Brighton & Hove Council Urges Government To Extend Household Support Fund

Brighton & Hove City Council says it has joined the Local Government Association in an open letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt urging him to extend the Household Support Fund. 

The government funded scheme, introduced in winter 2021, served as additional funding to support people impacted by the cost of living crisis.

The funding in Brighton & Hove was around £4.3 million in the current financial year. The council says it has been used to offer direct support to residents struggling to pay for food, energy and other essentials, as well as funding community and voluntary sector initiatives offering support through food banks, money and energy advice, and more.

The letter, signed the Local Government Association chair and vice chairs, and supported by council leaders across the country, reads:

‘As local government leaders, we are writing to you to call for the Household Support Fund to be extended beyond March 2024 for a minimum of a year.

‘The government’s provision of the Household Support Fund has been extremely welcome and continues to provide a vital safety net for residents who are struggling to afford the essentials and are facing financial crisis. 

‘Local services are experiencing record demand for local welfare support. We are therefore deeply concerned that ending the fund on the 31 March will create a cliff-edge in provision for our communities that councils will not be able to fill. 

‘A significantly reduced local welfare support offer risks more households falling through the gaps into financial crisis, destitution and homelessness and increasing pressure on already overstretched public services, including the NHS, social care and temporary accommodation.

‘In the long term, councils and our partners in the voluntary and community sector want to shift the focus from crisis support to prevention. However, in the short-term, the need for an enhanced local welfare offer is not reducing. 

‘We would therefore welcome urgent confirmation that the Household Support Fund will be continued beyond March to allow us to keep residents well, support them to engage in work and education, prevent escalating crises and reduce pressure on wider public services.’

Councillor Bella Sankey, signed the letter on behalf of Brighton & Hove City Council and said: 

“We’ve been working alongside Councils across the country to try and persuade the government to continue the Household Support Fund. 

“Poverty and financial uncertainty are scarring this country. Without the Household Support Fund we cannot maintain food vouchers during the school holidays, support for foodbanks and emergency energy support for those at the sharp end of the cost-of-living crisis.

“The fact that we are now at the end of the financial year, with no commitment from the government that the scheme will continue from April leaves us with a potential cliff edge drop in the extra support many families have relied on.

“Ideally, continued support of the fund would have been announced by now, but I strongly urge the UK government to use the opportunity of the spring budget to announce extended funding of the scheme to help prevent our most vulnerable from going hungry.”