Thousands of struggling households across Nottinghamshire will receive further cost of living support this winter. Around £5.6m is expected to be allocated to the county by the Government's Household Support Fund, which will be distributed by Nottinghamshire County Council with its borough and district partners between October 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.
This round of funding will provide each household with around £100 in a one-off Winter Support voucher payment, which they will be able to use towards energy and food bills. The amount received per household will be adjusted based on the number of eligible people in the household, to help with extra food costs.
This plan will see £2m shared among households with children in receipt of free school meals, or with children five or under with an equivalent eligibility. It also includes £1.55 million to be shared among households where one or more person is in receipt of or eligible for pension credit, and £1.53 million to be shared among any other households who may face significant cost of living challenges and not be eligible for other government support.
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There will also be £210,000 to be used towards discretionary housing payments, which will help those who face homelessness. Councillor John Cottee, cabinet member for communities on the county council, said: “We recognise the financial difficulties faced by some households across the county and not just for those in receipt of benefits.
"Therefore, we have listened to those working on the frontline such as benefits teams, housing officers and social workers to find the fairest way to distribute these new funds, which we expect to be in the region of £5.6 million across the whole county. We’ve had to make some difficult decisions, as we want the money to be shared among as many households in need as possible, including those who are homeless and also those who often miss out as they don’t quite meet eligibility for benefits or other support, but continue to struggle to make ends meet.
"This funding will once again go some way to easing the financial worries for households who face the challenges and pressures of rising household energy and food costs.”
Councillor Tracey Taylor, cabinet member for children and young people, said the latest round of funding will build on the county council’s work to deliver support for those struggling to make ends meet. She said: “This once again reaffirms our commitment to helping households who are most in need of support, including helping low-income households with children entitled to free school meals or equivalent.
“Like other counties, we’ve had to make some tough decisions to make the sums add up. We are proud to have provided food vouchers to those children entitled to free school meals during school holidays for the last two HSF rounds, but due to pressures so many families are facing, we’ve looked at the data and advice of the front-line professionals and this time we are making a one-off winter support voucher payment based on the size of the household.
“This is the fairest way to spread these funds as widely as possible to make sure as many people get the help they need. This support is in addition to other continuing schemes to support the wellbeing of children in the county, including our Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) which focuses on supporting youngsters to improve their knowledge of health and nutrition and encouraging them to eat more healthily and be more active during school holidays.”
Two sets of £5.6m in funding have already been allocated to the county. As part of the second round of HSF support, Nottinghamshire County County has provided £2.85m of holiday food vouchers which have benefitted more than 32,000 children over three sets of school holidays.
In addition to this more than £1.9m was distributed to help over 15,000 vulnerable pensioners and more than £260,000 helped around 3,000 households in need when occupants were not of a pensionable age and had no children. The support is in addition to the winter energy bills discount previously announced by the Government.
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