To apply for the Household Support Fund (HSF) or Discretionary Council Tax Relief (DCTR) you should be:

• a resident of London Borough of Barking & Dagenham for 3 months before applying or placed in temporary accommodation outside of the borough by our homeless team
• for the DCTR scheme hold a current live Council Tax Account
• affected by rising living costs including food and utility price increases
• have taken steps to maximise incomes available to you via claiming Council Tax Support, Housing Benefit or Universal Credit and all other benefits or support as to which you may be entitled
• not had a previous award within 6 months of submitting your application unless you have extenuating circumstances relating to: 
• a fire or flood at the property
• a significant life occurrence such as a bereavement
• a life changing/terminal illness
• a significant, abrupt, and unplanned change in financial circumstances caused by one of the reasons listed above
• any application where a previous award within 6 months is not declared, will be checked on our database, and if found to have received a previous award within 6 months of applying this will then be refused with no appeal rights

Additionally:

• any applicants who have capital held in their bank accounts that is a reasonable amount above regular monthly bill payments that does not relate to incoming and outgoing income and is therefore consistently held (surplus capital) will not be eligible for the scheme
• any applicant who is deemed to hold other capital assets such as crypto currency, stocks, shares or other property will also not be eligible for assistance through the scheme(s). Capital assets must be realised in full prior to any application (unless there is extenuating circumstances as to why assets cannot be realised)

All applications will be treated individually on their own merit under all relevant schemes. Applications will only be considered for schemes applied for within the application.

Discretionary funding schemes should be seen as a short-term and temporary fund to allow customers who face a variety of challenges to find alternative solutions.