People offered £100 supermarket voucher to buy food by Kent council over cost of living crisis

The £100 voucher can be spent in certain supermarkets Credit: PA

It's been a tough year financially with surging prices in supermarkets, eye-watering petrol costs, mammoth mortgage hikes and rocketing gas and energy bills.

While experts say inflation will fall sharply, the cost of living crisis continues to bite for many families struggling to make ends meet.

Kent County Council is now offering residents the chance to receive a £100 voucher to be used for food at a selection of supermarkets.

The scheme is available for families who receive means tested benefits or households who have an income before tax of less than £40,000 and applications must go through the local authority.

Residents who are not aged 16 or parents and carers who receive a free school meals voucher over the holidays for their child are not eligible.

If successful, a code will be sent out within 10 working days which can give the applicant access to a voucher.

The full eligibility criteria is as follows,

  • are aged 16 or over

  • are a Kent resident, permanently living within one of the 12 local authorities covered by Kent County Council (this excludes Medway, Bexley, or Bromley)

  • are in receipt of means tested benefits, or your household income is less than £40,000 per annum before tax

  • do not have more than £1000 in savings

  • do not receive free school meals voucher support from your child’s school over the school holidays, for any child within your household.

The initiative is being funded by the Government although critics say more needs to be done to help people who are finding it difficult to pay their bills.

At the end of June, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt brought in three key changes to help home owners after a shock interest rate hike deepened the mortgage crisis.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves have urged ministers to order banks to offer further support, such as temporarily allowing struggling borrowers to switch to interest-only payments or lengthen their mortgage period.

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