Help paying your bills

Anyone facing a genuine emergency and struggling to meet their housing costs can apply to the Council’s Emergency Housing Costs Fund.

The funding is for exceptional cases and where existing schemes do not meet this need. It is not a cash award and will be paid directly to suppliers or in the form of vouchers.

To apply or for more information, please contact 01252 774420 or email hardship@hart.gov.uk

The scheme runs until September 2024 or until all funds have been distributed. The funds are limited, and the Council will prioritise households in the most need, with a proportion of the funds ring-fenced to support households with children, people of a pensionable age and those with disabilities.

Where eligible, housing support for rent must be provided through the housing cost element of Universal Credit and Housing Benefit. Also, eligibility for Discretionary Housing Payments must first be considered before emergency housing support is offered through this fund. The Council must also consider whether the claimant is at statutory risk of homelessness and therefore owed a duty of support through the Homelessness Prevention Grant.

To be eligible you must:

• be over the age of 17 and be responsible for paying household bills.
• be a resident of the Hart district or have been placed outside of the district by the Housing Solutions team within the past six months.
• not have savings that can be relied upon to meet your needs.
• not be excluded from applying for public funds based on immigration status.
• not have received a Local Welfare Provision award in the past three weeks unless you can prove significant exceptional need.
• not have been refused a Local Welfare Provision award for the same need in the past two weeks unless you can prove exceptional circumstances.
• be without sufficient resources which would pose serious risk to your own or your family’s health, safety, or well-being.
• not be eligible to receive or have received help for the requested funding or support from other public funds

Applications will be processed as quickly as possible, once all information has been received, along with the supporting documents.

What can’t be funded

• mortgage support – homeowners may however be able to qualify for other elements of the fund such as food, energy, water, and essential household expenditure.
• paying off non-essential debt.
• where financial support has already been provided through another grant or fund.
• expenses in connection with legal costs, for example fees, costs, fines, damages.
• repairs or improvements to the home
• any need that occurs outside of the UK.
• medical expenses/treatment.