The Local Authority Emergency Assistance Grant is to help support residents of the Preston area who do not have enough resources to meet the immediate short-term needs and urgently require assistance with food and essentials items.
You must be experiencing financial hardship as a direct result of Covid-19.
Awards will be made where there is no alternative means of meeting the need.
To be eligible for the scheme you must be:
The scheme can help with short-term living costs such as food, gas and electric, essential household appliances and school uniforms. Cash will not usually be awarded.
If white goods such as washing machines or fridges are required, items will be purchased through the scheme and delivery will be arranged directly to your home.
The scheme will also signpost you to other sources of advice and support to ensure that you get all the assistance you are entitled to. You may be offered a referral for advice and assistance with finance, debt and/or welfare benefits, to help address your long-term needs.
The scheme does not cover:
We aim to make a decision within 72 hours of receiving all the required information, other than for household goods, where we aim to decide within five working days. Depending on the level of demand for the scheme, this may not always be possible.
To speed up the application process please ensure you fully complete the application form and provide all the evidence we ask for.
Please do not chase up your application until at least five working days after it was submitted.
To apply please complete the Emergency Assistance Grant form.
Apply for the Emergency Assistance Grant
Please ensure you upload a recent full months bank statement, showing transactions, your balance and your name and address, otherwise we will not be able to consider your application. We will accept screenshots of your bank statement.
You can also telephone our Community Hub (Preston Together) on 01772 906777 or email EAGS@preston.gov.uk.
We will need the following information:
We will contact you if further information is required. Please make a note of your application reference number, as we will ask for this when you are submitting any evidence.
Your evidence can be submitted in the following ways:
Please ensure your name and address is provided along with any evidence documents.
As this is a discretionary scheme there is no right of appeal. However, if you think we have overlooked important information then you can ask for us to look at the application again by emailing EAGS@preston.gov.uk.
This decision will be final.
The information that you provide will be processed in accordance with the general data protection regulation (GDPR) and data protection law for the purpose of provision and management of the Emergency Assistance Grant Fund.
Your personal information, where provided, will be processed under Article 6,1 (e) of the GDPR - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.