We’ve been made aware of reports of scam calls from another local authority, where fraudsters have called residents and asked them to apply for a Household Support Fund loan. Please note that we would never ask you to apply for a loan or for your bank details. If you have any concerns, please call 020 7641 6000.
The cost of living crisis is affecting us all. We have found that around a quarter of households in Westminster, more than 31,000, face a serious reduction in living standards due to rising costs, such as fuel, energy bills and food.
For more about the different types of support available, take a look at our hub below.
Winter in the city
This autumn and winter, Westminster has a variety of free community and cultural activities for residents to enjoy; all will take place in warm and safe locations around the city. Our directory will help you to find things to do over the colder months.
Cost of living strategy
Since July 2022 we have committed over £24m to supporting residents through the cost of living crisis, including money from the Household Support Fund.
- We have committed to funding extra food, advice and energy services for our residents
- We have been supporting warm spaces around the city during the winter months for a third year
- We have continued to support food banks and pantries to ensure residents get the support they need.
Additionally, we have supported older people to apply for their pension credit, working with AgeUK to enable them to get the benefits that they deserve. We have also helped support a winter fuel fund to aid those just missing out on the Winter Fuel Payment from the government.
In July 2022, we launched our first cost of living strategy, see below, an eight-point package of actions to help our residents, built around three main pillars:
- We committed an initial £10m package of support to help families in Westminster that were struggling with the rising cost of living. This has since risen to over £24m.
- We worked with an ever-expanding network of community partners to ensure that we coordinated and maximise our impact
- We continue to make sure our residents have the information they need to access all the support that is on offer to them.
In March 2023, we reviewed the groups in our Cost of Living Strategy 2022 that were likely to be most affected by the crisis and identified other households that could be struggling or may need particular support such as:
- those with low incomes but not entitled to any welfare benefits
- private tenants, particularly those in receipt of Local Housing Allowance
- larger families
- disabled households.
These are in addition to the 31,000 households in receipt of benefits identified in our strategy:
- single people in and out of work
- families with children, including lone parents
- older person households
- those with disabilities.
You can read our full cost of living strategy and 2024 update by clicking the links below.
