Households handed £300 vouchers to spend in 9 supermarkets from Tuesday

Households in one part of the UK will be handed supermarket vouchers worth up to £300 to spend at nine major stores from Tuesday. The vouchers are being awarded by Surrey County Council to eligible residents who need help with everyday living costs.

But while this particular scheme applies in Surrey, more cost of living support is being awarded by local councils in other parts of the UK too via funding from the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Household Support Fund. The DWP scheme gives local councils across England a share of a funding pot worth £742 million, which is then distributed to eligible households who need help to afford essential living costs over the winter months, including energy bills and food.

The funding is allocated from now until March 31, 2026, and local councils independently decide how to share the cash, so depending on where you live, there may be different criteria to qualify for the support.

In South East England, Surrey County Council is awarding supermarket vouchers worth up to £300 to eligible households in February to help with essential living costs.

The council has launched an Everyday Essentials E-voucher scheme using funding from the DWP to support those who find it difficult to afford food and toiletries. The Everyday Essentials E-voucher can be redeemed at a supermarket of the recipient’s choice and is valid at nine major stores, including 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 February application window opens on Tuesday, February 3, at 1pm, but voucher numbers are limited, so those who miss out can try again in the next round, which opens on Wednesday, March 4, at 1pm.

Households will need to provide financial evidence to support their application covering the period between January 5, 2026 to February 2, 2026, and those who are successful will then be sent their voucher by email within four weeks.

To be eligible, residents must be aged 18 or over, have household savings of £2,000 or less on average over a 90-day period, and have an annual household income under £27,007.50 before taxes and deductions.

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 the next month.”

The council added: “Depending on your choice of supermarket, you can either redeem your E-voucher online, via your phone in store or by printing off your E- voucher and using in store.

“You do not have to redeem your E-voucher all in one go. You have at least one year to redeem your E-voucher. Exact expiry times for each retailer can be found on the E-voucher portal which you will have access to once you have received your E-voucher.”

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.

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, residents in Calderdale can get a maximum of two payments of £85, amounting to £170 worth of support in total, and residents of State Pension age in North Lincolnshire are being offered free air fryers, slow cookers and kettles.

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.