Aims/priorities: Tameside Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprises (VCFSE) organisations can apply for up to £10,000 to primarily provide support to households in the most need of food, energy and water bills. It can also be used to support households with essential costs related to those items and with wider essential costs. In exceptional cases of genuine emergency, it can additionally be used to support housing costs where existing housing support schemes do not meet this exceptional need.
Eligible spends include:
- Food. The Fund should primarily be used to provide support with food whether in kind or through vouchers or cash.
- Energy and water. The Fund should also primarily be used to support with energy bills for any form of fuel that is used for the purpose of domestic heating, cooking or lighting, including oil or portable gas cylinders. It can also be used to support with water bills including for drinking, washing, cooking, and sanitary purposes and sewerage.
- Essentials linked to energy and water. The Fund can be used to provide support with essentials linked to energy and water (including sanitary products, warm clothing, soap, blankets, boiler service/repair, purchase of equipment including fridges, freezers, ovens, or other whitegoods etc), in recognition that a range of costs may arise which directly affect a household’s ability to afford or access food, energy and water.
- Wider essentials. The Fund can be used to support with wider essential needs not linked to energy and water should Authorities consider this appropriate in their area. These may include, but are not limited to, support with other bills including broadband/WI FI or phone bills/data, clothing, home starter kits and essential transport-related costs such as repairing a car, buying a bicycle, paying for fuel or public transport costs. This list is not exhaustive.
- Housing Costs. The fund can be used to support housing costs in exceptional cases of genuine emergency, where existing housing support schemes do not meet this exceptional need. Where eligible, ongoing housing support for rent must be provided through the housing cost element of Universal Credit (UC) and Housing Benefit (HB) rather than the Household Support Fund. In addition, eligibility for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) must first be considered before emergency housing support is offered through the Household Support Fund. You must also first consider whether the claimant is at statutory risk of homelessness and therefore owed a duty of support through the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG).
You cannot apply for:
- Advice services such as debt advice
- Mortgage costs
- Retrospective costs (i.e. money that’s already been spent or project already taken place)
- Reasonable staff wages/costs
- Sponsorship/fundraising events or contributions to larger/major appeals
- Any activity that does not contribute to the aim of the grant
- Any activity that unlawfully discriminates against people, or is illegal.
- Sponsorship/fundraising events or contributions to larger/major appeals.
- Presents/gifts.
- Academic or medical research and equipment.
- Activities or travel abroad.
- Seed funding for business start-ups (New activity is eligible)
- Attendance at conferences and mandatory training which groups are required by law to provide.
Successful groups must immediately provide Action Together with the following details which will be made public for those who wish to enquire or refer into your funded activity/service:
- A brief description of your activity/service
- Main contact person
- Contact number and email
- Opening dates and times
- Closing date for referrals
Successful groups must be able to provide basic evidence to support how their activity has been delivered. This may include details of accounts, invoices, receipts, photographs, articles, attendance records, evaluation forms and any other relevant documents.
Who can apply? To be eligible to apply, an organisation must be:
- A VCFSE (voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise) organisation/group who are members Action Together (membership is free – click here to become a member)
- A VCFSE organisation/group who are constituted/have a written set of rules that constitute what they do
- Based or currently operating in Tameside
Applications will not be accepted from groups/organisations that:
- Are trading for profit or are statutory services or are intending to redistribute grant awards.
- Are aimed at increasing the membership of a particular Political party.
- Are aimed at the promotion of one/a religious belief or for activities with any religious affiliation.
Grant amount: Up to £10,000.
Application process: You will need to complete a Tameside HSF Application Form and submit it to funding@actiontogether.org.uk. Please put “Household Support Fund 2022 Application” and the name of your organisation in the subject field.
Deadline: The first round of the HSF will be open for applications on Wednesday 5th January 2022 at 09:00 and will close on Wednesday 2nd February 2022 at 23:59. The panel will aim to make a decision on your application within two weeks of submission. Any remaining monies at the end of the round will go forward to an additional round shortly after.
Contact information: Tel 0161 339 2345, Email funding@actiontogether.org.uk