Log in
Watch Our Video
Links to UK emergency cost of living grants for charities and individuals. To find far more grants, use our free Funding Finder online directory. It has a Cost Of Living Crisis Grants search category, with 70+, and also Core Cost Funding (200+) and Small Charities & Community Groups (600+) categories. To find free fundraising support and companies that make donations to charities, use Help Finder. And that's just a small part of our cost of living crisis support programme.
To find funding and help with any problem, for individuals and non profits, click the AI bunny icon in the bottom right of your screen and tell it what you need - use short questions and include key words.
Register now to find the funding and help you need; everything is free.
Listed in sections - UK wide, then UK countries, then regional grant funding for charities and community groups in London, England North and England South. I know the last 2 aren't terribly precise, but where I come from people from Edinburgh are considered to be southern 'softies' and everything south of the city is all a bit vague.
| To lift households out of food and fuel poverty. The fund is split into a variety of grants for anyone to apply for. Helping Hands is for Utilita customers, the 2nd is for individuals and families and the 3rd for charities and other organisations fight food and fuel poverty in England, Wales, and Scotland. | |
| The 2023 Cost-of-Living Grants are currently closed - information on 2024 will be made available soon. Grants target families in financial crisis, allowing them to apply for Cost of Living Grants of £50 per child which can be used for basic essentials – food, heating and clothes. Service providers who support vulnerable children, including schools, social services, health professionals and charities, can submit an application form to their local Cash for Kids office on behalf of the families they work with. | |
| Big Issue Invest - Big Energy Saving Loans | Energy bill loans to charities and social enterprises in England that are struggling with rising costs. From £20,000 to £150,000, and can also be used for installing renewable energy equipment and can be unsecured. |
| Sport England - Active Together | Sport England have asked me to make you aware of this find, which was set up as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but has recently evolved into supporting the sport and physical activity sector through the cost-of-living and other crises. It is a £7.5m Lottery fund, with grants of up to £10,000 available for not-for-profit organisations, which they manage through their partnership with Crowdfunder. It's specifically targeted at those experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to crisis. There's no deadline. |
UK Wide Cost of Living Funding - Food
| Groundwork - One Stop Community Partnership Programme | An initial grant of up to £1,000 and begin a partnership with their local One Stop store. This programme is designed to support community groups or organisations operating within two miles of a One Stop store and tackling food poverty, supporting the vulnerable, supporting the elderly, supporting low-income families or running youth sports teams. Apply at any time. |
| Sodexho | They donate time, skills and money to tackle hunger, support good nutrition and promote life skills in local communities. In the UK and Ireland it makes grants to charities that tackle hunger; promote healthy lifestyles; and develop life skills such as cooking. Grant range £1,500 to £120,000, but your first application is limited to £10,000. No deadlines. |
| Social Investment Business - Cost of Living Fund | Aimed at charities and social enterprises supporting people impacted by the cost-of-living crisis in the 30% most deprived areas of England. The blend of Cost-of-Living grant will range from £10k to £250k in size, and range from 20% to 50% of the value of the Recovery Loan Fund – this will be for organisations supporting people affected by the cost-of-living crisis. The Recovery Loan Fund provides loans of £150k and £1.5m. The minimum loan size is reduced to £50k for BAME-led1 organisation or for organisations based in Wales and Scotland. Doesn't seem to be a deadline. |
| The Scottish Government SPICe Spotlight blog has lists and links to support for individuals, families and organisations from the Scottish and UK Governments, as well as support for fuel and utilities and other useful resources. | |
| National Lottery - Cost-of-Living Support Scotland | Grants from £10,001 to £75,000 for projects to help support individuals, families and communities currently experiencing hardship as a result of the cost-of-living increases. Grants £10,001 to £75,000. No deadline. |
| Community Foundation Wales - Our Communities Together | Grants will cover the core and/or project costs of groups that can demonstrate they are providing services to the community to help alleviate situations of crisis and hardship. Open to most non profits with income under £500k pa. Grants up to £5,000 a year for up to 3 years. Deadline 29 Jan. |
| Welsh Government | Links to a whole range of support and advice to help you with the increased cost of living. |
| Mayor of London - Crisis Help | Links to a wide range of support for Londoners including grants and funding, local welfare assistance, homelessness, food banks, baby banks and fuel banks, help for survivors of abuse, including financial abuse, help for migrant Londoners and mental health. |
|
Gloucester Community Foundation - Poverty Hurts Fund
|
To support activities for vulnerable people and families in need as a result of living in poverty. The fund will support projects and organisations that: Help vulnerable people at risk of or in abject poverty. Rolling applications, as long as funds are available. |
|
Surrey Community Foundation- Winter Poverty Funding
|
Fast track awards for projects addressing poverty this winter. Prioritising applications for organisations providing hardship funding direct to individuals or families, working with people to encourage and support them to save for the future, tackling the impact of rising costs and falling benefits; including crisis provision e.g. measures which improve the sustainability, or that tackle the root causes of poverty and economic hardship. Rolling programme, no deadlines, complete the standard Expression of Interest form online. No amounts mentioned. |
|
Cornwall Community Foundation - Surviving Winter Fund
|
Third party organisations can apply for between £500 and £5,000 to distribute to people most at risk, who are in poverty in order to help them stay well and warm during the winter months. These funds can be accessed through a wide range of referral agencies throughout the county and are to help households with children, households with pensioners, households with disabled people and other households genuinely in need of support this winter. Open to a wide range of non profits. |
| Grants of up to £2,000 for charities/community groups to provide a warm place for local people to take a break from the cold and connect with others during the winter months. Rolling deadline for applications. |
| The initial focus of the fund is to offer groups up to £2,000 to deal with critical issues in their communities. We imagine this will be around food, energy and emergency items. North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, York and Hull. Apply at any time. Closed as at 5 Jan 24 but they anticipate being able to run further rounds of funding from early 2024 |
A Charity Excellence funding list for UK charitable trusts and foundations that make grants for charity core costs, including unrestricted grants for salaries, wages and overheads, such as rent. Better still you can find nearly 200 core funders using the free Funding Finder Core Funding search category.
This Charity Excellence resource lists 30+ ideas to reduce your energy costs both within your charity workplace and your own home, with links to additional support, including energy efficiency schemes and grants for both organisations and families.
I work to support charities, so this isn’t my area of expertise, but it's awful, so I thought I should do my best. I've listed crisis grants for individuals that I've come across and below that energy grants and then details of organisations, such as Turn2Us and Citizens Advice who do this far better than I'm able to. I have an individual search category on Funding Finder you're welcome to use, but Turn2Us have a benefits and grants search system for individuals on their website which is far better. Obviously, I'd never admit that to anyone.
You'll find a tech bunny in the bottom right of your screen. They use AI to help find grants and benefits for individuals, as well as any other kind of crisis help you might need, including finding a food or warm bank. Just click the tech bunny icon and ask it short questions, including key words to help it understand what you need. Using them is completely free and you an ask as many questions as you wish to.
If you are being abused, they will connect you to people who will help you and they record no personal information about you, so chatting to them is always completely anonymous.
Use the Individuals search category in Funding Finder for far more grants. These are ones that I think are either specific to the crisis or have been launched in response to the crisis. To find far more grants and other cost of living support, click the AI Bunny icon in the bottom right of your screen and tell it what you need, using short questions, including key words.
| School Uniform Grants | All local authorities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and some in England (though here it's a postcode lottery), have schemes in place to help parents and carers shoulder the cost of school uniforms. Grants up to £200. |
| Depher | Provide vulnerable people access to vital emergency works. It offers partial or fully discounted costs on emergency work including: Gas leaks, No heating, No hot water. Also provides financial help to people over 65, the disabled and families/individuals on low income. This has included buying food and paying gas/electric bills. The service is free during the winter months and discounted services at other times. |
| British Gas Energy Trust | The Individual and Families Fund re-opened on 4 Dec 23 and will expect to close at the end of March 2024 (unless expended sooner). The fund is available to BG and Non-BG customers with debt on a credit energy account or those on a pre-payment meter. |
| British Gas Energy Support Fund | A new fund to help British Gas customers who are struggling to pay their energy bills in response to the increasing cost of living and rising inflation. Eligible customers with fuel debt of £250 to £750 can apply for grants. It will remain open until funding is exhausted. |
| Grants to vulnerable customers to provide them with a fresh start and financial stability. It can help households stay out of fuel debt and better able to afford ongoing energy costs. It also provides grants for essential energy efficient white goods such as cookers, refrigerators, or washing machines. No deadline. | |
| Octo Assist Fund (Octopus Energy) | A £7 million fund for Octopus customers. You can complete a quick and simple online tool which asks you a series of questions about your financial situation. We can offer a number of support options based on circumstances and need, including access to existing schemes, monetary support from the fund, or a loan of a thermal imagery camera to find heat leaks at home. |
| Supports OVO customers who’ve fallen behind with their energy payments to OVO. You must be in receipt of: Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, or Universal Credit (but only if not working). Your energy bill debt must be at least £150 and the annual household income is £16,190 or less. | |
| For those customers struggling to paying their bills due to low income or other circumstances. The Fund can help by clearing or reducing arrears by crediting a customer’s Scottish Power energy account. You must be in receipt of: Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Pension Credit, or Employment and Support Allowance. |
Rather than replicate the good work of others most of the links below are to sources of charitable trust and foundation and other cost of living crisis grant funding and help, including for energy bills, food, school costs and repairs.
| Consumer Rights - EC04 Grants Portal | This one might look a bit odd but, sadly, there have ben a lot of scams and cold callers approaching vulnerable people. This new online portal allows allows anyone to check if they qualify for government-funded upgrades, such as loft, cavity wall and solid wall insulation, and boiler replacement or repair options from ECO4 Grants. It's simple to use and takes less than 2 minutes with a simple step-by-step process |
| ECO+ Scheme | The ECO+ scheme is designed to be complementary to ECO4. It's an obligation for larger energy suppliers across Great Britain to give their customers grants for insulation to reduce home heating costs. It will help a wider group of people to insulate their homes than previous versions of the ECO scheme. The UK Government will start the scheme in April 2023, and it will run for three years to March 2026. |
| UK Government - Help for Households | A series of webpages listing help for households. These include income support, and help with energy bills, childcare costs, housing support and finding work. |
| Turn2Us | Grants and benefits search and other cost of living help for individuals and families |
| Built during the pandemic, the Lightening Reach portal allows individuals to find and apply for support from multiple providers, quickly and easily. For example, grants, local schemes and discounted tariffs. | |
| Citizens Advice - Cost of Living Help | A whole range of help and links to further support, including benefits, council and Government funding, help with essential costs, charitable grants, over 55 pension holders, |
Plus, 100+downloadable funder lists, 40+ policy templates, 8 online health checks and the huge resource base. Nearly half of our tens of thousands of members rate us 10/10.
