Household support fund
Contents
The Department for Work and Pensions has announced a further extension to the Household Support Fund, round 6 funding will run from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025.
As you can see from within the announcement it states:
“On 2 September 2024 the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced that the Household Support Fund would be extended for a further six months, from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025. As has been done for previous schemes, the fund will be made available to support those households most in need.”
This funding can be used at the discretion of County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to support households with the essential costs relating to food and utilities. Staffordshire County Council are proposing to use this funding in the following ways:
Scheme 1 - Section 17 emergency payments
The Household Support Fund’s primary purpose is to support vulnerable households with energy and water bills, food, and wider essentials. Under Section 17 (6), financial assistance can be provided following an assessment and consist of support to overcome a crisis. We will support Section 17 expenses that fall within the Household Support Fund objectives.
Eligibility
This fund will be accessible by Social Workers or Senior Family Support Workers following the use of Section 17 Funding – Guidance for staff members. The funding allocation per household will vary, dependent upon the professional assessment of immediate household emergency need.
Scheme 2 - Education Support Fund
We will continue to work in partnership with our Education Settings in Staffordshire to provide £20.00 supermarket eVouchers for children that meet the eligability criteria. The number of vouchers per child for each holiday is:
- Autumn 2024 half term - 1 x £20.00 voucher per eligable child
- Winter 2024 holiday - 1 x £20.00 voucher per eligable child to compliment the Holiday Activities and Food programme is also delivered that children can access.
- Spring 2025 half term – 1 x £20.00 voucher per eligable child
Eligibility
- The child needs to be attending an education setting in Staffordshire in the term before the holiday, and the setting must be claiming one of the following funding streams for the child:
- benefit-related Free School Meals
- benefit-related Think2 funding
- Early Years Pupil Premium funding (EYPP)
- We also provide education support fund vouchers for:
- children who attend alternative and independent provision who have been identified with financial exclusion
- our care leavers
For queries relating to scheme 2 please contact yourfamilyhub@staffordshire.gov.uk
Scheme 3 - care leavers financial support
We will continue to provide support for children who are leaving our care and moving into adulthood with two £65.00 supermarket eVouchers. These will be administered in December 2024 and February 2025.
We will also provide additional emergency support to enable our care leavers to have access to wider essentials through eVouchers. This supports our care leavers with energy and water, food, essentials linked to energy and water and wider essentials.
Eligibility
Known Staffordshire care leaver being supported by their personal assistant who will make the referral on their behalf.
Scheme 4 and 5 - professional's referral schemes
We will continue to provide a professionals referral route, so that residents in Staffordshire can access additional help from the professionals they are working with through scheme 4 and 5. This ensures that the household is accessing sustainable support from the professional going forward around their debt, finances or personal circumstances.
Professionals from the approved referrers list will be able to continue to identify households they are working with, who are facing financial hardship and are most in need. Particularly those who may not be eligable for other government support that has been made available but nevertheless still in need of financial assistance.
Scheme 4 and 5 are only available for people residing in the county area of Staffordshire (excluding Stoke-on-Trent City Council who administer their own scheme). Each household can access these schemes once during this six-month funding period. This enables the fund to benefit as many households throughout Staffordshire as possible.
This may include, but is not limited to, residents who are entitled to but not claiming qualifying benefits, people who are claiming Housing Benefit and a range of low-income households in need. Including households and families who are in employment and receiving support around their debt, finances, or personal circumstances. Including children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people.
Scheme 4 - supermarket eVoucher scheme
This scheme will see eligable households benefit from a supermarket eVoucher for £65 per household and £20 per additional dependant e.g. child under 18 years of age.
For queries relating to scheme 4, please contact: householdsupportfund@staffordshire.gov.uk
Scheme 5 - utility support
This scheme will see eligable households benefit from a one off £300.00 utility payment made direct to their utility provider by our third party.
For queries relating to scheme 5 please contact financialwellbeing@staffordshire.gov.uk
Eligibility
Household is receiving direct support around their debt, finances or personal circumstances by an approved referrer, and been identified as needing this type of support. The professional must be willing to make a referral on the households’ behalf into the schemes. If you are not working with an approved referrer, you may still be able to access these schemes through our Financial Wellbeing Family Hub Coaches – please see scheme 6 below. There is an expectation that any household who accesses the professional’s referral scheme accesses sustainable support for their debt, finances or personal circumstances.
Professionals referral scheme - approved referrer list
Individuals, families and households can ask a professional who they are working with, or who knows the family well, to make an application on their behalf. Examples of approved referrers are:
- Staffordshire County Council e.g. support workers / social workers
- Registered social landlords
- District and borough councils revenue and benefit teams
- Health e.g. Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT), NHS
- Citizen's Advice Bureau
- SCVYS members
- Support Staffordshire members
- Police
- Family Hub partners
- Education settings in Staffordshire
- Staffordshire County Council commissioned services working direct with households e.g. Family Support Providers
Scheme 6 - financial wellbeing support
We will continue to invest in a programme of Financial Wellbeing Support which is offered to households who request this. This will provide households with a sustainable plan to manage and thrive after the household support fund ends.
Financial Wellbeing support can help any household in Staffordshire to build a sustainable and realistic household budget, explore areas to review and decrease their spending, including how to look after their mental health and self-assessments to improve their overall financial wellbeing.
Listening to the feedback from our households, we have co-produced a programme of support that is offered in a variety of ways to meet the needs of our families and households. These are delivered and supported by our Financial Wellbeing Family Hub Coaches who are there every step of the way. Examples of this support are:
- Online, a six-week self-help online course, each week the household are emailed simple activities that are designed to help them understand and improve their Financial Wellbeing, at their own pace.
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Face to face financial wellbeing workshops and drop-ins, a 3-week course that replicates the online offer with some fun activities included and time to check in and share. Once this workshop has been completed in full, the coaches can make referrals into the professional referral schemes for those households identified to benefit from this support. These courses will commence on the 1 November 2024, please contact the financial wellbeing team with your full name, household address, telephone number and email address and we can book you onto the first available course.
- Support available within the community we will attend local community events and groups to promote our services and support with referrals into the professional referral scheme where appropriate.
- Information, advice and guidance support we will map out the additional support available nationally and locally for households to access. This will enable us to provide more specialist support for example signposting for debt management support, or signposting to advice services, such as talking therapies or the Help to Claim scheme which supports those making a claim to Universal Credit.
If you would like to join our 3 week workshops, please sign up on our online Microsoft form.
To contact your Financial Wellbeing Family Hub Coach, or for any queries relating to scheme 6 please contact financialwellbeing@staffordshire.gov.uk.
If you would like some more information on how Staffordshire County Council will use this funding, please view the cabinet report on our website. Any underspend across one of the areas can be used for any other scheme flexibly dependant on the needs.
There is also a range of support for people in need of help and support including:
- Here to help - cost of living support – On these pages you will find information, advice, and support to help you manage cost of living pressures.
- Help for households - Get Government cost of living support. View the Government's website to see what cost of living support you could be eligible for.
- Family Hub cooking - Staffordshire Connects - Find information about cooking on a budget on the Staffordshire Connects website.
- Family Hubs social media - We use these platforms to advertise any funding that can be applied for directly by families when it becomes available.