Hardship Grant Community Fund

We are pleased to announce the opening of BVSC’s Hardship Grant Community Fund, part of Birmingham City Council’s wider Household Support Fund (HSF) activity for this Winter. BVSC will be distributing grants of up to £200 to Birmingham households currently facing hardship, intended for support with food and energy payments.

When does it start?

Applications will commence from Monday 6th February and we will continue to accept applications until 31st March 2023, or all funding has been exhausted if sooner.

Who is eligible?

  • You must be a Birmingham Resident
  • You must be experiencing hardship, particularly with regards to covering costs linked to food and energy
  • You household must not have received a hardship grant payment since April 2022

Please be aware that you will be expected to provide proof of address and proof of means-tested benefits (if you are in receipt of them) in the case that you are invited to apply.

If you are unsure on whether your address is within the Birmingham area, please use the Postcode checker tool.

How do I apply?

To apply, potential applicants will be required to complete the form provided in the link below, asking questions aimed at determining their suitability for the grant. All applicants will be contacted via email on the outcome of their enquiry and next steps.

https://forms.office.com/e/dVuG1h8NmC (link opens 6th February)

If you are unable to access the form above, then please use the phone number provided below to progress your enquiry.

0121 634 7100 (line opens 6th February)

Please be aware that your enquiry will be processed more quickly if you use the form, so we strongly encourage you to do so if you are able to.

What additional support is available?

Support Services Directories:

Advice and Information:

Published:

Updated:

Author: Helen Cobain

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