£300 supermarket vouchers given to households from Wednesday | Personal Finance | Finance

Supermarket vouchers worth up to £300 are being awarded to eligible households in one part of the UK from Wednesday, in the final round of funding from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The vouchers, which can be spent at nine major supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, are being supplied through the DWP’s Household Support Fund, which is due to end on March 31. The scheme gives councils across England a share of a funding pot worth £742 million and local authorities then independently decide how to share the cash, so depending on where you live, there may be different support available.

The fund helps struggling households pay for essential living costs over the winter months, such as energy bills and food, with some areas receiving cash payments, while others can get supermarket or energy vouchers.

In South East England, eligible households in Surrey are being awarded supermarket vouchers worth up to £300 to help with essential living costs.

The funding is being distributed by Surrey County Council through its ‘Everyday Essentials E-voucher’ scheme using funding from the DWP to support those who find it difficult to afford food and toiletries.

The vouchers can be redeemed at a supermarket of the recipient’s choice and are valid at Aldi, Asda, Farmfoods, Iceland, The Food Warehouse, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

There are two types of one-off amounts of funding available, with single households given vouchers worth £200 and households with children given vouchers worth £300. Only one E-voucher is available per household.

The final monthly application window for the funding will open on Wednesday, March 4, at 1pm and applicants must provide financial evidence covering February 4, 2026, and March 3, 2026.

Surrey County Council said: “The Everyday Essentials E-Voucher will be available until Tuesday 31 March 2026 or until all funds have been allocated, whichever is the earlier.

“There will be monthly application windows open for people to apply. Application windows will be open weekdays only Monday through to Friday, until all funding for that monthly funding window has been allocated. The application window will then be closed until next month.”

As Household Support Fund cash is distributed independently by local councils in England, it means that the cost of living support available will vary by location, with different vouchers or grants up for grabs up and down the country. The payments may also be issued at different times depending on where you live.

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The DWP says there may also be differences in who the money is given to and if or how you need to apply for the support, as some local councils opt to share the money out through local charities and community groups, while some limit household applications to one per year.

For example, households in Staffordshire can get a one off £300 utility payment made direct to their utility provider via the scheme, while residents in Calderdale can get a maximum of two payments of £85, amounting to £170 worth of support in total.

In the East Midlands, households in Nottingham can apply for £100 vouchers to spend in supermarkets, and in South Yorkshire, Doncaster Council is giving eligible households up to £300 towards food costs, while other households can qualify for a £100 payment to go towards energy bills.

In the East of England, Cambridgeshire County Council is issuing £110 to eligible households in the form of direct payments or supermarket vouchers, and residents in Manchester receiving Council Tax support and a disability benefit can get payments of up to £130 to help with living costs.