Getting the support you need

Financial support and advice

If you need help paying your council tax, you can apply for Council Tax Reduction.

If you are entitled to a Council Tax Reduction, Universal Credit or Housing Benefit and are struggling with council tax or rent, you can apply for a Hardship Fund payment for council tax or a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) for rent.

The Council’s crisis loans and grants scheme can help to cover unexpected expenses in a crisis or emergency.

Find out how to get help with your rent, apply for free school meals or get more information about benefits.

Citizens Advice Sutton (CAS) provides free, confidential, independent, impartial information and advice on issues such as welfare benefits, debt, housing, employment and other issues related to residents’ rights and responsibilities.

The St Helier One Stop Shop at Hill House provides advice to all Sutton residents and takes place on the first Thursday of each month, from 10am to 12pm.

Support with food

We regularly provide free holiday activities and lunches/meal kits for children on free school meals over the school holidays.

The Sutton Foodbank provides emergency food parcels to those struggling to put food on the table. To access the Sutton Foodbank you need a Foodbank voucher. The vouchers can be obtained from organisations and teams including:

• Citizens Advice: 020 8405 3552
• Sutton Carers Centre: 020 8296 5611
• Encompass: 020 8770 5000
• Sutton Housing Partnership: 020 8915 2000
• Inspire: 020 8773 9393
• Welfare Reform Team: 020 8770 5000
• Sutton Uplift: 0800 032 1411 (Freephone) or 020 3513 4044
• Sutton Salvation Army: 020 8642 9862
• Your Housing Support Officer, Health Visitor or local Children’s Centre.

The Sutton Foodshop helps families and individuals struggling on low income and finding it difficult to make ends meet. There is a small membership fee of £3 a week. In return, you can choose from approximately 12 items of non-perishable, and chilled and frozen food.

SHP residents can access the St Helier Community Food Shop. Members of the food shop will receive 12-15 items of both fresh and non-perishable goods (worth approximately £15) for the cost of just £3 per week. As part of the membership offer, members also agree to receive advice and support on education, training, employment and health and wellbeing. Membership runs for six months and can be cancelled at any time.

Advice on saving energy and paying your energy bills is available on our website. 

If you are over 65, have a long-term health condition such as asthma or diabetes, a disability, or are on a low income, you could benefit from a free home energy assessment. These are carried out by our partner Thinking Works.

They can give you free water and energy saving devices and advise you on how to lower your fuel bills while staying warm. Depending on your circumstances, they may be able to refer you for heating, insulation or boiler repair grants.

For more information, telephone Thinking Works on 0800 118 2327 or email enquiries@thinkingworks.co.uk.

There are lots of services for children, young people and adults:

• Sutton Crisis Cafe: if you want a friendly face or just some space, visit the Sutton Crisis Cafe at 63 Downs Road, open 7 days a week. Call them on 0800 012 9082 to tell them you want to pop along or visit smhf.org.uk/suttoncrisiscafe.

• Community Action Sutton is a membership organisation that supports develops and promotes the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in Sutton, providing free advice, training sessions, payroll, local forums, networking and training. 

• Sutton Reach provides support to people with mental health problems to remain living independently in their own accommodation, to help people resettle into independent accommodation after a period in residential or hospital care and resettle those who are ready to move on from supported housing.

• Sutton Mental Health Foundation promotes mental wellbeing, resilience and recovery from mental distress.

• For young people: Kooth provides free, safe and anonymous online emotional health and wellbeing support for young people aged 11 to 25. 

• For young people: Off the Record provides a free counselling service for young people aged 11 - 25. Email sutton@talkofftherecord.org or phone 020 8680 8899.

• For men: join the Sutton Men in Sheds group, make new friends of all ages, discuss life and do some woodwork sometimes!

• Young carers: visit the Sutton Young Carers Service to see what else is available, or join our Young Carers Forum to find support, friendship and more.

The Inspire service is a community drug and alcohol service for anyone over the age of 18, providing free confidential support by qualified counsellors for drugs and alcohol users and their families.

Refer yourself or be referred by your GP, housing provider, probation and other professionals. They also run a service for under 18s called Switch Sutton. 

We have lots of support services for people - men and women and children - who might be experiencing domestic abuse, including a weekly drop-in service at Sutton Baptist Church every Wednesday morning.

Find out more at cranstoun.org/services/domestic-abuse/transform-sutton/.

For more information about other domestic abuse support and services, go to sutton.gov.uk/domesticabuse.

Our Children’s services include information about early years and pre-school, children with special educational needs, child bereavement and counselling services, adoption and fostering, safeguarding, suicide prevention, eating disorder help, how to become a registered provider and more.

To find out about services local to you, please visit our Children, families and young people section.

Activities and support

Children’s Centres are open to all families with children under five. They provide a range of services in your local community that include activities, services, and information and advice for local families. Find out what activities and sessions are currently running.

We regularly provide free holiday activities and lunches/meal kits for children on free school meals over the school holidays.

We provide an inclusive programme of events, activities and social opportunities for all ages in Sutton's Libraries and Heritage Houses. Take a look at what events and activities are coming up.

School uniform shop

A free school uniform shop is being set up to support families who may be experiencing difficulties buying school uniforms. For more information please email suttoncommunityuniform@sutton.gov.uk or call  020 8770 6000.

There are lots of services and support for adults in Sutton.

We have lots of advice about choosing the right care homes or supported living environment, getting an assessment, support groups for carers, adult safeguarding to maintaining or adapting your home. 

To find out more, visit sutton.gov.uk/adult-social-care.

Moving into emergency or temporary accommodation can be a busy and stressful time. 

To help with the process, we have produced a guide to living in temporary accommodation, and created weekly drop-in sessions at the Dolphin, run by Home-Start Sutton.

Our Customer Service Team provides advice and support to approximately 15,000 people a month by phone. As the Council’s first point of contact, they deal with a wide range of enquiries relating to the hundreds of services we provide.

The Contact Centre is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. You can contact us on 020 8770 5000.