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Household support fund - voluntary sector grants 2025

Information for voluntary sector organisations 

Blackpool Council is allocated funding from HM Government's Household Support Fund to support households that are struggling with the cost of living across Blackpool.

The information on this page is for voluntary sector organisations that may wish to apply for funded projects to help residents with cost-of-living issues. This can include direct support and preventative support.

Voluntary sector organisations with:

  • A community or business bank account with two signatories (not at the same address). The account must be in the name of the community group, we will require evidence
  • Organisations must have a written constitution, we may request evidence
  • Valid public and employers liability insurance
  • Satisfactory or above food hygiene accreditation for projects delivering food
  • No debts in arrears with Blackpool Council
  • Satisfactory policies in place including safeguarding, DBS etc
  • A proven track record of providing similar funded projects of the same size and financial amounts requested
  • Completed and returned all monitoring reports for previous projects funded by Blackpool Council
  • A Blackpool office or Blackpool base operating location

There is no lower financial limit.

We cannot fund:

  • Organisations that have already received monies this financial year from the Household Support Grant
  • Public or private sector organisations, sole traders, and/or for-profit enterprises
  • Organisations that are not constituted and do not have a bank account in their own name
  • Organisations that do not attend and/or contribute to our Blackpool Together partnership on a regular basis
  • Your usual running costs, training costs, licence costs, core expenses and expenditure that is funded through other grants or allowances
  • Capital projects and larger capital items, vehicles, or equipment costs
  • Maintenance and refurbishment costs
  • Retrospective costs for projects that have already started
  • Projects that benefit public or private enterprise or statutory activities
  • Cost of alcohol, mortgages, rent, housing costs, and council tax
  • Political and religious activities
  • Activities that support residents that do not live in Blackpool
  • Trips, outings, and excursions
  • Homeless support and projects that do not support householders
  • Voucher schemes that do not have a clear rationale with allocation and audit policies
  • Cash payments
  • Organisations that have not completed and returned satisfactory monitoring and financial returns from any previous rounds of this funding

All applicants will need to

  • Attend and contribute towards our Blackpool Together partnership on a regular basis and agree to work in partnership with other participants
  • Promote and offer their services on www.fyidirectory.co.uk unless there are special reasons where this is not appropriate
  • Ensure that all publicity and promotion acknowledges that funding is provided by HM Government's Household Support Fund and Blackpool Council
  • Submit a funding request that is proportional to the expected number of residents supported
  • Have a track record of providing similar projects of a similar size in terms of numbers supported and funding requested
  • Complete and return project monitoring reports and provide expenditure returns

Best value principals

We have developed best value principals by bench marking average payments against previous awards:

  • We do not expect to cover core costs, or expenditure that is funded elsewhere
  • The cost of an adult meal should not exceed £5
  • The cost of a hot snack should not exceed £3
  • Running costs for rent, heat, light, insurance, etc should not exceed 5% of the total award
  • Wages and other over heads eg promotion and volunteer expenses should not normally exceed 10% of the total award
  • The cost of an advice intervention should not normally exceed £10

How we will decide

All applications for all programmes will be reviewed and scored by a panel of council officers. They will take into account the following:

  • That the proposal meets all aspects of the criteria
  • Comprehensive and clear proposal which demonstrates a good understanding of the criteria
  • Clear evidence of ability to deliver or meet the criteria
  • Proven track record 
  • Clear evidence that the project is sustainable once funding has ended
  • Appropriate background checks and other control mechanisms
  • Additional checks and information will be required from organisations that have not previously been funded by Blackpool Council and this will be likely to delay allocation of any funding agreed
  • Applications will be benchmarked against previous or other proposed projects
  • Applications may be accepted, rejected, or amended as considered appropriate

Funding programme - Welcoming Places

Maximum award per organisation £7,500

The closing date is  9.00am on Monday 15 December 2025. Late applications will not be considered.

Projects should be able to start immediately.

Core objectives

Through the provision of a co-ordinated approach be a Welcoming Place and deliver a meals programme to low income and vulnerable Blackpool residents. We would like projects to provide an element of preventative support e.g. skills training, cookery, energy efficiency and/or debt advice etc. This could include working in partnership with other service providers such as foodbanks, community centres, and lunch clubs.

Minimum requirements:

  • Support low income and vulnerable households in Blackpool
  • Provide cookery and or nutritional skills training and advice on a regular basis
  • Provide information and signposting to people that may be struggling with the cost of food, power or other essentials
  • Provide a clear plan of how you will work with and support residents to access local services
  • Have a mechanism in place to work with other organisations that may be providing similar support
  • Have a clear plan and rationale to make residents aware of your service
  • A plan to show how your service will remain sustainable upon conclusion of funding
  • Show good value for money
  • Acknowledge in all publicity that funding has been provided by HM Government Household support fund and Blackpool Council

To make an application for this programme

If you would like an application form, please send your name and email address to: hsfgrants@blackpool.gov.uk and then return it by 9.00am on Monday 15 December 2025.