Iceland Offers Help To The Older Generation During The Cost Of Living Crisis With A New Voucher Scheme
The supermarket, Iceland, is giving away free, one-off, £30 food vouchers to certain pensioners struggling during the cost-of-living crisis. 40,000 vouchers are made available, partly funded by Iceland and also funded by The Rothesay Foundation. This organisation helps support charities to provide better care for the older generation, with the organisation giving £1 Million to help fund the scheme.
To qualify for the £30 voucher, you must be of state pension age, live independently (but not necessarily alone) or with a carer, and rely solely on your state pension or other benefits for food and essentials. You can get more than one voucher per household, for example, if you're in a couple.
There are regional qualification requirements for being able to claim a voucher, as you must live in:
Birmingham
Croydon
Glamorgan
Glasgow
Greater Manchester
Huddersfield
Lambeth (London)
Liverpool
Newcastle North
Newport
North Wales
Sheffield
Strathclyde
Sunderland
West Midlands
Wirral
The deadline to apply is the 16th of September, and the vouchers are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. The high uptake in applications means that the 40,000 vouchers will likely be long gone by the deadline, so if you want to apply, sooner will be better than later!
You can apply for the voucher by calling the free 'Cheer hotline' on 0800 098 7877, which is open from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday; and once accepted onto the scheme, your paper voucher will arrive in the post within seven days. The vouchers will expire on the 31st of December 2022, so they could be held back and used to put towards the cost of Christmas.
Use Iceland's store locator tool to check for your nearest participating outlet, as not all branches are participating.
Vouchers can be used on food and household items but cannot be used to purchase alcohol and tobacco. The vouchers can be combined with Iceland's "60s and over" 10% discount (available on Tuesdays only), meaning it could be worth £33.00 if you time it right!