EDM: Household Support Fund

This month I have tabled a motion to record my deep concern that the UK Government has not committed to extending the Household Support Fund (HSF) beyond March 2024. Via this fund the Government has invested in local crisis support as a response to the cost-of-living crisis, with more than £2 billion having been invested in the fund since October 2021 - this is the largest investment in local government in England to deliver local crisis support since the abolition of the Social Fund in 2013.

 The urgent need for the fund has not diminished - indeed, almost two-thirds of councils responding to a recent Local Government Association survey said they would not be able to provide additional discretionary funding to replace what is lost when the HSF ends, and just under one-fifth said they would also be reducing their own local welfare discretionary funding due to financial pressures.

 It is clear that demand for the HSF has never been higher; we have foodbank use at record levels and one-in-four children are living in poverty. Around three-quarters of councils told the LGA they expect financial hardship to increase in their area in the next 12 months and a letter signed by more than 120 organisations including The Children’s Society, Trussell Trust and Barnardo’s, shared their fears that removal of the HSF would leave a large gap in support which neither local government, nor the voluntary sector, would be able to fill.

View this motion in full on the Parliamentary website: Household Support Fund (No. 2) - Early Day Motions - UK Parliament