Agenda and minutes

Contact: Fiona Rae, Acting Committees Manager  3541, Email: fiona.rae@haringey.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

6.

Apologies for absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

None

7.

Declarations of Interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

 

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

 

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

 

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

 

Minutes:

None

8.

Household Support Fund in Haringey pdf icon PDF 548 KB

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has agreed that the decision is both reasonable in all the circumstances and that it should be treated as a matter of urgency. This is in order for the Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households and families with children between the period 1st April to 30th September 2022.  This funding was announced at the end of March 2022 with guidance published on 29th April.

 

The funding period has already commenced and therefore, an urgent decision is required for the administration of the funding to meet the needs of households that require urgent support, including experiencing income and financial insecurity.

 

Given the need to have necessary plans in place before the summer holidays (which in most schools begin on 22 July) to ensure the effective delivery of the support in the form of vouchers to those eligible for Free School Meals through Schools in the borough, it is not practicable to comply with the 28-day notice requirement in Part Four, Section D, Rule 13 or the 5-day notice requirement in Part Four, Section D, Rule 4, or the General Exception procedure at Part Four, Section D, or the Call-In Procedure Rules at Part Four, Section H.

 

 

Please be advised that the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has further agreed that the call-in procedure shall not apply to this urgent decision. This is because the decision is urgent and any delay in implementation caused by the call-in procedure would seriously prejudice the Council's or the public's interests due to the fact that any delay in decision making will impact on the ability to utilise available funding to support households  with children, other vulnerable households and individuals in Haringey. Accordingly, the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed that the decision is both reasonable in all circumstances, and that it should be treated as a matter of urgency. This is in accordance with Part 4, Section H, and Paragraph 18 (a) and (b) of the Council Constitution.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services considered the attached report which was seeking approval to the expenditure of the remaining £2,256,671.72 of the allocation for the Household Support fund in Haringey. This  funding has been allocated to Councils from the government between April and September and is received in traches. Therefore, an  urgent decision was required for the administration of the funding to meet the needs of households that require urgent support, including experiencing income and financial insecurity.

 

To note that the funding would enable the Council to provide support to families with children, other vulnerable households, and individuals.  The Household Support Fund will further allow the Council to extend and expand its support to households in food or fuel poverty.

 

Further to considering the report,

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    To approve the expenditure of the remaining sum of the  Household Support Fund allocation from the Government of £2,256,671.72 for the period April – September 2022.

 

2.    To approve the Household Support FundScheme Policy: June 2022 which sets out the Council’s arrangement for administering part of the additional funding and is attached at Appendix 1.

 

3.    To delegate authority to the Director for Adults, Health and Communities, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services, to amend this policy to give effect to changes in legislation, statutory or non-statutory guidance, or directives or instructions of a similar character issued by Government.

 

4.    To agree that this policy is subject to the availability of government funding and will terminate on 30th September 2022 unless terminated earlier.

 

Reasons for decision

The Government through the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) has provided funding to local authorities to administer the Household Support Fund. It is acknowledged that local authorities have the local ties and knowledge and are best placed to allocate funding according to local need.

 

The Guidance for the Scheme provides for local authorities to determine eligibility in their area and target support to those most in need but within the scope of conditions set by DWP. This report and the policy at Appendix 1 sets out how the Council will target and deliver support to residents. This spend is targeted to those that are most in need and is in accordance with the Scheme. 

 

The Household Support Fund payments are expected to support households over the grant period and for funding to be spent between 1st April 2022 and 30th September 2022. There is a need for an urgent decision to be taken on the recommendation in order to ensure that the payments are made to support vulnerable people within the allotted time and in particular where funding will be used in the summer holiday periods in support for families with children who access free school meals in term time, as directly provided free school meals are not available at this time.

Alternative options considered

The alternative option considered was not to develop a Household Support Fund Policy.  This was discounted as it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.