Crisis & Resilience Fund: Support with heating oil costs
Overview
Grants of up to £400 are available for individuals and families living in Cambridgeshire who rely on oil to heat their homes and water, and are struggling to do so in light of significant rises in oil costs.
The fund is rolling and may be closed at short notice when funds are exhausted.
- Who can apply?
- Individuals or referring organisations on their behalf
- Maximum grant
- Up to £400
- Eligible area
- Cambridgeshire (excluding Peterborough)
- Deadlines
- Rolling
Who can apply
Grant applicants can be made:
- by a referral organisation, either in the voluntary sector or a local authority, that has assessed the circumstances and can verify that the individual or family are in extreme crisis and in need of immediate assistance. These payments of grants will be made directly to the referring organisation and passed on to the recipient.
- by residents directly.
Eligibility criteria
- Recipients must live in Cambridgeshire (this fund cannot accept applications from Peterborough residents).
- Recipients must be reliant on heating oil to heat their home and/or water.
- Recipients must be facing exceptional finance pressure or financial shock.
- Recipients must have 150 litres of oil or less left in their tank.
- Recipients must be in receipt of or eligible for one of the following means-tested benefits:
- Universal Credit
- Pension Credit
- Income based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- The referrer or applicant must supply all necessary documentation and respond to requests for documentation or supporting information at the time of application.
- If your referring organisation is new to the Foundation, we will require our regular supporting documentation before processing any applications. These can be found in our application guidance (under Step 2).
- Recipients may only receive one grant per household.
- Individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) are not eligible to receive grants through the Crisis & Resilience Fund.
Please note that it is up to the referring organisation to keep a record of individual applications made to the fund, and to ensure that their clients meet the eligibility requirements for the fund.
Required documents
- Evidence that the recipient is in receipt of or eligible for one of the following means-tested benefits:
- Universal Credit
- Pension Credit
- Income based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Recent proof of address, confirming the recipient is a Cambridgeshire resident
- Proof that the recipient lives in a property reliant on oil to heat their home and/or water, e.g. a previous bill for oil containing the recipient’s address
- Evidence that the recipient has 150 litres of oil or less left in their tank, e.g. a time stamped photo
Failure to provide the necessary documentation with all of the required information as outlined above will result in delayed processing timelines and/or rejection of the application. It is crucial to submit correct and complete documentation with your application.
Payments
Grant payments for applications made by referring organisations will be made to the referring organisation.
Grant payments for applications made by individual residents will be made to individual residents.
You must provide a bank paying in slip or recent bank statement for the referring organisation or individual resident. This should confirm the bank details provided on the application. Emails or Word documents with bank details typed into the body of the document are NOT acceptable.
Please be prepared for a phone call on the phone number you provide to verbally verify the bank details provided.
Apply for a grant
Additional Support
- Citizens Advice Rural Cambs: Cambridgeshire Local Assistance Scheme plus other pots of funding for those living in Huntingdonshire, Fenland and East Cambridgeshire.
- Cambridge & District CAB: Cambridgeshire Local Assistance Scheme plus other pots of funding for those living in Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire.
- Cambridgeshire County Council: for help with utility bills.