Press release

Government and leading businesses join forces to help households with cost of living

Cost of Living Business Tsar and former Just Eat boss David Buttress agrees deals and discounts with major UK businesses to form part of Help for Household campaign.

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government
  • Cost of Living Business Tsar and former Just Eat boss David Buttress agrees deals and discounts with major UK businesses to form part of Help for Household campaign.

  • Prime Minister Boris Johnson and David Buttress to host meeting of senior business leaders in No10 to discuss the new deals and what more can be done to support families

  • Government cost of living advice website receives over 2.2 million visits, with 90% of users finding the site helpful

Retail deals and discounts to help families over the summer holidays have been announced as part of the government鈥檚 Campaign.

Signed with some of the UK鈥檚 biggest businesses, including Asda, Morrisons, Amazon and Vodafone, these deals are designed to reduce costs at the checkout, help provide entertainment and ensure access to necessary services for families during the summer holidays and beyond.

Agreed with the government鈥檚 Cost of Living Business Tsar David Buttress, the deals include the extension of Asda鈥檚 鈥楰ids eat for 拢1鈥� scheme, where children aged 16 and under can access a hot or cold meal for 拢1 at any time of day in Asda Cafes across the UK.

Sainsbury鈥檚 is introducing it鈥檚 鈥榝eed your family for a fiver鈥� campaign, helping customers with budget-friendly meal ideas to feed a family of four for less than 拢5.

Theatres in London are uniting for Kids Week, an initiative giving children the chance to see a West End show for free throughout August with a full paying adult, with half price tickets for two additional children in the same group, while Vodafone is promoting a mobile social tariff of 拢10 a month.

Along with new initiatives, some deals are a continuation of successful support schemes which businesses are already running and want to promote under the Help for Households campaign to raise awareness.

These include Amazon鈥檚 new聽鈥榟elp for households鈥� page that will provide access to free entertainment such as Freevee and Amazon Music, as well as educational resources for school-aged children and low-price essential groceries. Morrisons is also providing a free meal for every child at in-store cafes when a parent buys an adult meal.

These deals form the first part of the Help for Household retail campaign which will aim to provide deals for families over four distinct periods 鈥搕he summer holidays, back to school, Autumn pressures and Christmas retail 鈥� with deals secured and hosted on the government鈥檚 new Help for Households so that people can find them easily in one place.

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said:

We鈥檙e facing incredibly tough global economic headwinds and families across the country are feeling the pinch.

That鈥檚 why this government is providing an unprecedent 拢37bn worth of support to help households through the storm.

Both the public and private sector have a role to play here 鈥� and that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 great to see so many leading UK businesses are now coming forward to offer new deals and discounts that will provide much needed respite at the checkout.

This won鈥檛 solve the issue overnight but it鈥檚 yet another weapon in our arsenal as we fight back against scourge of rising prices and inflation.

To mark the launch of the bespoke cost of living deals, the Prime Minister and David Buttress will host a meeting of senior business leaders involved in the campaign in No10 tomorrow [Thursday] to thank the businesses involved and discuss new ideas for cutting the cost of living.

Attendees are likely to include representatives from Sainsburys, Vodafone, Amazon, Centrica and the CBI.

Cost of Living Business Tsar David Buttress will also thank businesses for their support and praise the campaign鈥檚 鈥済ood start鈥� while making clear that 鈥渨e鈥檝e got more to do and more deals to announce - not just over the summer holidays but when kids return to school and in the run up to Christmas when costs are typically higher鈥�.

These deals build on the 拢37bn package of Help for Households already being provided by government 鈥� including tax cuts and help towards energy, childcare and transport costs.

The government鈥檚 online cost of living support pages, which have been visited over 2.2 million times, are helping the public to access the panoply of different cost of living support schemes available across government. 90% of users have said that they find the site helpful.

John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager, Amazon said:

We are proud to be part of聽the Government鈥檚 鈥楬elp for Households鈥� campaign, as we continue to support our customers across the UK with great value and convenience.

In fact, today we鈥檝e launched a brand-new page on amazon.co.uk which shows you how to access free or discounted products and services from Amazon.

This includes free entertainment聽for all, learning resources for students, along with聽more聽details of how else customers can save online.

We will continue to offer the widest selection of products聽at the best possible prices, with many of these products sold by the 85,000 small and medium-sized聽UK聽businesses who use Amazon to reach customers聽here聽and around the world.

Simon Roberts, Chief Executive Officer at Sainsbury鈥檚, said:

The rising cost of living is at the forefront of customers鈥� minds, so we are delighted that our Feed your family for a fiver campaign is part of the initiative, helping people save money when it matters most.

We have invested over half a billion pounds since March 2021 to ensure the items customers buy most often are on the shelves at the best prices. We are keeping inflation lower than our peers and we stand side by side with colleagues too 鈥� in April Sainsbury鈥檚 became the first major retailer to pay all our colleagues the Living Wage.

Hayley Tatum, Asda鈥檚 Chief Corporate Affairs and People Officer, said:

Our latest Asda Income Tracker shows that families are on average 拢175 worse off per month compared to this time last year and many are finding it increasingly tough to make ends meet.

We want to do all we can to support families during these tough times which is why we鈥檙e pleased to support the 鈥楬elp for Households鈥� initiative and have today launched our Essential Living Hub where families can find hints and tips from a range of experts about how to make their budgets go further, including details of our Kids Eat for 拢1鈥� offer, which we鈥檙e pleased to confirm will be extended to all cafes across the UK until the end of the year.

Association of Convenience Stores Chief Executive, James Lowman, said:

The UK鈥檚 47,000 local shops play an incredibly important role in helping consumers to manage their money, save on fuel and other travel costs, and reduce food waste.

We strongly welcome the new Help for Households campaign, and are committed to working with the cost of living tsar David Buttress to highlight how convenience stores are supporting both customers and colleagues during this challenging time for everyone.

Many convenience store retailers are providing significant staff discounts and other benefits as part of extra support packages for colleagues in store, as well as doing everything they can to keep prices on the shelf in check despite rising costs in just about every area of their businesses.

Ahmed Essam, CEO at Vodafone UK, said:

Vodafone is proud to support the 鈥楬elp for Households鈥� campaign that raises awareness and offers support to individuals and families most impacted by the cost of living challenge. Vodafone offers VOXI For Now, which is the only mobile social tariff to help those experiencing financial hardship stay connected, as well as our everyone.connected campaign to provide free connectivity to one million people living in digital poverty by the end of 2022.

Updates to this page

Published 21 July 2022