In Peterborough. However, when an LA chooses to use all or part of this funding for an application-based process, they must make sure that this support is clearly advertised to residents. DWP is providing funding to County Councils and Unitary Authorities (including Metropolitan Councils and London Boroughs), under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, to administer The Fund and provide assistance to households most in need. expired vouchers returned to an Authority after The Fund has ended can be recycled and re-issued within a reasonable timeframe but must be done so under the same categories of spend as originally reported and under the same terms as The Fund they were issued under. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. Third party organisations (TPOs) may include but are not limited to: 20. Individual awards can be whatever type and amount is deemed appropriate by Authorities for the receiving household, bearing in mind the overall spend eligibility priorities listed above and the risk of fraud and error. how they plan to provide support to vulnerable households, in other words, paying into bank accounts, use of cash and vouchers, provision of goods. 112. This will be checked against DWP records. If. For more information on the grant or to apply please contact Citizens Advice Richmond by freephone 080 82 78 78 73. These organisations have access to the Household Support Fund and can provide support. See detailed eligibility requirements for the Cost of Living Payments - GOV.UK, Further details on the Energy Bills Support Scheme - GOV.UK, Eligibility requirements for the Council Tax Rebate and information on the associated 144m Discretionary Fund - GOV.UK. Table 4: Total Value of Awards Split by Category. In addition the council continues to provide additional support households should contact 0191 520 5551 in the first instance. If you are not a tenant of one of the organisations listed above, then please apply for the Household Support Fund by visiting grantapproval.co.uk. Authorities have access to DWPs Searchlight portal which provides information on individual citizens entitlement to (and confirms receipt of) DWP welfare benefits. Authorities must operate an application-based service for support to ensure those in need have a route to emergency support. Table 6 relates to grant spend, volume of awards made, and households helped in relation to Application-based support, Proactive Support and Other. 8. 88. For the purpose of this section: 53. You are a multi person household (this includes your partner . The different elements of the MI template are shown below together with guidance on how to complete them. 7. Funding will be used primarily to support households with essentials costs related to food, energy and water bills. Email us at ESSteam@lambeth.gov.uk giving a contact phone number and we will call you back. Paragraph 65 has been added to clarify reporting requirements when Household Support Fund payments are made instead of a different payment method. At the end of the The Fund we will also ask for a summary of spend against the final delivery plan with this due at the same time as the final MI in April 2023. The MI template should be completed as per guidance below. 118. An interim MI return is required by 25 January 2023 for spend for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022. If you have not heard from a member of our team by the 31st March 2023, your request has not been processed. Some of the funding will be set aside for applicants who come directly to the council for assistance. This figure will automatically populate Table 2 row a. It can also be used to support water bills including for drinking, washing, cooking, as well as for sanitary purposes and sewerage. 4. The delivery plan will be due one month after the start of The Fund on 28 October 2022. Families with. There is flexibility on exactly how this can be run, including through third parties rather than directly by the LA. It remains at the discretion of Authorities to establish their local eligibility and identify those most in need in their area. Authorities are also encouraged to use existing tools at their disposal to verify personal bank accounts. This guidance sets out the required collaboration between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), LAs, including their delivery partners (such as District Councils as well as any charitable or third-party organisations) to successfully meet the policy intent within the agreed framework. The Household Support Fund (HSF) is provided by the Government and administered by BCP Council. there is a significant gap between actual and allocated spend. 43. Please make sure you have all the information required to hand, including deails of income and . Information for local councils on the Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households in England. Authorities can also proactively identify households who will benefit from support, as with previous schemes. 17. Beyond this, Authorities have discretion to determine the most appropriate Fund for their area, based on their understanding of local need and with due regard to equality considerations. If you are in crisis and have no food or utilities please contact our Welfare Crisis team on 0191 643 2777, and select option 2. . If youre in need of support, you can find out how to get help with the cost of living through the Household Support Fund from your local council. You can use the form below to apply for help through LWP and al It is the amount that will be used to determine the grant funding payment from DWP to cover the full cost of administering the grant in an Authority area. This is because you know that the purpose of the grant is for children and the nature of support is clothing which comes under wider essentials. The Household Support Fund is available to help those most vulnerable due to the rising cost of living, especially around the need for food, fuel, and other essential costs. This includes the Cost of Living Payments set out on 26 May 2022 and the energy support set out on 3 February (enhanced on 26 May 2022), and detailed on 29 July 2022 (details on eligibility for these schemes are at Annex A). How to apply. DWP will also continue to engage with Authorities throughout the course of The Fund and will provide opportunities to engage with the department and other Authorities to share good practice and work collaboratively. Authorities will receive two data shares on a monthly basis: File two - contains aggregate data showing those UC claimants that are: For a full breakdown of the file contents see Local Welfare Provision monthly data share field definitions at Annex B. You should also follow government procurement procedures where relevant. We are also introducing a further data share for those in receipt of HB only. When administering The Fund, Authorities are encouraged to adopt the following principles: Note: this includes payments made, or committed to, by the Authority or any person acting on behalf of the Authority, from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Where Authorities work with District Councils and TPOs it is the responsibility of Authorities to collect and collate MI and complete one collated MI return and submit to DWP. 47. have fuel costs but who cannot access the 400 of energy support from the Energy Bill Support Scheme or the equivalence package confirmed on 29 July 2022. The Fund should primarily be used to support 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. In April 2022, DWP established a data share covering people receiving the Guarantee Credit and/or Savings Credit elements of Pension Credit, as well as for all claimants on income-related (IR) Employment and Support Allowance (ESA IR). Rather than focus on one specific vulnerable group, Authorities should use the wide range of data and sources of information at their disposal to identify and provide support to a broad cross section of vulnerable households to prevent escalation of problems. This portal provides information on individual citizens entitlement to (and confirms receipt of) DWP welfare benefits. Authorities that do not have the mechanisms in place to administer this grant should consider whether District Councils are better placed to do so on their behalf. 46. Your council may have chosen a different name than Household Support Fund. It includes amounts paid by Authorities and by TPOs on behalf of Authorities. 6. Authorities should deduct their administration costs from the total allocation to determine the amount remaining. The eligibility criteria for the schemes listed in paragraph 24 can be found at Annex A. Authorities are required to complete a delivery plan to outline their intentions for The Fund and to demonstrate some of the ways in which they intend to allocate their funding. If your Authority needs to discuss access to Glasscubes, contact DWP. Phone: 01902 551166. Authorities must use their judgement to decide what legal powers and funding can be used to support individuals who are ineligible for public funds or statutory housing assistance. Food. If you are not a Dorset Council resident, contact your local council for details of their scheme. By proactive support we mean any awards made as a result of the Authority proactively identifying recipients. Searchlight can only be used to verify a specific individuals DWP benefit information. The government periodically provides a Household Support Fund (HSF) grant that is made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to support those most in need. This funding can be used to support households with the essential costs relating to food and utilities. The grant was distributed through small payments to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as food, clothing, and utilities. Services 124. Authorities are encouraged to ask neighbouring Authorities to work together to help prevent double provision and/or no provision especially where allocation of provision is by school in one area and by residential address in another. The MI template should be completed as follows: 91. 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, advertising and publicity to raise awareness of The Fund, income below the thresholds of 7,400 per year for, those with a Limited Capability for Work indicator within the last assessment period, and, those whose award is subject to the benefit cap, those in receipt of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy and Local Housing Allowance (available from Autumn 2022), the National Insurance number, names, addresses and contact telephone numbers of those in receipt of Guarantee Credit and/or Savings Credit element of Pension Credit and their appointees if appropriate, as well as for all claimants on income-related, the National Insurance number, names, addresses and contact telephone numbers of customers who are in receipt of, at or below the Free School Meal income threshold, at or below the free prescription income threshold, and, small IT changes, for example, to facilitate. Households may be receiving other forms of support, and this should be taken into account to avoid duplicating provision where possible. Table 3: Total value of awards split by household composition. We are only accepting applications for this round of Household Support Fund via the below online form. When an application is made, we will take some personal information. Within 'Household Support Fund (April to September) final guidance' HTML document: The Household Support Fund provides assistance to Newham residents who are experiencing financial hardship. 12. Please visit our new page for the latest HSF news. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Since June 2021 we have provided Authorities with information relating to Universal Credit (UC) claims with limited capability for work or earnings below the Free School Meals (FSMs) and free prescription thresholds in their area. 55. 111. The Authority must also first consider if the claimant is at statutory risk of homelessness and, therefore, owed a duty of support through the HPG. On 23 March 2022 the Chancellor announced an extension to the Household Support Fund. The fund will . Where Shire Counties pass grant allocations to District Councils, District Councils should pass the information relating to columns a, b and c to the County Council/Unitary Authority to collate the information and send one collated template to DWP. 126. The definitions will be updated to include information regarding the additional data share of those who are in receipt of HB only when the details are confirmed. Authorities must work together with District Councils to ensure the funding meets its objectives by identifying those most in need. Applications to the. 72. Essential household items (white goods, small appliances), Other essentials (warm clothing and bedding), Addition for each child in household: 15.00. Rows 1 and 2 relate to grant awards made by Authorities (including District Councils) directly to vulnerable households, and grant awards to vulnerable households made by TPOs. 97. Cambridgeshire Holiday Voucher Scheme (CHVS) Assistance through Household Support Fund ended on 31 March 2022. Well send you a link to a feedback form. 54. This group is not eligible for the means-tested Cost of Living Payments unless they are of State Pension age or eligible for a Disability Cost of Living Payment. Household Support Fund (HSF) The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has allocated funding to administer the HSF scheme and provide assistance to households most in need. Staffordshire County Council have agreed to use this funding in the following ways: 1. . Where Authorities are working with TPOs, this should be done on an objectively fair, transparent and non-discriminatory basis whilst having regard to the time available to deliver The Fund. These include for example: 62. Authorities have discretion to assess what is reasonable to assist those in genuine need this winter with regard to the examples above. Support is available to households in Birmingham over the summer using funding from the government's Household Support Fund. The Fund is ring-fenced to be spent as detailed in this guidance and the accompanying grant determination. Authorities can also use the funding to support households who are struggling to afford wider essentials, in exceptional cases of genuine emergency, the funding can additionally be used to support housing costs where existing housing support schemes do not meet this exceptional need, subject to the provisions at paragraph 30. work together with District Councils and third parties including, where necessary and appropriate, other local services. 82. Total - Table 3 Row 1 column g, Table 4 row 1 column g, Table 5 Row 1 column f and Table 6 column row 1 d are protected and will automatically add up spend across the different headings. The provision of DWP data to Authorities is under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Department for Work and Pensions and LAs (Access, handling, exchange and protection of DWPs and HM Revenue and Customs data). 13. For the purposes of this grant, you should consider how any support that helps people facing severe financial hardship impacts those with characteristics protected under the Equality Act. Household Support Fund Application Form. Both an interim and a final MI return will be required and grant payments will be made in respect of the periods 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022 and 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. An example would be the award of a food voucher on 31 March 2023 to a vulnerable household. If multiple awards are made to the same household throughout the period of The Fund each award should be counted separately. 83. In other words, residents should have the opportunity to come forward to ask for support. Individuals, working age adults, families (with or without children) and individuals of pensionable age can self-refer. The funding comes from the Government's Household Support Grant. The funds should not be used for any economic undertaking. 117. The fund is designed to provide short-term financial support to households who are struggling to afford household essentials. The Fund can be used to provide support with essentials linked to energy and water (for example period products, warm clothing, soap, blankets, the purchase of equipment such as fridges, freezers, ovens, slow cookers), in recognition that a range of costs may arise which directly affect a households ability to afford or access energy, food and water. 63. 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. Administration costs this includes reasonable costs incurred administering The Fund. Authorities must work collaboratively with District Councils and other organisations in their area who may come into contact with those households who may benefit from this grant. Please complete this form with as much information as you can, to help us to process your application. The funding is intended to benefit households most in need of support with energy bills, food, related essentials, wider essentials and (exceptionally) housing costs, in order to help with global inflationary challenges and the significantly rising cost of living. In response to one of the concerns of my hon. Households can check if they are eligible for this discretionary support to help pay their energy costs through our Household Support Fund online application form. 36. We may need the Authority to explain why that is the case and provide supporting evidence. The Fund cannot be used to provide mortgage support, though homeowners could still qualify for the other elements of The Fund (such as energy, food, water, essentials linked to energy and water and wider essentials). Household Support Fund October 2022 to March 2023 The Household Support Fund is money given to councils by the Government to help people in need of financial support. Authorities are required to make two Statements of Grant Usage and MI returns see the Grant Determination. If the Authority has any grounds for suspecting financial irregularity in the use of any grant paid under this Determination, it must notify DWP immediately, explain what steps are being taken to investigate the suspicion and keep DWP informed about the progress of the investigation. 10. Welfare Assistance Loans This is in partnership with City of Wolverhampton Council. Household Support Fund | Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (bvsc.org) Published: 18 January, 2022. If you have any queries about the content of this guidance or use of the funding, you can contact the DWP. This funding runs from April to September 2022. 94. It is important to stress that The Fund is intended to cover a wide range of low income households in need including families with children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people. 28. To help mitigate this risk, Authorities should involve District Councils and other organisations chosen to administer The Fund to help identify vulnerable families, households and individuals. 103. You can also complete apply for the grant with the Citizens Advice online form. Where an award is made to a household with multiple children, it should be classed as a single award. 109. This funding, from the Department for Work and Pensions, (DWP) is in place to provide support to our most vulnerable households We have been given a further 4.6 million to provide support. A food bank operates on an open basis where anyone can turn up and pick up food and supplies. We expect Authorities to work with district councils to ensure support is going to those with genuine need and to help minimise the risk of fraud on housing support. This list is not exhaustive. 14. Authorities should establish eligibility criteria for their application service and should communicate with residents to ensure that their scheme and the mechanism for applying is clear and accessible. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. The grant was distributed through small payments to support vulnerable. Household Support Fund. Household Support Fund. Failure to return the MI by the deadline may result in a delayed payment or a payment being refused. Each MI return must include your Section 151 Officers name and email address to provide assurance on validation of funding spend. Household Support Fund Household Support Fund In this section Household Support Fund notice How does the scheme work? If you suspect fraud, you should notify DWP of the: 120. Authorities could make the entirety of their scheme application based. However, in relation to housing costs, Authorities must establish whether other forms of support are available to the household, such as Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs). Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. As more households have been affected by the rising cost of living and energy prices, we have introduced some guidance around support around your first application to help us in reaching as many households as possible. 421m has been made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to support those most in need to help with global inflationary challenges and the significantly rising cost of living. To ensure that the objectives of The Fund are being met during the course of the grant and reduce administration costs for all concerned, including the need for DWP to recover underspend, grant payment will be made in arrears upon DWP being satisfied with the MI returns. The Household Support Fund was created to help those in need. However, families receiving other forms of assistance are not excluded from receiving support through The Fund. Disabled people in particular may be facing acute challenges due to the disproportionate impact that rising costs bring for the additional services they need in order to manage their conditions, remain independent and avoid becoming socially isolated. This can be used to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as food clothing. Are not excluded from receiving support through the Fund on 28 October 2022 data... 2023, your request has not been processed to apply please contact Citizens Advice online form support through the each! Advice online form single award us to process your application up food and supplies, and utilities the.... Will be due one month after the start of the Fund on 28 October 2022 31... 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