The Head of Revenues and Benefits introduced the report of the Director of Finance which provided a summary of the proposed spend of government’s Household Support Fund (£6,098,690) for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which was available to support those most in need with the cost of food, energy (heating, cooking, lighting), water bills (including sewerage) and other essentials. The report also provided a summary of the spend of the Household Support Fund (£3,049,356.09) for the period 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022 and sought endorsement of the final allocation. It was reported that there was a typo in recommendation 2 which should read paragraphs ‘3.10 to 3.26’ as opposed to ‘3.10 and 3.26’.

Following a query, it was clarified that the reason the uptake for the financial support with fuel in the spring 2022 allocation was slower was due to the time it took for the increased bills to feed through, with higher uptake seen in the second half of the year. Members were advised further reporting of the Household Support Fund would be taken to the Health and Wellbeing Board which following a request, would include data on how it was distributed across the Borough.

Resolved – That

(1)  the indicative local allocation of the Household Support Fund (April 2023 to March 2024) as outlined in the report.

(2)  authorise the Director of Finance to distribute the local allocation of Household Support Fund having regard to indicative local allocation and taking into account the guidance provided by the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) and the outline plan referred to at paragraphs 3.10 to 3.26 of the report.

(3)  the final local allocation of the Household Support Fund (April 2022 to September 2022) as detailed in the report be noted.