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Single Parent FAQs: Cost of living and winter support – Issue 45

10/11/2025

As the weather turns colder, many single parents worry about the cost of living crisis and how they can get support over winter. If you’re feeling anxious about winter costs, you’re not alone.

Take a look at the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the cost of living crisis and winter support

Help with fuel and heating costs

Winter Heating Payment (Scotland)

  • Replaces the DWP’s Cold Weather Payment.
  • Paid automatically to eligible people on certain benefits (e.g. Universal Credit, Income Support).
  • A flat-rate payment of £55.05 (winter 2024/25 rate).

Find out more and how to apply to the Winter Heating Payment. 

Fuel Insecurity Fund

  • Emergency help for energy top-ups or heating bills.
  • Delivered by partner organisations such as Advice Direct Scotland and some local authorities.

Find out more via the Energy Advice Scotland website or call 0808 196 8660

Home Energy Scotland

  • Free advice on reducing energy use and improving home warmth.
  • Can refer you to insulation or heating schemes if eligible.

Call 0808 808 2282 or find out more on the Home Energy Scotland website.

Help with housing costs

Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP)

  • Extra support if Housing Benefit or Universal Credit doesn’t cover your full rent.
  • Apply via your local council (ask for the DHP team).

Scottish Welfare Fund

  • Crisis Grants for emergencies and Community Care Grants for household essentials like beds, cookers, or warm clothing.
  • Apply through your local council.

More info on the Scottish Welfare Fund.

Clothing, food and warm spaces

  • Many local areas offer free school uniform banks, warm clothing donations, food pantries or warm hubs.
  • Check your local council’s cost of living support pages or ask your child’s school or health visitor about local referrals.

Festive season help

Toy banks & Christmas meal projects

  • Charities and churches often run toy appeals, free festive meals or food parcels.
  • Your local social work team, school, family centre, or GP may be able to refer you.

OPFS Advice & Info Service

  • We can help identify local schemes or emergency support near you.

Get in touch with OPFS via our webchat.  
Call our free Helpline: 0808 801 0323

Self-care during the winter months

We know how tough winter can feel, especially if you’re stretched financially. Prioritising your mental health matters too:

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See our previous issues of Single Parent FAQs on:

Remember you can submit your own question via the Ask A Question feature on our website any time and our expert advisers will respond.

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Covering your tracks

You may not want other people to know that you’ve been searching for information or help from OPFS.

When browsing the internet whether on a mobile phone, tablet or computer, you leave a ‘history’ trail of pages and sites you’ve visited.

It’s impossible to completely avoid being tracked online but if you’re worried about someone knowing which sites you’ve been looking at, there are some things you can do to help cover your tracks.

If you’re using a laptop or desktop computer, try keeping another document or website open in a new tab or window while browsing. If someone comes in the room and you don’t want them to see what you’re looking at, you can quickly switch to another window or tab.

Deleting browsing history

You can delete the history of websites you’ve visited, but it’s important to know that if you delete your browsing history, someone else using the same device may notice.

If you share a tablet, mobile phone, laptop or computer with someone, they might notice that passwords or website addresses have disappeared from their history.

Find out how to remove your browsing history and other data from some of the most commonly used browsers:

Browsing in Private mode (incognito)

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This option is available on popular web browsers i.e. -

Toolbars

If you use a search toolbar in your web browser, remember that your searched items can be saved as part of your history. Find out how to delete your searched items from the following search engines: