Worried about your winter fuel bill? There for You has a limited fund to offer one-off £200 grants to UNISON members on a low income.
Applications will open twice on Wednesday 24 January, at 8.30am and 5pm. The online form will appear on this page. Recent grant applications have been extremely popular and closed within a matter of minutes, so please do check the eligibility criteria below, ensure you have your UNISON membership number to hand and consider setting a reminder if you wish to apply.
Applicants must:
- Be a UNISON member and have paid at least four weeks’ subscriptions as of 24 January. Subscriptions must be up to date.
- Not have an outstanding application for the recent Energy Support Fund grant.
- Not have been issued with a successful decision for the recent Energy Support Fund grant.
- Not have received a grant from UNISON Welfare since 24 July
2023, excluding the School Uniform Grant. - Have savings (including the total rolling balance on current accounts) below £1,000 to qualify.
- Be responsible (or their partner, if applicable) for household fuel bills. Only one application per household will be considered.
And EITHER:
Be on a low income, meaning a net household income* of no more than £26,000/year (£2,166.67/month)
* Net household income includes your monthly take-home pay from work (plus your partner’s if applicable), any income from child maintenance payments, any income from student finance loans or bursaries, pensions (excluding Pension Credit) and any income from people living with you (e.g. adult children or lodgers).
OR:
Be in receipt of means-tested benefits. This includes:
- Universal Credit
- Housing Benefit
- Child and/or Working Tax Credits
- Pension Credit
- Means-tested Jobseekers Allowance
- Means-tested Employment Support Allowance
- Income Support
Where members have no recourse to public funds and their household income is above £26,000/year an assessment will be undertaken to see whether they would be eligible for benefits if they did have recourse to public funds so that they are not disadvantaged.
What can I get help with?
We can help with a one-off, non-repayable grant of £200. We want to make this fund go as far as possible and help as many members as we can. Please only apply if you are in financial difficulty. We have limited funds for the Winter Fuel Grant programme.
What if I don’t know my membership number?
We cannot accept applications without a membership number. This can often be found at the bottom of any emails you have received from UNISON.
Alternatively, please contact UNISONdirect on 0800 0 857 857.
How will you contact me?
Acknowledgement
Successful online submissions will receive an automated message confirming your application has been received. If this doesn’t show in your ‘inbox’, please check your ‘junk/spam’ folders.
Processing time
You should not expect to receive an immediate decision. It could take up to 8 weeks before you hear from us. We will require further evidence to support your application and we will be in touch via email to request this. Please do not send chasing emails as we will be unable to respond.
If I have recently received a grant, can I apply?
If you have received a grant from There for You since 24 July 2023, excluding the School Uniform Grant, you will not be eligible to apply for a Winter Fuel Grant. If you applied for the recent Energy Support Fund and we requested documents from you, please do not apply for this Winter Fuel Grant.
How do I apply?
All applications should be made online. Please make sure you have your membership number to hand. If you are unable to complete the application online due to an accessibility issue, please contact us on 24 January, either by email: wfg@unison.co.uk or by calling UNISONdirect on 0800 0 857 857.
