Struggling Staffordshire families to get £11m help from Government fund

Staffordshire County Council will receive just over £11m in its final Household Support Fund grant to assist residents struggling with the cost of food, energy and water bills.

The scheme started in 2021 and so far £27.5m has been made available to Staffordshire residents. Assistance has included supermarket vouchers for families to help feed their children during school holidays, as well as support for care leavers and households facing fuel poverty.

On Wednesday (May 17) cabinet members at the county council were told how the funding has been used over the past two and a half years. They also heard plans for how the county’s allocation will be spent during this financial year.

Councillor Mark Sutton, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “We have made almost 150,000 individual payments to households. In addition to that, 23 homes have benefited from boiler replacements and a further 115 homes received an installation of measures such as air source heat pumps, solar panels, insulation including underfloor, external cavity and loft insulation, through the Staffordshire Warmer Homes scheme.

“This year going forward it’s split into certain areas and the first is the Education Support Fund. It is proposed to continue to provide families of children in Reception to Year 11 who are in receipt of benefit-related free school meals a £20 e-voucher per child for the summer, autumn and spring half terms and also provide a £20 e-voucher for one of the two weeks of the winter 2023 and Easter 2024 holidays and two weeks for the summer 2023 holiday.

“That supplements the Holiday Activity and Food programme, which is not part of this but also provides activity linked to a nutritious meal for those children who are entitled to benefit-related free school meals. That area allocates £3.7m of the scheme.

“The second part is Proposed Targeted Support Fund for care leavers in the county. All care leavers in the county will be entitled to four £50 supermarket e-vouchers and they will be administered in August, December, January and March.

“The next part will be where individuals and families can be referred to the scheme through professionals, who can make referrals for people they feel would benefit. It would amount to, on average, support of around £115 per household and the anticipated expenditure on that is £2.4m.”

Councillor Sutton added that there will also be a Winter Warmth project, And as it is the last year of the funding allocation to local authorities, assistance towards education and resources will also be on offer.

He said: “The education will include face to face support to budget, reducing spend and maximising income; resources will include tools and resources which can be made available to people after the funding is no longer available. Community resilience will include a small grant available to community organisations who can facilitate activities to improve people’s financial awareness, ability to budget and thinking about sustainable and cost-saving ways to manage.”

The council is also proposing to fund two employment advisers to help people on low incomes develop their career options. And an additional two family coaches are set to be employed for 12 months to assist with training and support on financial planning and to work with families.

Councillor Jonathan Price, cabinet member for education and SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) said: “The area that particularly interested me was the education and resources. I think that’s absolutely key we support those families around managing to support themselves not only through their own budget, but reducing spend and maximising income.

“That’s something they can take forward for several years to come so that has a double benefit. It’s really welcome to see that.”