The UK's poorest families will be able to tap into £48m of support from local councils from today.
The money is part of an extension of the Household Support Fund worth £842m nationally, which the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced in February. The extra funding, which will be given as grants to struggling families, is available from today (April 1) and will be used by local authorities to allocate money to directly help those most in need with essential food and energy costs until the end of March 2024.
Twelve local councils in the North East and Teesside will receive a total of nearly £48m from the DWP, with the largest single recipient being Durham, which will receive £9,352,199.30.
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The new pot of money, which is in line with an earlier promise by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he was Chancellor and will be distributed until March 31, 2024 to help poor families cover essential living expenses. The HSF was first launched in October 2021, and has been extended through various schemes since, with the latest allocation being the fourth.
Councils will decide how best to spend their allocation of the fund – now worth £2 billion across its lifetime – by drawing from local knowledge and making direct contact with people in the community. They will be able to support the most vulnerable households in their local area – helping them with the cost of essentials like groceries, toiletries, and warm clothes, as well as providing further support with energy bills.
The last pot of money was used by local councils in many ways, including:
- £668k free school meals vouchers for eligible families in the Christmas holidays for families living in Newcastle;
- Payments to low-income pensioners and long-term disabled households in Sunderland;
- Food co-ops, food banks, arm Spaces programmes and to reconnect gas and electricity supplies in Gateshead;
- A food voucher of £110 to households with children eligible for free school meals in Durham;
- A £140 payment to vulnerable households with pensioners in receipt of 100% Council Tax Reduction in Northumberland;
- Supermarket vouchers for each week of the school holidays and £45 one off warm clothing grant in North Tyneside;
- Grant payments to pensioners on low incomes in receipt of specific benefits and food vouchers for children in receipt of free school meals in the school holidays in South Tyneside.
“The Household Support Fund has already helped vulnerable families across England through these challenging times and I am pleased it will continue to do so for another full year," said Mims Davies, DWP Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression. "This is just one part of our extensive and targeted £26 billion support package, which includes payments worth £900 for millions of people on benefits and additional support for disabled people and pensioners, whilst every household will continue to save money thanks to our Energy Price Guarantee.
“Last week, I visited one council that is using their allocation to well on a range of issues from food insecurity to tackling bed poverty. There, the Household Support Fund has resulted in hundreds of cots and beds being provided to vulnerable households to increase comfort and wellbeing. This is just one example of the important locally led schemes providing tailored support help to those that need it most in challenging times.
“This fund is of course just one part of our extensive Cost of Living support package for families that is complementing our efforts to halve inflation – one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities - to reduce prices for us all.”
To obtain grants from the Household Support Fund, applicants must contact their local authority. If you’re not sure which local council you come under, you can find out by entering your postcode into the Government’s online tool.
Household Support Fund grants are intended to help people on low incomes pay for everyday essentials. Exact eligibility criteria, and the amount of money on offer, will vary between different local authorities, who have some autonomy on how they use the Fund to reach the vulnerable people in their communities.
The Government has valued its package of cost of living support at £15 billion, with over £121m being paid out to the North East in HSF payments so far.
The full breakdown of the latest cash in the North East is:
Durham: £9,352,199.30 (£23,380,498.26 to date)
Gateshead: £3,673,259.90 (£9,183,149.75 to date)
Newcastle: £5,796,807.70 (£14,492,019.24 to date)
North Tyneside: £3,219,996.10 (£8,049,990.24 to date)
Northumberland: £4,960,660.00 (£12,401,650.00 to date)
South Tyneside: £2,969,708.01 (£7,424,270.04 to date)
Sunderland: £5,347,123.83 (£13,367,809.57 to date)
In addition, councils in the south of the region will receive:
Hartlepool: £1,986,042.51 (£4,965,106.27 to date)
Middlesbrough: £3,307,229.89 (£8,268,074.73 to date)
Redcar and Cleveland: £2,592,762.33 (£6,481,905.84 to date)
Stockton-on-Tees: £3,371,747.94 (£8,429,369.85 to date)
Darlington: £1,827,707.50 (£4,569,268.75 to date)
A DWP spokesperson said: "This comes on top of extensive support for those in need in the coming months. The most vulnerable will receive direct payments in 2023/24, which include up to £900 delivered in three payments to those on means-tested benefits, a £150 payment for those on disability benefits, and £300 on top of Winter Fuel Payments for pensioner households. Benefits and pensions will also increase by 10.1% in April, with the minimum wage seeing its largest ever cash rise, hitting £10.42 an hour. And more widely, the Energy Price Guarantee will save the typical household £500 in 2023/24."
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