Household Support Fund Phase 2
Latest Update: The fund was closed on Friday 9th, September. We will update you on any changes.
Gateway Family Services is the Lead Organisation for Household Support Fund (HSF) applications in Edgbaston. This fund is being made available by the government via Birmingham City Council to help with covering essentials such as food and energy (gas/electricity/water), and grant payment of up to £200 per household is available. There are 10 Lead organisations for the city, one focusing on each of the constituencies; their details can be found here.
Our role is to ensure households in Edgbaston find out about the grant opportunity and are assisted in applying. We are now in Phase 2 of the funding (July 22 – Sept 22), and this follows our successful administration of Round 1 Jan 22 – March 22, where we assisted over 1000 households in applying. Please scroll down to read the blog we wrote about this.
This is a huge piece of work, and it’s important to say that, at most times, it is difficult to reach us (see below). We’re sorry for this, but it’s purely due to the volume of enquiries.
We are helped and supported by a number of partner organisations who help us find the households that need this help. Some have “Trusted Partner” status, which means they can access the application portal directly. We are happy to set organisations up to do this.
More details on criteria, how to refer, and general info on the fund are available here:
FAQ
Pensioner Leaflet
Plus, we have recorded one of our information briefings and the short videos below:
Briefing session
For Trusted Partners
We must flag there are criteria that households must meet, and these grants are discretionary. Also, the process isn’t quick. It can take some days for us to work through our waiting list and call people back then, from submitting an application, it takes further days for the funds to reach the bank account. Therefore we’re sorry, but this is not an emergency solution.
There is a particular focus on Households of Pensionable age in this round. We’re really keen to find as many people as possible, so we’ve produced some leaflets, and we’re working closely with Birmingham City Council Adult Social Care. Any Pensioner referred to us we pass onto our partner organisation Age UK Birmingham so that they can help with a wider range of support.
Our Household Support Team can be contacted by email (householdsupportfund@gatewayfs.org) or phone (0808 1968856), but please note the phone line is only staffed 9 am – 3 pm on weekdays.
What we have done in Phase 1
“We knew people needed this funding, but the reality was like a slap in the face. We filled out 960 referrals – and we are just one of ten areas in Birmingham. If you put that into perspective for the entire UK, it’s mind-blowing.”………
