Pensioner ‘Just Missing Out’ Scheme Funding

The Government recently announced in the budget that Household Support Fund schemes will be extended through to March 2025.

Kent County Council has several schemes in place to support vulnerable households who are experiencing financial hardship.

The Pensioner ‘Just Missing Out’ scheme will run from Thursday 28 November to 12pm Wednesday 5 March 2025, or until all funds are allocated.

This scheme is targeting support for Kent pensioners who will be missing out on the Winter Fuel payments due to the UK Government reforms to this provision and will be made available at the end of November to members of the public and professionals following checking of scheme eligibility. This scheme will operate using an on-line application form that will be available on the Kent Together Cost-of-Living pages and linked to from the main KCC HSF landing page: www.kent.gov.uk/householdsupportfund

The online application form enables the person completing the form to either make a self-referral for support or complete an application on behalf of another person.

The application form will allow applicants to determine the type of support they receive. The award valuation is pre-determined at £200 however, the applicant can choose to have this towards food, energy or a combination of food and energy as follows:

· £200 Supermarket food voucher

· Or £200 Energy voucher/card

· Or £100 supermarket food voucher and £100 Energy voucher/card

The scheme is available to Kent residents that received support from the previous HSF5 schemes as well as residents that did not, providing they meet the stated eligibility criteria:

Who is eligible for the Pensioner ‘Just Missing Out’ Scheme?

The criteria has been set to maximise reach to those most in need, including pensioners who remain in employment.

· Aged 66 or over.

· A Kent resident, permanently living within one of the 12 local authorities covered by Kent County Council (this excludes Medway, Bromley, and Bexley).

· Not in receipt of or eligible for Pension Credits

· ***Single occupancy households receiving upwards of £218.15 per week or £11,343.80 per year

· ***Couple households receiving upwards of £332.95 per week or £17,313.40 per year

***Below this, applicants would be eligible to apply for Pension Credit and able to receive the Winter Fuel payment [if applying before 21 December 2024].

· Combined household income (including both benefit and employment payments) less than £40,000.00 per annum.

· Have savings of £1000 or less

Pension aged residents with no recourse to public funding are still eligible for the scheme.

Energy cards will be sent by email only. If the person requesting the energy card does not have a smart mobile phone or online access they are encouraged to apply for food where the vouchers can be posted to their home address, as online access will be required to activate energy cards.

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 per scheme.

www.kent.gov.uk/householdsupportfund