The Household Support Fund provides payments to help vulnerable residents with essential expenses such as food, utilities, and clothing. The money is provided by central government and enables local councils to support low-income families in their area. How councils allocate this money and who is eligible varies from council to council.
Originally launched in October 2021, the HSF has been particularly useful for those struggling to afford energy and water bills, food, home essentials, and school uniforms, providing up to £2.5 billion of welfare support via local authorities to help vulnerable people.
In March this year the then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his budget that the HSF would be extended to September and then rescinded. At the time of his decision, he said that he had “listened carefully” to representations from anti-poverty charities, adding that he had: “Decided that with the battle against inflation still not over, it is not the time to stop the targeted help it offers. We will therefore continue it at current levels for another six months.”
Following on from that decision, the DPCG wrote to Mr Hunt urging him, along with 120 other organisations, to extend the fund for another year at least, while a group of 160 local councils said that the fund must be extended as it is a “vital lifeline” for families across the country. Some councils at that time had already closed their HSF as all the money available had been given out.
Now the September deadline for the fund approaches and with no word from the new chancellor Rachel Reeves, the DPCG has written again, urging the need for the HSF to continue past September and to be made a permanent means of support. The DPCG letter follows on from a plea from the Local Government Association (LGA) which recently reported that six in 10 local councils will be unable to provide extra welfare support when the Household Support Fund ends in September, adding that it needs to be extended for at least six months again to avoid an impending “cliff-edge” drop-in support.
Dan White policy and campaigns officer at DR UK and one of the co-leads at the DPCG said “As winter approaches and a rise in energy costs is expected, now is not the time to let the Household Support Fund expire. The fund provides support for so many, and many who receive that support are Disabled people and families with Disabled children.”
“All other cost of living support payments have ended and the HSF is essentially the last surviving avenue of aid for people living in desperate and deepening poverty. With benefit levels being inadequate, energy bills and rents rising, and care charges being increased, Disabled people are hit hard by the lack of an effective financial safety net. we have written to the chancellor to let her know the damage that will be done if Labour allows this last bastion of support to vanish.”
“Financially vulnerable people need certainty, and councils need consistent funding to efficiently maintain the staff, services and networks that support their most financially vulnerable residents. Without this, we will see more Disabled people falling further into financial crisis as we head into yet another winter, a first winter under a Labour government. This is not acceptable, extend the HSF.”