Purpose

Household Support Fund Round 6 (October 2024 - March 2025).

Decision

To approve the proposed spend of the Household Support Fund allocation given to Breckland Council for the purposes of providing financial support to eligible residents.

Reasons for the decision

Context

The Household Support Fund (funded by the UK Government) provides support to residents who are struggling with the cost of living. It can be used to help with essential costs such as food and utilities. On 2nd September 2024, the Government announced a further extension to the Household Support Fund from October 2024 to March 2025.

Eligible spend includes:

Energy and water: This may include support with energy bills for any form of fuel that is used for the purpose of domestic heating, cooking, or lighting, including oil or portable gas cylinders. It can also be used to support water bills including for drinking, washing, cooking, as well as for sanitary purposes and sewerage.

Food: The Fund can be used to support with food costs.

Essentials linked to energy, water and food: The Fund can be used to provide support with essentials linked to energy, water and food (for example insulation or energy efficient items which reduce bills, the purchase of equipment such as fridges, freezers, ovens, slow cookers or costs associated with obtaining these essentials e.g. delivery, installation). Households on low incomes could be supported to repair or replace white goods and appliances with more energy efficient ones, or to invest in simple energy efficiency measures which will pay back quickly, such as insulating a hot water tank, fitting draft excluders to a front door, or replacing inefficient lightbulbs or white goods. The intention of this is to provide sustainable support which results in immediate and potentially long-lasting savings for the household.

Wider essentials: The Fund can be used to support wider essential needs not linked to energy, water or food. These may include, but are not limited to, support with other bills including broadband or phone bills, clothing including uniform, period and hygiene products, essential transport-related costs such as repairing a car, buying a bicycle, or paying for fuel.

Housing Cost: In exceptional cases of genuine emergency where existing housing support schemes do not meet this exceptional need, the Fund can be used to support housing costs. The focus of support should be on bills and support for housing costs should only be given where existing housing support schemes do not meet need. These cases should be discussed with the Housing team before any decision is made.

• Ongoing housing support for rent must be provided through the Housing cost element of Universal Credit (UC) and Housing Benefit (HB).
• Eligibility for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) must first be considered before housing support is offered.
• Applicants must first consider whether the claimant is at statutory risk of homelessness and therefore owed a duty of support through the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG).
• The Fund should not be used to provide housing support on an ongoing basis or to support unsustainable tenancies.
• The Fund cannot be used to provide mortgage support, though homeowners could still qualify for the other elements of the fund (such as help with energy, food etc).
• Where a homeowner is having difficulty with their mortgage payments, they should contact their lender as soon as possible to discuss their circumstances as lenders will have a set procedure to assist. Those who are in receipt of or treated as receiving a qualifying benefit could be entitled to Support for Mortgage Interest
• The Fund can exceptionally and in genuine emergency be used to provide support for historic rent arrears built up prior to an existing benefit claim for households already in receipt of UC and HB. This is because these arrears are excluded from the criteria for DHPs.

Breckland Council Allocation

Breckland Council will be allocated £101,045 funding to provide direct financial support over 6 months, which will be distributed in 2 equal rounds. Remaining funds would be rolled over into the next round.

Based on our successful approach over the previous rounds, we will engage with qualifying residents via internal Council services (such as Welfare, Housing, Customer Contact Centre) and external partners working directly with residents.

Grant awards will be fixed, but Breckland Council reserves the right to use its discretion on payment amounts issued, based on individual circumstances, if the reason for the request meets the eligible spend criteria.

Alternative options considered

·         To approve the proposed spend

·         Not to approve the proposed spend