Purpose

 
This report sets out how the Council will utilise the funding
made available from the Government through its Household Support
Fund.
 
On 20 February 2023, the Government advised Camden that it will
be able to claim up to £4,013,864 in funding if it is used to
provide urgent financial support for residents. The aim is to
provide crisis support to vulnerable households in most need of
support to help with significantly rising living
costs.  In particular, councils are expected to
prioritise:
 
-        
Disabled people, pensioners and carers
-        
Those on low incomes but ineligible for other forms of government
support
-        
Supporting people with energy costs
-        
It can also be used to support households with costs of food,
water, other essential costs and some housing costs where existing
housing support doesn’t meet need
 
The proposals set out in the report reflect Camden’s
commitment to tackle poverty in Camden and the launch of its own
Cost of Living Crisis Fund in addition to that provided by
Government.  As such it is proposed that the
government’s Household Support Funding is used to continue
support for families, targeted awards for those on benefits but
missing out on the government’s cost of living support and a
specific award scheme for pensioners, disabled people and
carers.
 
 

Content

THAT the Executive Director Corporate Services:
 
1.       Approves
setting up of a grant scheme (“the Grant Scheme”) using
the Council’s allocation of funding under the national
Household Support Fund to fund the programme of activity/ proposals
set out in section 2 of the report (and summarised below):

•        
To help families with children with the cost of food and other
essentials by distributing supermarket vouchers worth a total of
£150 over the course of the year to all eligible children in
Camden in receipt of either Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support
and all children in Camden schools in receipt of free school
meals. 

•        
To support with the cost of energy, targeted awards at those on
benefits but missing out on the government’s £900 cost
of living payments/£150 disability payment/£300
pensioner payment.

•        
To support with the cost of energy for those with increased costs,
a specific hardship scheme for pensioners, disabled people and
carers

•        
Cover the Council’s administration costs for the scheme
including creating more advice capacity to be provided alongside
awards

•        
If any funding remains, it will be used to fund hardship awards for
all residents in need. 
 
2.  Delegates to the Director of Customer
Services the power to take all reasonable actions to implement the
Grant Scheme, this to include:

•        
all operational actions including procurement of necessary vouchers
and designing the detail of the scheme for pensioners and disabled
people in partnership with community partner organisations

•        
making any applications to claim funding from Government (and
developing management information to support such applications)

•        
reallocation of funding allocations e.g. to an area of
greater spend if an individual element of the programme is likely
to underspend in line with government guidance.