Household Support Fund

The following is a summary of the terms and conditions under which our Household Support Fund scheme operates.

• You must be resident within the City of York Council boundary.
• You must provide all the evidence and verification required.
• Documents submitted via our online from must be one of following file types: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .jpg, .bmp, .png .gif
• Any documents uploaded to our online form must have a file size less than 10 megabytes (10,000kb).
• Documents may be supplied by post or email, but must be marked with your application reference number and this may delay processing.
• We'll need all supporting documents before an application can be processed.
• You must provide additional documentation as evidence where necessary.
• You cannot receive payments on behalf of someone else; payments will only be made to the liable person.
• Payments will be made by bank transfer to the bank account matching the bank statement provided during your application.
• Payments will be made following receipt of all necessary information and documents and according to the below periods except in discretionary circumstances.
• If you have been invited to apply under Route 1 (invite) you will not be eligible for a payment under Route 2 (discretionary), except in exceptional discretionary circumstances.
• Most payments will be as a standard amount according to family size and automatically made. Discretionary awards for wider essentials will be one off amounts.
• If you're overdrawn we can advise you about a 'first right of appropriation of funds order' to help you gain access to the payment.
• Payments under this scheme will not affect your right to Council Tax Reduction.
• Payments under this scheme will be disregarded for the purposes of means-tested benefits.
• Advice and support workers can complete applications on behalf of residents.
• All decisions we make are final and shall be notified to you in writing or email.
• There is no statutory appeal process; requests for an appeal will be subject to internal review by a senior officer.
• Requests to appeal our decision must be made within 3 days of our decision, and new evidence may be submitted to support the appeal.
• Appeal applications will be considered as soon as practical and the decision will be notified in writing or email.
• Our complaints procedure will be followed in the event of any complaint about this scheme.
• All payments under this scheme are taxable, but will not be subject to National Insurance contributions.
• You must make your own enquiries to establish your tax position; we will not take responsibility for your tax liabilities.
• We'll make HMRC aware of all payments made to individuals.
• We'll not accept deliberate manipulation of the scheme and fraud.
• Anyone found to be falsifying information to gain payment will face prosecution; payments will be recovered, including recovery costs.
• Any payments made incorrectly will be recovered.