Since 2013, central and local government have reduced overall spending on discretionary support to help people meet urgent needs for food, heating, clothing and essential household items, according to a new report from the National Audit Office.
The Department for Work & Pensions paid grant funding of £347 million to single-tier and county councils for 2013-14 and 2014-15 to provide local welfare provision after the government abolished crisis loans and community care grants. Four-fifths of councils did not spend all the funding they were given on local welfare provision in 2013-14, and one quarter did not expect to spend it all in 2014-15. The Department also spent less on the discretionary advances and loans it continued to provide after April 2013.
The NAO finds that councils had acted cautiously in designing local welfare support, as they were concerned about high demand and uncertain about funding after 2014-15. Local taxpayers and other stakeholders, however, can challenge councils to explain their decisions.
Councils that the NAO spoke to had initially set restrictive eligibility criteria and limited public awareness of the support available. These councils said they were now using underspends to help fund provision in 2015-16 when a reduced amount of funding is included in their revenue support grant from central government.
The future of local welfare provision appears uncertain. With reducing resources and competing pressures, many councils say they cannot afford to continue offering this support without specific government funding. The NAO finds that some councils have already stopped or reduced the provision they introduced in April 2013.
The NAO finds that councils either do not collect information on applicants and their needs, or if they do, they make limited use of the information. Councils have a limited understanding of the effectiveness of their spending on local welfare provision or the consequences of reducing their provision.