Councils are urging the Government to extend one of its most
essential schemes to help protect vulnerable households in the
country.
The Household Support Fund (HSF), which has provided £820
million in Government funding for local welfare support over the
past year, is set to end on 31 March. The fund has been used to
help millions of households facing hardship, who would otherwise
have struggled to buy food, heat their home or go without other
essentials.
More than 8 out of 10 of the councils that responded to a Local
Government Association (LGA) survey say that financial hardship
has increased in their areas just as vital local funding used to
support vulnerable households is due to end.
Nearly three quarters of responding councils (73 per cent) also
said they expect hardship to increase even further over the next
12 months, while just under a fifth expect it to stay the
same.
The Government has not confirmed if the HSF will be extended,
leaving councils, their delivery partners and residents in
limbo.
This uncertainty is impacting councils’ ability to set their
budgets for next year. There is also the risk that any
last-minute extension of the fund would come too late for
councils, who would have lost experienced staff in anticipation
of it ending.
Given record demand for this support, the LGA and councils across
the country are calling for the fund to urgently be extended for
at least a year, to prevent a cliff-edge in support for
vulnerable people which cannot be filled from already
overstretched council budgets.
Ending the HSF on 31 March would also coincide with an end to the
Government’s cost of living payments, which means low-income
households would be doubly hit by a reduction in support.
The LGA’s survey of its members found that:
- More than 8 in 10 responding councils (84 per cent) said that
financial hardship had increased in their area in the last 12
months.
- Around three quarters of respondents (73 per cent) said that
they expect financial hardship to increase in their area in the
next 12 months, whilst just under a fifth of respondents (19 per
cent) said they expect it to remain about the same.
- Almost two thirds of respondents (62 per cent) said they
could provide no additional discretionary funding to replace what
is lost from the end of the Household Support Fund, whilst just
under a fifth of respondents (17 per cent) said that alongside
the fund ending, they would also be reducing their own local
welfare discretionary funding due to financial pressures.
- Around a fifth of responding councils (22 per cent) said they
would have to make redundancies if the Household Support Fund
were to end.
The HSF was first introduced in October 2021 and allowed councils
to significantly expand the help they could give to vulnerable
residents during the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. It
has been subsequently extended several times, with the current
tranche running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
Since 2021, the HSF has boosted investment in local welfare
support by more than £2 billion and now funds 62 per cent of
local welfare provision, allowing councils to target support to
the needs of their communities.
Among the vital HSF-funded services and support which are set to
be lost, or significantly reduced, if the fund ends include:
- Cash grants or vouchers to help people in crisis with energy,
food and other essentials.
- Targeted support for people in receipt of council tax
support, free school meals or pension credit, such as energy
vouchers for pensioners living in fuel poverty.
- Helping with significant or unexpected costs, such as
furniture, white goods or replacing broken boilers.
- Funding the voluntary sector to deliver support, like
foodbanks, social supermarkets or schemes to deliver home energy
efficiency improvements for low-income households.
- Providing vouchers to children eligible for free school meals
to prevent holiday hunger.
Cllr Pete Marland, Chair of the LGA’s Economy and Resources
Board, said:
“The Household Support Fund has provided an essential lifeline
for our most vulnerable residents, but our survey shows this help
is needed now more than ever.
“Now is not the time to scale back support. Many at-risk
households continue to face considerable challenges in meeting
essential living costs, with demand for support greater than when
the fund was first introduced.
“Ultimately, councils want to shift from providing crisis support
to investing in preventative services which improve people’s
financial resilience and life chances, alongside a
sufficiently-resourced national safety net.
“However, without an urgent extension of Household Support Fund
for at least a year, there is a risk of more households falling
into financial crisis, homelessness and poverty.”
Notes to Editors
LGA Household Support Fund
Survey Report
