State pensioners handed £300 off energy bills before April | Personal Finance | Finance

State pensioners in one part of the UK are being handed up to £300 off energy bills before April thanks to a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) scheme. The financial support is available to eligible pensioner households in Worcestershire and comes as part of the DWP’s Household Support Fund, which gives local councils across England a share of a funding pot worth £742 million.

While this specific scheme applies in Worcestershire, other local councils are handing out cost-of-living support in other parts of the UK, too, until the scheme comes to an end on March 31, 2026. Local councils independently decide how to distribute their allotted funding, so depending on where you live, there may be different qualifying criteria, and support can vary from location to location, with supermarket vouchers, direct payments, Post Office vouchers and energy bill credit among the cost of living help available.

In the West Midlands, Worcestershire County Council is awarding energy support worth up to £300 to eligible pensioner households.

Phase seven of the scheme is currently open for applications, with struggling Worcestershire residents able to apply for help with energy and water costs. The council said households with one adult, or a couple, of pensionable age can get up to £300 worth of support through the scheme.

Households with adults only, aged between 18 and 66, can also receive up to £300, while households with children under the age of 18, or young adults up to the age of 21 and in full-time education, can get up to £500.

The support is open to any of six utility types, including gas, electricity, water, oil, LPG or solid fuel (for example, coal or wood), and applicants will need to provide evidence of their customer account with their energy or water provider.

To be eligible, you must be a Worcestershire resident, have an overall gross household income of £24,570 (single adult, no children households) or £31,000 or less per year for all other households, excluding the following means-tested benefits:

• Armed Forces Guaranteed Income Payments
• Armed Forces Independence Payments & Mobility Supplements
• Disability Living Allowance – Mobility Component – Higher & Lower rates
• Personal Independence Payment – Mobility Component – Enhanced & Standard rates
• Universal Credit – Child element – Disabled child – High & Low rates
• Universal Credit – Childcare element
• War Disablement Pension

You must also have no household savings, with the exception of £5,000 in savings for each household occupier of State Pension age, and you or someone in your household must meet one of the five vulnerability criteria. These include:

• Long-term diagnosed health condition or registered disabled
• A household of state pension age
• A household with young children of pre-school age (4 years old or under)
• In receipt of one or more of the following DWP benefits:
  • Attendance Allowance
  • Carers Allowance
  • Personal Independence Payment
  • Disability Living Allowance
  • Health Allowance (included within your Universal Credit breakdown)
    

Worcestershire County Council said: “If all evidence has been supplied, you may receive the following support depending on your household type:

1. Households with children under the age of 18, or young adults up to the age of 21 in full time education, can receive up to £500.
2. Households with adults only, aged between 18 & 66 can receive up to £300
3. Households with one adult or a couple of pensionable age can receive up to £300

“Depending on the billing method for your energy account, energy payments will either be made by direct bank transfer to your energy supplier for your energy account, via an online portal for your energy supplier to credit your energy account or via Post Office vouchers for pre-payment to-ups.”

As Household Support Fund cash is distributed independently by local councils in England, cost of living support that is available will vary by location, with different vouchers or grants up for grabs up and down the country 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, residents in Calderdale can get a maximum of two payments of £85, amounting to £170 worth of support in total, and residents of State Pension age in North Lincolnshire are being offered free air fryers, slow cookers and kettles.

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 Surrey can get up to £300 worth of supermarket vouchers to spend in stores including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.