Households could receive cost of living support worth up to £700 through the Household Support Fund scheme.
This scheme provides each local council with a pot of cash to spend helping struggling households in their area. Each authority can spend the cash how they see fit and support does vary between different areas, with some providing free cash payments and others providing supermarket and energy vouchers.
Newcastle City Council is providing cost of living "top ups" worth up to £700 to people claiming housing benefits who did not receive the £900 cost of living package over the last year. The amount you receive is dependent on your "individual circumstances" although the council has not explained what would entitle you to the full amount.
According to the Newcastle City Council website, those who are eligible for some money will be contacted by the council's benefits department this month who will explain your entitlement and how it will be paid. This support scheme began in the summer of last year and those eligible can receive cash payments of between £400 and £700 - paid in three instalments - up until the end of March 2024.
If you are not a resident of Newcastle, then you will not be able to claim this help - however, your local council will be offering its own support. To find out what help could be available, contact your local council or visit its website. Usually, they will have a separate cost of living tab which details the help on offer.
However, you do not have long to claim support from the Household Support Fund scheme. All local councils have until March 31 to spend the money they received from the central Government. If they don't anything leftover needs to be returned. As of January 5, around £85million - of the £842million for this year's funding - remains unclaimed.
According to data compiled by credit lender Creditspring, 82 British authorities had money remaining in their Household Support Fund pots. Of that, over a dozen councils had more than £1million left. Seven councils said they had spent all of their allocated funding and were not able to provide any more help and this included Trafford Council, Ribble Valley Borough Council and Halifax Council.