Eligible households are being awarded supermarket vouchers worth up to £300.
Eligible households are being awarded supermarket vouchers worth up to £300 (Image: Getty)
Eligible households in one part of the UK are being awarded £300 vouchers to spend in Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
The supermarket vouchers are being awarded to eligible households in Tandridge, east Surrey, between now and the end of March. The free vouchers are being supplied as part of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Household Support Fund, with other local councils giving out cost of living support in other parts of the UK too. The DWP scheme gives local councils across England a share of a funding pot worth £742 million and helps vulnerable homes pay for essential living costs over the winter months, including energy bills, food and other essentials. The funding is allocated from now until March 31, 2026, and local councils independently decide how to share the cash, so depending on where you live, there may be different criteria to qualify for the support.
In South East England, eligible households in Tandridge are being awarded supermarket vouchers worth up to £300 to help with essential living costs.
The funding is being distributed by Surrey County Council through its ‘Everyday Essentials E-voucher’ scheme using funding from the DWP to support those who find it difficult to afford food and toiletries.
The vouchers can be redeemed at a supermarket of the recipient’s choice and are valid at nine major stores, including Aldi, Asda, Farmfoods, Iceland, The Food Warehouse, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
There are two types of one-off amounts of funding available, with single households given vouchers worth £200 and households with children given vouchers worth £300. Only one E-voucher is available per household.
Tandridge District Council explains: “As part of Household Support Fund 7 funding by the Department of Work and Pensions, Surrey County Council has launched the Everyday Essentials E-voucher.
“This is open to eligible Surrey residents who may be struggling with the financial costs of everyday essentials. Eligible residents can receive up to £300 in the form of an e-voucher which can be redeemed at a supermarket of the applicant’s choice.
“Applications opened on 1 October and can be made until March 2026 or the funding runs out. The application portal opens each month and will close once that month’s funding has been fully allocated and reopen again the following month.”
As Household Support Fund cash is distributed independently by local councils in England, it means that the cost of living support available will vary by location, with different vouchers or grants up for grabs up and down the country. The payments may also be issued at different times depending on where you live.
The DWP says there may also be differences in who the money is given to and if or how you need to apply for the support, as some local councils opt to share the money out through local charities and community groups, while some limit household applications to one per year.
For example, households in Staffordshire can get a one-off £300 utility payment made direct to their utility provider via the scheme, while residents in Calderdale can get a maximum of two payments of £85, amounting to £170 worth of support in total.
In the East Midlands, households in Nottingham can apply for £100 vouchers to spend in supermarkets, and in South Yorkshire, Doncaster Council is giving eligible households up to £300 towards food costs, while other households can qualify for a £100 payment to go towards energy bills.
In the East of England, Cambridgeshire County Council is issuing £110 to eligible households in the form of direct payments or supermarket vouchers, and residents in Manchester receiving Council Tax support and a disability benefit can get payments of up to £130 to help with living costs
