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Professional Referral Energy Voucher Scheme

Funded by the UK government, the Household Support Fund scheme supports vulnerable Kent households in need of help with significantly rising living costs. As one element of support, we have set up a scheme for professionals to refer people into.

This information is for professionals only to support them in making applications. If you are looking to apply for the Household Support Fund for yourself, read our information for residents.

The eligibility criteria for the Professional Referral Energy Voucher Scheme has been revised, opening the scheme up to more households. Previously, households were excluded if they received any of the government's Cost of Living payments. If you are supporting households that meet the revised criteria, we encourage you to make an application.

You can apply up until 31 March 2023, or until the budget is spent.

If successful, support will be provided as a £100 Post Office cash-out voucher to be used to pay for energy costs within the household. We are also able to consider providing vouchers to off-grid customers.


We expect professionals to complete due diligence checks of applications to ensure that recipients of vouchers meet the eligibility criteria.

Applicants must:

  • be aged 16 or over
  • be a Kent resident, permanently living within one of the 12 local authorities covered by Kent County Council (this excludes Medway, Bexley, or Bromley)
  • be in receipt of means tested benefits, or household income is less than £30,000 per annum before tax
  • not have more than £250 in savings
  • not receive free school meals support for any child within your household.

Eligible free school meals families will be receiving an energy cash out voucher per eligible child for the value of £50 direct from their child’s school, outside of this scheme. Plans to distribute vouchers are underway and the team responsible for this delivery expect to circulate vouchers to eligible families by 31 March 2023.

Residents with no recourse to public funding are still eligible for the scheme. If a National Insurance number is not available, email helping.hands@kent.gov.uk with the circumstances and reasons why the applicant should receive this support and attach all supporting evidence to the email.

If support is required because of the increase in cost of living, apply for the Professional Fuel Support Scheme.

Apply for the Professional Fuel Support Scheme

All applications must be made online.

The type of information you will need about the applicant is:

  • their name, date of birth and contact details
  • National Insurance number
  • information about benefits
  • their employment status, income and savings
  • who they live with
  • how they currently pay for their energy
  • if they have received any government cost of living support payments.

If you have not made a referral before, you will need to register to make referrals.

If you have already submitted an application, one of our assessment officers will contact you as soon as possible.

If we have declined your application within the last 7 days and you feel the decision should be reviewed, you can email helping.hands@kent.gov.uk to appeal. Please give as much information about why you feel the decision should be reviewed.

If you have not referred into the scheme previously, you will need to register using our online form.

This will send a request to us, and you will receive an email confirmation if your request is approved.

Receiving the voucher

The applicant will receive the £100 in the form of a Post Office 'cash-out' voucher. The voucher will be sent by text or email depending on what option you selected within the application. If the applicant does not have a mobile phone or access to an email account, the voucher will be posted.

The text message will not contain any links or attachments and will say: Post Office Payout Voucher xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx for £100. They can take this text message to any Post Office branch.

Please advise applicants who are expecting a voucher but haven't received it, to check their spam and junk folders. If it still hasn't been received, call us on 03000 414141 or email helping.hands@kent.gov.uk.

Redeeming the voucher

The applicant can redeem the voucher at a Post Office of their choice.

When they go to the Post Office to redeem the voucher, the applicant will need to show:

  • the text message, email or letter
  • some identification such as a driving licence or passport and a utility bill. The identification and utility bill must be in the name of the voucher recipient. If someone else is supporting the applicant in redeeming the voucher, they will need to take the applicants identification and utility bill, and will be required to present their own identification as well.

Voucher expiry

The voucher will expire 30 days from the issue date. Please remind applicants to redeem the voucher for the full amount as soon as possible as we are unable to reissue vouchers once they have expired.