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Wiltshire Surviving Winter Grants

You could be entitled to £100s off your winter fuel bills.

You may be eligible for a Surviving Winter Grant towards your bills if you are on a lower income and worry about the cost of heating.

The Surviving Winter Grant was introduced by Wiltshire Community Foundation 10 years ago and has helped 1000’s of vulnerable households in Wiltshire living in fuel poverty. This year they are working with Age UK Wiltshire, Wiltshire Citizens Advice, Swindon Citizens Advice, Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living, and Wiltshire Warm & Safe to help people who are experiencing fuel poverty by providing grants towards fuel or other heating related costs.

This year the one-off grant available through Age UK Wiltshire is £200. The scheme will run until April 2024 but may close early if all grants are allocated.

Eligibility Criteria

You could be eligible for this grant (1 per household) if you meet the below criteria:

  • You are over State Pension age
  • You have difficulty heating your home – for example if you are spending over 10% of
    your household income on your fuel costs, or you are underheating your home

Plus either of the following:

  • You receive a means-tested benefit (core group)               or
  • Have income (excluding disability benefits) below £366.26 per week (single person
    household) / £527.61 per week (couples or larger households). We may also consider
    savings you have (discretionary group)

This grant does not affect other payments you may receive such as ‘Winter Fuel Payment’ and your electricity supplier's £150 ‘Warm Home Discount’.

Additional Help

As part of the application process we will complete a free income maximisation check to ensure you are receiving everything you are entitled to and can assist you to claim other benefits you may be entitled to.

We’ll also have a conversation with you about how you manage your heating and energy usage to look at the reasons for your high fuel bills and whether you could be eligible for other support. We can refer you to the organisation Wiltshire Warm & Safe for more specialist help if needed.

How to apply

Visit our contact us page to contact our Information & Advice team for an application form. As the grant is means-tested we require supporting evidence to demonstrate this which is explained in the application form.