Get help with basic living costs, furniture, and housing debts

The Hardship Relief Fund provides cash grants towards monthly expenses, such as food and clothing, which you can spend as you need.

Please be aware that our Hardship grants are based on family size, and we do not pay towards personal debts.

Hardship Grants:

• Hardship Basic Grant

Seasonal Grants:

• Energy Bill Grant (distributed during Winter)
• Zakat ul Fitr (distributed during Ramadan)

The Housing Fund provides cash grants towards housing related costs, such as rental and council tax arrears (which is paid directly to your provider), as well as furniture and moving-in costs.

Housing Grants:

• Furniture Grant
• Moving-in Grant
• Rental Arrears
• Council Tax Arrears

To apply, you must be a Muslim with legal status living in the UK, over the age of 18, and be entitled to receive Zakat. To confirm your Zakat eligibility and financial situation, we will look at how much money you have, as well as your monthly income and expenses.

If you have received Zakat from the Hardship Fund in the past 12 months you will not be eligible for another Hardship grant.

If you have received Zakat from the Housing Fund in the past 36 months you will not be eligible for the same Housing grant.

If you are seeking asylum, are a full-time student, on a student visa, work permit or have no status in the UK, then you are not able to apply to our Housing Fund.

Rent Arrears:

To apply for help with rent arrears, the rent you owe must be on the home you live in currently or be with the same council or social housing provider. We will look at your income and your rent to make sure that you will be able to afford your rent going forward. We will not pay for rental arrears if you have been in the property for less than three months. Your arrears statement must be up to date at the time of application.

Council Tax Arrears:

To apply for help with council tax arrears, you will need to be in arrears of at least three months (we do not pay current council tax bills). Your arrears statement must be up to date at the time of application.

Furniture / Moving-in Grant:

For money to furnish and decorate your new home, we will need a signed tenancy agreement that shows:

You have moved into a new home within the last three months, or you will move into your new home within one month.

To apply for help from National Zakat Foundation you must have your own email address, mobile phone number, and a device able to connect to the internet.

To prioritise those most in need we have introduced a shortlisting system.

The system looks at factors such as:

• Financial status, and
• Social indicators

The amount of help you can get depends on your family size. The help we give is a one-off grant and does not need to be returned to NZF.

For hardship relief grants we can provide between £290 and £1320 based on your family size and legal status.

For rent or council tax arrears we can provide combined support of up to £6,000. Please note for Private Landlords this limit is only £1,000.

For furniture / moving-in support we can provide between £350 to £3310 based on your family size and tenancy agreement.

We may also signpost or refer you to other organisations that may be able to help you based on your situation.

We have a two step-process:

After registering for Zakat, you will be informed by email whether you will be able to make an application or whether we are over capacity.

You will receive this email within two weeks of joining the waiting list.

If we are above capacity, you will be able to apply to the waiting list again.

If you have been invited to apply, you will have two weeks to complete your application form.

Once you have submitted your application form, we will respond to your application within two to three weeks.

Once you have sent us your application, the team will make sure that you have given us all the information and documents we need to look at your application and that you are eligible to apply for help. If there is anything you have missed, you will be asked to send it to us within 14 days.

We will then look at how much money you have, your monthly income, expenses, and documents to confirm whether we can help you. 

If we can give you a grant, we will email you to confirm this and arrange payment for you. If we cannot give you a grant, we will email you to tell you why.

If you have received Zakat from the Hardship Fund in the past 12 months you will not be eligible for another hardship grant.

If you have received Zakat from the Housing Fund in the past 36 months you will not be eligible for the same housing grant.

For example, if we helped you with a rental arrears grant in January 2023, you would not be able to apply for a rental arrears grant again until January 2026, but you could apply for help with any other grant.

To apply for help you will need to give us the following documents:

Valid Photo ID – for you, your spouse and any children under 18. We accept the following identification documents:

• Passport
• Full UK Photocard Driving License (can also be used as proof of address)
• EEA member state identity card
• Application Registration Card (ARC card for asylum seekers)
• Biometric Residence Permit (BRP card) or E-Visa (with photo)
• Birth Certificate (for children only)

Recent Proof of Address – We accept the following documents to verify your address:

• Full UK Photocard Driving License
• Utility Bill
• UK Bank Statement
• NHS Medical Letter
• Documents with an official letterhead, e.g., from your solicitor

Bank Statements – We will need the most recent three full months of bank statements for all your bank accounts. For example, if you send us your application on 2nd January, you will need to give us bank statements for October, November and December.

Universal Credit Statement – If you receive Universal Credit you will be asked to provide your most recent statement. You can access your online account here: https://www.gov.uk/sign-in-universal-credit

For help with Housing Grants, you may also need to give us the following documents:

Tenancy Agreement
We will need the tenancy agreement for where you live now.

Rent statement
We will need the rent statement which shows how much rent you owe and for what period.

Housing Benefit / Universal Credit Statement
We will need a letter from your council or a Universal Credit statement to confirm how much Housing Benefit you get. 

Council Tax statement
We will need the statement which shows how much council tax you owe and for what period.

For hardship, furniture, and moving-in grants, we will pay your grant to your bank account.

Alternatively, we can send your grant via the Post Office through a pay-out service by sending you a voucher code by email. You will need to have ID for this service.

For rent arrears and council tax arrears, we will pay your grant directly to your council or housing association.

Although we may not be able to help everyone who applies to us, we are committed to providing a high-quality service to all our applicants. If something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. We will use the information you give us to help improve our service.

If you are not happy about any part of our service, please contact us via this page.

What will happen next?

We will reply to your email to confirm that we have received your feedback within five working days.

We will look into your feedback, review any evidence available, and speak to members of staff if appropriate.

We will aim to reply to your feedback within 10 working days. If this is not possible, we will send you an update.