Cost of Living Support

With the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis, Felixstowe Town Council is working with East Suffolk Council to co-ordinate a comprehensive programme of support to help people locally.

Click the image below to read the Cost of Living bulleting which is being printed and delivered to all households across the peninsula in February.

EASE THE SQUEEZE – East Suffolk Council have compiled a comprehensive list of places you can get or offer help. More details can be found on the East Suffolk website.

This page provides a list of places offering support and advice,  and will be developed over time.

Please note: Felixstowe Town Council does not endorse any specific deal or discount – this page is designed to signpost to advice and provide information about various offers and activities that are available. You should do your own research about your eligibility and their terms and conditions.

General Help

GOVERNMENT COST OF LIVING SUPPORT – to help with the cost of living, HM Government announced support packages. To see what support there is and when it will be coming, please head to their website

HELP FOR HOUSEHOLDS – this website, set up by HM Government, includes information on support that you could get access to. This includes childcare costs, transport costs and finding work.

ENERGY BILLS SUPPORT SCHEME – As of 29th July 2022, HM Government have announced how the Energy Bills Support Scheme will work. The scheme aims to help ease the affect of rising energy prices with all households receiving a £400 discount on their bills. The BBC have also put together this helpful guide to explain when and how the payments will be made.

EBSS Alternative Funding scheme is for those households who don’t directly pay their energy supplier and so haven’t received the funding support.

If any of your tenants, or those you work with or support, are not already receiving the automatic EBSS payments, they may be eligible for the one off £400 alternative funding payment.

How they can apply

To apply they should visit GOV.uk and search for “how to apply for the energy bill support scheme if it is not received automatically”. This will bring up information regarding the eligibility criteria and provide a link for them to apply online.

They may be asked to upload evidence of their address so should have this available when completing their application. The Government will then carry out some initial eligibility checks before passing applications back to Anglia Revenues Partnership and the relevant Local Authority to complete the verification and process. Please make your tenants, or those you work with or support, aware we are unable to assist them in making an application and will not contact them to ask for their bank details over the phone.  They should refer to the GOV.uk webpage for full guidance on the scheme.

If a household requires assistance to make the claim or do not have access to the internet, they should call the Government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme helpline. Any enquiries regarding the progress or outcome of claims should also be directed to the helpline:

Telephone: 0808 175 3287
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

Payments will be made within 30 working days of an application being made and verified. Applications will close on 28 April 2023.

BENEFITS CALCULATOR – you can check that you are receiving all the benefits that you are entitled to by using this benefits calculator by www.entitledto.co.uk

SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL – Suffolk County Council have put together a page with help on the cost of living. They have also created a booklet that can be viewed online.

SUFFOLK INFOLINK – a variety of help can be found via the Suffolk InfoLink directory which offers a wide range of help.

CITIZENS ADVICE – for getting immediate help with bills or shopping, please contact Citizens Advice.  There is also other information on how to access other help such as how to apply for the HealthyStart Scheme, School costs and Travel costs.

TURN2US – this independent charity aim to fight UK poverty. Their website offers help, advice and support on a range of topics from back to school support to facing redundancy.

MONEY SAVING EXPERT – the team at Money Saving Expert have some great, independent and up-to-date advice on ways to save money from getting cheaper energy to free food.

MONEY SAVING CENTRAL –  a great resource with all the latest deals and freebees, including days out.

BUDGETING FOR WINTER’S ENERGY BILLS – the team from Bloomberg UK have created a helpful graphic to show the cost of running different household appliances according to the energy cap scheduled for October 2022.