On February 6, 2026, residents in Portsmouth, Hampshire, can visit a dedicated helpdesk at the local library to get support with rising household costs and utility bills.
The HIVE Portsmouth community helpdesk is located on the ground floor of Portsmouth Central Library in Guildhall Square. Advisors are available Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 4:00pm; residents can drop in without an appointment for face-to-face advice.
Staff at the desk can help people apply for the national Household Support Fund (HSF) and signpost other local support. The HSF funding round runs nationally until 31 March 2026, but some Portsmouth-specific application windows close earlier — for example, Portsmouth’s family voucher and Exceptional Hardship application windows close at 12:00 noon on 26 February 2026, and the local utilities payment window had an earlier deadline. Residents should therefore seek help as soon as possible to check eligibility and submit applications.
The service also connects people with energy-saving programmes through Switched On Portsmouth, which offers free home energy efficiency measures such as insulation, heat pumps and solar PV, and can arrange home advice visits. Advisors can also check eligibility for social tariffs and water support schemes to help manage monthly bills.
Organisers say the helpdesk often discovers several different ways to save people money during a single conversation. The main goal is to ensure that no one in the community has to choose between buying food and keeping their home warm.
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