Apply for community grant HSF (organisations only)
Community and voluntary organisations, town, parish and community councils can apply for grant funding to support local initiatives tailored to local need, helping to provide vulnerable families with food, utilities and keeping warm.
When can I apply?
Applications are open from
- 9 June to 2 July 2025
- 1 to 30 September 2025
- 5 to 30 January 2026
Who can apply for a HSF Community grant?
The Isle of Wight Council Adult Social Care and Housing Needs Directorate invites applications from registered community or voluntary sector organisations, including town, parish and community councils, charities, faith groups, schools, colleges, and early years settings to support their community with schemes that will support with the cost of living around food, utility costs and wider essential items.
What are we looking for?
Examples of the types of support that we could fund with the Household Support Fund Community Grant include, but are not limited to:
- Funding to enable an existing support group (either in an area of deprivation and/or targeting a vulnerable group) to provide meals or create food parcels/hampers
- Funding to enable an existing support group (either in an area of deprivation and/or targeting a vulnerable group) to provide weather appropriate clothes, shoes, and other essentials to households with children, households with pensioners and other households in need.
- Funding to enable an existing support group provide essentials such as soap, blankets, draught excluders, boiler service/repair, purchase of energy-efficient white goods equipment including fridges, freezers, ovens, etc.
- A contribution towards additional activities/staffing to support an organisation to deliver cookery classes where families take the meal and / or ingredients home with them.
We will be proactively encouraging organisations to apply for this grant in order to target households struggling with the cost of food and utilities.
What criteria does the grant application need to meet?
From 9 June 2025, applicants can ask for funding to be considered for any spending that meets the criteria set out. Applicants must also make sure that the support they provide is delivered in a way that keeps people safe throughout the project.
What expenditure is not covered by this grant?
The grant cannot be used for
- Expenditure incurred prior to 1 April 2025 or after 31 March 2026
- Applications for schemes that duplicate provision already in place
- ICT related purchases
- Activities which do not support the primary purpose of the Department for Work and Pensions’ Household Support Fund.
- Cash awards / bank transfers to residents
How to apply for funding
Step 1
Read this page in full, as well as the guidance document.
Step 2
Complete all sections of the Application form in conjunction with the guidance document.
Do not change the original Word format of the application form.
If you require a different format or have difficulties completing the Word document, contact the Partnerships & Support Services team at hsf@iow.gov.uk
Step 3
Make sure that the form is fully completed and signed by the applicant.
Step 4
Return the form, along with the signed copy of the guidance document and any other supporting documents by email to: hsf@iow.gov.uk
You must ensure that the email title reads: “APPLICATION FOR COMMUNITY GRANT FUNDING – HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT FUND ” and also states the name of the organisation applying for the funding.
Applications not meeting these requirements will be instantly declined.
Application process and timescales
- Applications windows will be open 9 June to 2 July 2025, 1 to 30 September 2025 and 5 to 30 January 2026
- All funding awarded must be spent within the grant period and evidence of that spend provided to the council – a reporting document will be provided.
- Any amount of the grant not spent or allocated by the end of the grant window must be returned to the council
- Panel meetings to consider applications will take place 1 week after the closure of the grant window. Applicants will need to ensure that forms are received by the deadline for their application to be considered.
- Applicants will be contacted within one week of Panel meeting to inform them of the outcome. Some applicants may be asked to provide more detail or amend aspects of their project in order to meet the funding criteria.
- Successful applicants will be required to sign a Funding Agreement which outlines the terms and conditions of the grant. This will usually be within one week of the final decision
- Grants will be paid in quarterly instalments. The first payment will be released on receipt of the signed funding agreement with subsequent payments made following receipt of all requested data. (July, October, January and April).
How will the applications be assessed?
Each application will be assessed on its own merit and even if you have been successful with an application submitted in an earlier grant round, that is not a guarantee that your new application will be accepted.
Each application will be acknowledged upon receipt, and then checked by a member of Partnerships and Support Services team to ensure that it is complete, and suitable to be scored by the Grants Panel. At this stage we may come back to the applicant(s) to request further information.
If the application meets the basic requirements it will then be considered at the Grant Panel meeting.
If there are insufficient monies remaining in the fund to meet the applications submitted, grants will be awarded according to need; value for money and proposed impact. The Panel reserves the right to consider reducing the value of awards offered in order to support a larger number of applications
Other important information
How payments will be made
Payments will be made directly into the organisation’s bank account.
How projects will be monitored
The Isle of Wight Council’s Adult Social care and Housing Needs directorate is committed to supporting the delivery of high-quality experiences and outcomes for those we serve. To do this we will monitor the quality of the activities we fund, using a range of means which are appropriate to the individual projects.
Following award all successful applicants will need to
- evidence the expenditure and provide original receipts
- evidence the impact/outcomes achieved
- Submit
quarterly returns as to the number and form of support provided, as required by
the Department for Work and Pensions. These returns are due on 7 July 2025 (for the period 1 April
to 30 June 2025), 6
October 2025 (for the period 1 April to 30 September 2025), 12 January 2026
(for the period 1 April to 31 December 2025) and 13 April 2026 (for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026)
and will take the form of a
completed spreadsheet detailing:
- How much will be used to provide direct support to households with children
- How much will be used to provide direct support to households with pensioners
- How much will be used to provide direct support to households with a Disabled person
- How much will be used to provide direct support to other types of households, including individuals
- How much will be spent via vouchers, or tangible items
- How much will be spent via an application-process, or proactive support
-
How much funding you have shared with Third Party Organisations to deliver on our behalf *
- How much will be used to provide crisis support with food, utilities or wider essentialsHow much will be used to provide preventative support through advice, skills or energy efficiency etc.
* Deliverable through town, parish, and
community councils only
The information must be completed as figures and not percentages. Returns must be submitted by the requested deadlines in the original Excel format or organisations risk having to return the funding.
For more information about the funding available, or if you have any queries or concerns about requirements contact: Laura Hales – Commissioning & Projects Lead Officer email: hsf@iow.gov.uk