Food and energy vouchers are available to support the most vulnerable children and families over winter.

Cheshire East Council with the help of schools, colleges, early years settings and other family support services across the borough are distributing vouchers on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions, during the winter months to the most vulnerable children and families to pay for essentials such as food and energy.

The money is Cheshire East’s share of the government’s £170 million Covid Winter Grant Scheme which is available from now until the end of March 2021 to support those most in need across England with the cost of food, energy (heating, cooking, lighting), water bills and other essentials.

Over 11,000 children and young people have already been identified by the council and will receive their vouchers automatically. These families will receive their vouchers via schools, colleges, early years settings and by a host of support services.

The following children, young people and families will automatically receive a voucher:

• Those in receipt of free school meals
• Those in receipt of early years pupil premium and two-year funding
• Care leavers up to age 25
• Young people aged 16-18 who are not in education, employment or training
• Children and young people who are young carers
• Children living with parents who have been exposed to domestic abuse and are known to domestic abuse services.

If you are working with a family that is in need of a voucher you can request support for them by completing this form. A £15 supermarket voucher is available per child per week for a maximum of three weeks, and/or a £49 fuel voucher per household.

Before completing the form – please check if the family has already met the criteria above as if so, they will automatically receive a voucher. However, if the family have already received a voucher but still need additional support, you can complete the form to request additional payments.

You will need the following information to complete the form:

• The parent/carer’s name
• The parent/carer’s address, including post code
• The parent/carer’s email address – If the parent/carer does not have an email address, please put your email address so you can provide the voucher to them.
• A contact number for the parent/carer – please provide your own if this is not available.

If you are entering information for multiple children – please make sure you press ‘Add Child’s Details’ after entering each child’s details on the form otherwise the information will not be saved.
 

Please allow five working days for the family to receive the voucher via email. Please note that any applications received after 1pm on 22 December 2020 will not be processed until 4 January 2021. If emergency support is needed during this time please contact the Emergency Duty Team as usual on 0300 123 5022.

If the family is likely to be eligible for free school meals please encourage them to apply online at www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/fsm – this will mean they will be automatically eligible for further support in future.

For emergency assistance please see further down this page for Nantwich Food Bank.

For further information please see our website :
 

Nantwich foodbank opened in 2013. We are part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK.

We don’t think anyone in our community should have to face going hungry. That’s why we provide nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to us in crisis.

We have a new partnership with Citizen’s Advice on the number as shown in the tweet here :

Absolutely delighted to announce our new partnership with CAB and funded by @AsdaFoundation launching on 2/11 offering vital support and advice.
Please call 07597 572346 to arrange an appointment pic.twitter.com/PJJkPzptMO

— Nantwich foodbank (@NantwichFB) October 29, 2020

In addition, if you have any general questions regarding signposting to support services we have a number that operates from 9-12 Mon-Fri: 01270 895270

A typical food parcel contains a minimum of three days of nutritionally balanced, non-perishable, tinned and dried foods that have been donated by the local community. A typical food parcel includes: breakfast cereal, soup, pasta, rice, pasta sauce, baked beans, tinned meat, tinned vegetables, instant mash, UHT milk, tea, coffee, sugar, tinned dessert and biscuits.

Market Street Church
Market Street
Nantwich
CW5 5DG

Although our site is currently closed because of Covid-19, we are still able to support you through referrals from Citizen’s Advice and your GP Practice Link Worker amongst others.

We aim to answer all calls to the number below within one working day. Many thanks.

With Healthy Start, you get free vouchers every week to spend on milk, fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried, and tinned pulses, and infant formula milk. You can also get free vitamins.

You qualify for Healthy Start if you’re at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four years old and you or your family get:

• Income Support

• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance *

• Child Tax Credit with a family income of £16,190 or less per year

• Pension Credit; or

• Universal Credit with no earned income or total earned income of £408 or less per month for the family. (To find this refer to your Universal Credit award notice in the section “your take home pay for this month”.)

You also qualify if you are under 18 and pregnant, even if you don’t get any of the above benefits.

We no longer require you to send in copies of your Universal Credit award notice to apply for Healthy Start. Click here to find out how to apply for Healthy Start.

(* This is only applicable whist you are more than 10 weeks pregnant)