Agenda item

The Cabinet member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services considered a report that sought to identify that the objective of The Household Support Fund was to provide support to households in the most need; particularly those who may not be eligible for the other support government had recently made available but who were nevertheless in need and who required crisis support. The Household Support Fund was intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need which included families with children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people, with an emphasis on supporting households with energy, food, and water bills.

The Cabinet Member requested for a delegated authority report to be produced. The officer agreed, confirmed the report would be produced and sent to the Cabinet Member.

Further to considering the report, the Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services,

RESOLVED

1. To grant approval of the Household Support Fund allocation from the government of £4,813,343.44 for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.
2. To grant approval of the final allocation of this funding as set out in Appendix 1
3. To delegate authority to the Assistant Director Resident Experience in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services to amend this policy to maximise and control the distribution of the fund and 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 delegate authority to the Assistant Director Resident Experience in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services to provide Free Schools Meal (FSM) Vouchers to households with children who are eligible for free school meals during the Easter 2024 holidays from a future allocation of Household support fund, provided such an allocation is made and such an allocation is permissible under any such scheme.
5. To agree that this policy is subject to the availability of government funding and will terminate on 31st March 2024 unless terminated earlier.

Reasons for decision

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

The Guidance for The Fund 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. The proposed decision on the Household Support Fund sets out how the Council will target and deliver support to residents. This spend was targeted to those that were most in need and was in accordance with the Scheme.

The Household Support Fund payments were expected to support households over the grant period and for all funding to be spent between 1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024.

Alternative options considered.

The alternative option considered was not to develop a Haringey Support Fund Policy. This was discounted as it would not have made use of the funds available to support Haringey residents.

A further option was to bring forward plans to allocate the total amount of funding at this stage, but as the final guidance was only received in late February and more work needs to be carried out in order to ensure that the Fund was spent with maximum beneficial impact for local residents, this option was discounted.