Wider essential support
Contents
- Wider essential support
- Wider essential support eligibility
Wider essential support
You can apply for supermarket vouchers if your household is on a low income:
| Household size | Supermarket voucher award |
|---|---|
| Single person | £150 |
| 2 people | £260 |
| 3 people or more | £320 |
Wider essential and cost of living support is not intended as emergency support and only one award will be allocated per eligible household.
A household is defined as a single residence and includes all those residing in the property (unless it is a registered home of multiple occupation with the council).
Apply
You must meet our eligibility criteria and provide the following for you and other members of your household:
National Insurance numbers for all those over the age of 16 residing in the household and not in full-time education.
If you don't have one, you will need to apply for a national insurance number.
For all household members over the age of 16 years and not in full time education:
- 2 full months bank statements dated within the last 3 months. We need to see statements for all bank accounts held, including any savings accounts (preferably in PDF format)
- if employed - proof of income for all household members over 16 years old and not in full-time education, such as 2 months recent pay slips
- if self-employed - 2 full months personal and business bank statements from the last 3 months for all members of the household who are self-employed preferably in PDF format and SA302 dated within the last 18 months
- lasting power of attorney (if applicable ), along with proof of identification and residency of the attorney
Have these documents ready to upload before applying. Give yourself 30 minutes to complete this form, as there is not an option to save your application and return later.
Due to an exceptionally high volume of applications, the first application window is now closed to allow our team time to process submissions. Applications will re-open on 4 August 2025.
Applications are expected to take 2 months to process - they will be dealt with in date order. You will be contacted directly if we need further information to assess your application.
To help us process applications efficiently and avoid delays, the form will occasionally be closed for short periods.
Next steps
Information you provide, alongside the council and central government systems, will be used to assess your household’s income and savings.
We will contact you by email or phone if we have any queries. If we need more information, you must provide this within 7 days, otherwise your application will be declined.
If approved, vouchers will only be issued directly to the email address of the main applicant.
Further support
Other support can be found at on our Support Offer.
Last updated 14 July 2025