The eligibility criteria for the Professional Referral Energy Voucher Scheme has been revised, opening the scheme up to more households within Kent that were not previously eligible.
Previously, households were excluded if they received any of the governments Cost of Living payments. If you are supporting households that meet the revised criteria, we encourage you to make an application at your earliest convenience – details have been revised below and on the attached application form completion guide. Please click on the link below to make an application.
Funded by the UK government, the Household Support Fund scheme supports vulnerable Kent households in need of help with significantly rising living costs. As one element of support, we have set up a scheme for professionals to refer people into. This information is for professionals only to support them in making applications, details are not to be shared wider. If you know of other organisations that would benefit from access to this scheme, please provide their details to helping.hands@kent.gov.uk
You can apply up until 31 March 2023, or until the budget is spent.
If successful, support will be provided in the form of the following:
- £100 Post Office cash-out voucher to be used to pay for energy costs within the household. We are also able to consider providing vouchers to off-grid customers.
Vouchers will be sent by email or text. If the person responsible for paying the energy bill within the household does not have a mobile phone or access to an email account, the vouchers can be posted to their home address.
There is a limited amount of funding available for this scheme and funds will be distributed on a first come, first served basis, with only one award per household.
Who is eligible?
There is an expectation for professionals to complete due diligence checks of applications to ensure that recipients of vouchers meet the eligibility criteria as set out below:
Applicants must
- be aged 16 or over
- be a Kent resident, permanently living within one of the 12 local authorities covered by Kent County Council (this excludes Medway, Bromley, and Bexley)
- be in receipt of means tested benefits, or household income is less than £30,000 per annum before tax
- not have savings above £250
- *not be receiving free school meal support within their household
*Free School Meal eligible families will receive an additional energy voucher for each eligible child via their child’s school outside of this scheme.
We wanted to get the timing right to share an update with you regarding support that is being provided to Free School Meal eligible families. Eligible FSM families will be receiving an energy cash out voucher per eligible child for the value of £50 direct from their child’s school. Plans to distribute vouchers are underway and the team responsible for this delivery expect to circulate vouchers to eligible families by 31 March 2023.
Residents with no recourse to public funding are still eligible for the scheme. If a National Insurance number is not available, please email helping.hands@kent.gov.uk with circumstances and reasons why the applicant should receive this support (please attach all supporting evidence to the email).
Register to become a referrer
If you have not referred into the scheme previously, please click on the following link to register: https://kentcc-self.achieveservice.com/en/AchieveForms/?form_uri=sandbox-publish://AF-Process-427bfaea-1f03-11ed-8ba0-067f0edc3871/AF-Stage427c85b4-1f03-11ed-8c20-067f0edc3871/definition.json&redirectlink=%2Fen&cancelRedirectLink=%2Fen&consentMessage=yes
Application link:
If support is required because of the increase in cost of living, apply for the Household Support Fund on the following link: Professional Fuel Support Scheme
Voucher timescales
You will receive a message to confirm the outcome of your application. This message will go to you only, not the voucher recipient. We do aim to send vouchers out as quickly as possible, however there will be high demand for vouchers, and this could impact on timescales.
Application form completion guide and Frequently Asked Questions
Below you will find an application form completion guide with a reminder of the key information; this guide includes all the details you will need from individuals to apply for an energy voucher prior to starting the online application. Also attached is our ‘frequently asked questions’ booklet.
