Winter Support in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

15th December 2022

Household Support Fund Round 3 – Winter 2022-23

Cost of living information via web hubs
As the cost of living increases it is important to be aware of the benefits, payments and support options available to you. There are local and national schemes that can help you with rent, food, energy and more. The government has a national cost of living hub which can be found here Cost of living support - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . In addition there is a range of local support which is available - detailed below and via the website – www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/costofliving

Household Support Fund- Food Vouchers during School Holidays
Food vouchers are available to cover each of the school holidays over the winter months from October half term and including Easter Holidays. The value of the voucher will be £15 per child for the week, so £30 for the two weeks holidays.

The vouchers are distributed via Schools and the Family Information Service for eligible Under 5s who are able to order vouchers for children they have identified as in need of food support through the school holidays, as they have done in previous Household Support Fund rounds. Schools and FIS order vouchers directly from Wonde.

Household Support Fund 3 vouchers through Citizen’s Advice BCP
This funding is to support residents in BCP with the cost of living situations around keeping warm, reducing energy bills and accessing food across the winter.

In addition to the funding provided to schools for the flexible food vouchers, residents can also apply for short term financial help through food and/or energy vouchers through Citizen’s Advice BCP here Household Support Fund - Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole (citizensadvicebcp.org.uk)

Please note it is not immediate emergency support, and applications can take 4 - 6 weeks to process, and are allocated on a first come first serve basis.

Residents can also contact Citizen's Advice BCP on 0808 2787 939. Please note this telephone line is extremely busy and we would recommend using the online form. There is a referral form available for registered partners.

If residents don’t have access to the internet to complete the form you can help them by signposting them to their nearest drop-in or outreach session which can be found here: Get Advice - Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole (citizensadvicebcp.org.uk) These are the current drop-in sessions:

Bournemouth Outreach Hub - Civic Centre, Town Hall, (BH2 6DX)
Monday – Thursday 10am – 2.30pm (Drop-ins only)

Christchurch Outreach Hub - Christchurch Central Library (BH23 1AW) Fridays 9:30am – 12:30pm (Drop-ins only)

Their Community Advice Vehicle will be visiting various locations in the BCP area in the coming months.

Citizen's Advice BCP also has other support and advice available.

Financial Resilience
Worried about Money? has been put together by a number of partner agencies. It provides an easy three steps to find options and places to get help if you are worrying about money. The link directs you to online support and an attached PDF version with all the links to relevant support agencies.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole - Worried about Money? (worryingaboutmoney.co.uk)

Energy Advice and Support
Eligible households can benefit from a home visit form an energy advisor who will support them with ways to reduce their bills, including loft and insulation grants, accessing energy saving advice and in some instances provide a new boiler depending on circumstances. There is a referral form available.

Full details can be found here LEAP Home Visit | Ridgewater Energy. You can also call 01202 612726 or email [email protected]

BCP Access to Food
There are a number of options for accessing community food support and these are detailed on the webpages here Community support if you are struggling to pay for food (bcpcouncil.gov.uk)

Frontline staff may want to download the Access to Food map which details all the offers of community food support across BCP along with the locations and opening times so that you can find support quickly: Food Map (v88.co.uk)

Printable factsheets are available www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/accesstofoodpartnership

Safe and Well visits
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service offer free Safe & Well advice, which can include a home visit and the provision of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. To request this for yourself, a family member or a vulnerable person, please call them FREE on 0800 038 2323 (leave a message and someone will call you back) or visit www.dwfire.org.uk/safe-and-well-visits

There is advice and tips on how to keep warm safely to avoid fire hazards and risks on the website www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/save-safely/

BCP's A Warm Welcome network
We are supporting the development of a network of warm welcome spaces across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, where residents who struggle to keep their homes warm can go and keep warm in a welcoming space. Details of current Warm Welcome spaces can be found on the webpage here, along with information on how to set up a warm welcome space. Warm welcome spaces (bcpcouncil.gov.uk)

For general non-urgent enquiries please email [email protected]