Pensioners will be contacted this month with an £85 voucher to redeem.
Eligible pensioners will be issued the £85 supermarket vouchers in January (Image: Getty)
State pensioners in one part of the UK are being handed £85 vouchers to spend in supermarkets in January to help with the cost of living.
The supermarket vouchers are being awarded to eligible pensioners in receipt of certain benefits in Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire as part of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Household Support Fund. The fund provides local councils across England with a share of a funding pot worth £742 million, with the money used to help struggling households afford essential living costs over the winter months, including energy bills and food. It is at the discretion of local councils to independently decide how to share the cash, so there may be different eligibility criteria depending on where you live, and the funding is awarded from now until March 31, 2026. Although this specific scheme applies in Shropshire, other local councils are giving out cost of living support in other parts of the UK too.
In the West Midlands, Telford and Wrekin Council have been allocated £2.669 million from the DWP as part of the scheme and this will be distributed to eligible households between now and March 31, 2026.
The council has confirmed that it will be using part of this funding to support State Pension age households in receipt of Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction.
Those who meet the eligibility criteria will receive one £85 supermarket voucher per household and this will be issued by the council in January.
The council said: “In Telford and Wrekin, as well as our application-based scheme, we are using this funding to support state pension-age residents who receive Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction with one £85 supermarket voucher per household, which will be issued in January 2026. We will contact residents directly who qualify with details of how to redeem their voucher.”
“Awards will be made in the form of supermarket vouchers. We will continue to contact residents directly who qualify with details of how to redeem their voucher.”
The council added: “If you are suffering exceptional financial hardship that risks the wellbeing of you and your family, you can make an application to our Discretionary Household Support Fund. The income, capital and essential expenditure of your family will be looked at when we consider whether you qualify for an award.
“Awards will usually be in the form of a supermarket voucher or an energy voucher/payment. We will usually only grant one award per household and you must live within the Borough of Telford & Wrekin.
“We process applications in date order and will contact you as soon as we can. We aim to contact you in seven working days; however, during busy times, it can take longer.”
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, so while some will receive support this month, others may have a longer wait.
The Department for Work and Pensions (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, Leicestershire County Council is also awarding fuel vouchers worth up to £98 to households that are struggling financially, and in the East of England, Cambridgeshire County Council is issuing £110 to eligible households in the form of direct payments or supermarket vouchers.
