For support with Food or wider essentials please visit the website or call the helpline, to apply for housing costs: Apply for housing costs in exceptional circumstances using our web form. Normally households can receive only one HSF3 award via an application to either the VCS or the council. The funding has been extended to the end of March 2023. Priority is given to supporting Food and Fuel, however other household essentials can be considered. The UC, Pension Credit, ESA (IR) and HB only data will be provided monthly via Transfer Your File. For the purpose of this section: 53. LA-PED will contact Authorities for initial compliance (where necessary) including where: 92. In October 2022, DWP will also introduce a further data share for those who are only in receipt of HB. The Household Support Fund aims to support Southampton residents who are on a low income and facing financial hardship. Check whether the de minimis regulation exception applies. 27. We approved the scheme on Monday 14 November 2022. Table 3: Total value of awards split by household composition. 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. They will look to identify good practice and identify case studies where appropriate. We will launch the. We use some essential cookies to make this website work. Further information and guidance on . The Household Support Fund is a separate payment to the Government's Cost of Living Payments being administered directly by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). There should be only one record for each household helped, even if multiple awards are made to the same household throughout the period of The Fund. The aim is that the HSF 3 should primarily be used to support households in the most need with food, energy and water bills. Third party organisations (TPOs) may include but are not limited to: 20. Paragraph 65 has been added to clarify reporting requirements when Household Support Fund payments are made instead of a different payment method. The grant was distributed through small payments to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as food, clothing, and utilities. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. The payments are part of the government's Household Support Fund, designed to help vulnerable people pay for food, clothing or other household bills. Where Authorities decide to deliver support to vulnerable households through TPOs they should use whatever information the TPO holds, or other available data, to split the level of spend and volume of awards across the eligibility criteria to the best of their ability. Awards to any given household can cover several or only one of the spend eligibility categories listed above. If we respond requesting further information, you. If a further round of the Household Support Fund is confirmed, we will update you here. For example, some disabled people may have increased utility bills due to the usage of equipment, aids or adaptations associated with their disability. 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. Authorities will need to ensure they sign future iterations of the MoU and the appropriate Annex to continue to have the legal permission to access the data sources for LWP. The definition of a household with a pensioner is any household containing any person: The definition of disability and disabled people aligns with the definition in the Equality Act 2010. Shown below is a worked example of how the MI template should be completed. 57. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. Alternatively, Authorities may want to consider: 105. This funding runs from April to September 2022. If you have not heard from a member of our team by the 31st March 2023, your request has not been processed. Funding will be used primarily to support households with essentials costs related to food, energy and water bills. Household Support Fund | Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (bvsc.org) Published: 18 January, 2022. For more information on the grant or to apply please contact Citizens Advice Richmond by freephone 080 82 78 78 73. 38. 1. Authorities can provide a basic safety net support to an individual, regardless of their immigration status, if there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution, for example if: 37. 61. In other words, residents should have the opportunity to come forward to ask for support. Dont include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. We are also introducing a further data share for those in receipt of HB only. The fund is designed to provide short-term financial support to vulnerable households who are struggling to afford household essentials this winter. Authorities are therefore encouraged to explore ways in which this group may be supported and must record the total value of awards granted to disabled people in their Management Information (MI) returns for this grant (see paragraphs 64-68). The Household Support Fund funding allocation includes reasonable administration costs to enable Authorities to deliver The Fund. Funds should be spent or committed before 31 March 2023 and cannot be carried over for future usage. You can apply if you: Are aged 18 or over. Spend (s) - this is the amount paid/awarded to vulnerable households within the eligibility criteria. The Household Support Fund application form is now live. Authorities are also encouraged to use existing tools at their disposal to verify personal bank accounts. The Household Support Fund is money from the government that we use to help low-income households with food and fuel poverty. Please tel: 01629 533399. Table 3 relates to grant spend, the volume of awards made, and number of households helped in relation to households with children, pensioners, a disabled person and all other households. We also require you to copy your Chief Financial Officer/Section 151 Officer into the email, providing this assurance when you return the MI template to DWP. 121. 43. 54. 39. 114. Your council may have chosen a different name than Household Support Fund. 115. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. A recent copy (withinthe last 3 months) of the bank statement for the bank details used in your claim, this needs to be the bank account that your household bills come out of and clearly shows your name, address, account number and sort code. Well send you a link to a feedback form. Staffordshire County Council have agreed to use this funding in the following ways: 1. Households can apply for Tesco vouchers. Therefore, this data can be used to help Authorities identify and target those families and individuals to support. 29. The Household Support Fund was distributed by councils in England to directly help those who needed it most. Where possible, any payments made into a bank account should be in the same name of the person that is eligible for that payment. The Household Support Fund provides assistance to Newham residents who are experiencing financial hardship. This includes reasonable costs incurred administering The Fund. Please complete this form with as much information as you can, to help us to process your application. Household Support Fund Completing our online request form is not an application for the Household Support Fund Phase 3. 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. Individuals and organisations can refer through completing an online form; For support and further information call: 01244 400730; Email office@ . You can also complete apply for the grant with the Citizens Advice online form. It also provides the framework that Authorities need to work within and the arrangements for distribution of funding and reporting. 47. The Authority directly provides vouchers to vulnerable households as a result of the Authority proactively identifying the recipients. This will always be the month of the extract. 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. 15. These include for example: 62. how they plan to provide support to vulnerable households, in other words, paying into bank accounts, use of cash and vouchers, provision of goods. We are providing Authorities with details of UC claimants in their Authority whose income is below the FSM and free prescription thresholds and those with Limited Capability For Work both at individual level and summary level by Ward. grant funding to a charity that specialises in providing vulnerable children with clothing, establish the amount of that allocation the charity has spent and enter the full amount spent in households with children and the full amount of the grant spent in wider essentials. Authorities who have signed and returned the relevant section (Annex C) of the current DWP/LA MoU have legal permission to access DWPs Searchlight portal and specific UC, Pension Credit, ESA (IR) and HB only data through a monthly data share for the purpose of The Fund. This will be checked against DWP records. the standard lookup code for your authority, The second telephone number (if applicable) of the, If appropriate the surname of the Personal/Corporate Acting Body as reported on the, If appropriate the forename of the Personal/Corporate Acting Body as reported on the, If appropriate the address of the Personal/Corporate Acting Body as reported on the, If appropriate the telephone number of the Personal/Corporate Acting Body as reported on the, If appropriate the second telephone number of the Personal/Corporate Acting Body as reported on the, use discretion on how to identify and support those most in need, taking into account a wide range of information, use the funding from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 to meet immediate needs and help those who are struggling to afford energy and water bills, food, and other related essentials. 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. To support with the cost of living, Hertfordshire has been provided with funding from the Government's Household Support Fund (HSF). If you need help or advice please . Food. Spend also includes committed spend. Information for local councils on the Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households in England. Applications will be reviewed within 7-10 working days. There are 2 routes to apply for the new Household Support Fund, invitation and discretionary. Email us at ESSteam@lambeth.gov.uk giving a contact phone number and we will call you back. 123. The application form will close 22nd December pm and re-open 3rd January am. 103. 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. It includes amounts paid by Authorities and by TPOs on behalf of Authorities. 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. households with children, households with pensioners, households with a disabled person, other households, and. 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 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. The Household Support Fund is being classified as Local Welfare Provision (LWP). If multiple awards are made to the same household throughout the period of The Fund each award should be counted separately. The Household Support Fund (HSF) is provided by the Government and administered by BCP Council. 110. This may include, but is not limited to, people who are entitled to but not claiming qualifying benefits, people who are claiming Housing Benefit (HB) only, people who begin a claim or return to payment of a benefit after the relevant qualifying date as well as people who 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. This funding will be used to help people in need with things like the cost of energy and food. The fund has been extended to 31 March 2023 with an additional 500 million of funding which will be used by local authorities to support vulnerable households. Authorities should not make The Fund eligibility conditional on being employed or self-employed, or directly linked to a loss of earnings from employment or self-employment. The amount of MI available will vary considerably across each TPO. 97. Authorities have access to a range of data sources, and checks can be carried out against this data to verify the identity of the recipient. The current Southampton HSF (1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023) will offer the following support: Help for low-income families with children: We will be using the Southampton HSF to provide schools with supermarket vouchers. Authorities can also proactively identify households who will benefit from support, as with previous schemes. https://www.gov.uk/cost-living-help-local-council. 76. 9. For audit purposes where an Authority recycles and reuses expired vouchers the Authority must confirm by email to the DWP copying in the Section 151 Officer: 106. The Household Support Fund is a measure that provides households with payments to help with essentials such as food, utilities and clothing. 84. A food bank operates on an open basis where anyone can turn up and pick up food and supplies. 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). It would be reasonable to expect the vulnerable household to redeem the food voucher during the month following the end of The Fund. This will enable DWP to adjust the amount of the payment based on the MI returns. confirm they intend to spend the total unspent amount against the same category of spend for the same group. 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). It is important to be vigilant to fraud and error risks in relation to housing costs, and to assure yourself that the appropriate checks are in place. 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. For funding during 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 the criteria are the same as before. 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. Cambridgeshire Holiday Voucher Scheme (CHVS) Assistance through Household Support Fund ended on 31 March 2022. It remains at the discretion of Authorities to establish their local eligibility and identify those most in need in their area. The Fund can also be used to support households with the cost of food and water bills, essential costs related to energy, food and water, and with wider essential costs. Authorities must work together with District Councils to ensure the funding meets its objectives by identifying those most in need. The government has announced an extension of the scheme supporting vulnerable households, including pensioners and those with children, with a focus on food and energy costs. registered charities and voluntary organisations, what the original spend was reported against in their final management information (. Sandwell Council has. 52. We may need the Authority to explain why that is the case and provide supporting evidence. There is no prescriptive definition of essentials. By application-based support, we mean any awards made through a successful application for support made to the Authority by eligible recipients or through third parties who run self-referral support services on behalf of the Authority. This cell will automatically populate from the figures in rows a and b. DO NOT CONTACT US ASKING FOR UPDATES. 3. 119. 63. LAs should consider how they could use this data to provide support to this group. Energy Bills Support Scheme and the equivalence package confirmed on 29 July 2022, Council Tax Rebate and the associated 144 million Discretionary Fund, Cost of Living Payments for those on means tested benefits, One-off 300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment (through the Winter Fuel Payment), are eligible for but not claiming qualifying benefits, become eligible for benefits after the relevant qualifying dates, are ordinarily eligible for benefits but who had a nil award in the qualifying period due to, for example, a fluctuation in income. The Chancellor spoke in the House of Commons on Wednesday, March 23, and announced that he is doubling the Household Support Fund to 1 billion, to give local authorities the support they need to help people in their local area. 125. 31. Household Support Fund. You will need your Council Tax reference number. 16. This portal provides information on individual citizens entitlement to (and confirms receipt of) DWP welfare benefits. The MI template should be completed as per guidance below. It was first introduced in September 2021 and was. . 8. The deadline for completing these returns is shown in the table below. 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. Authorities are encouraged to engage with District Councils as quickly as possible to ensure roles, responsibilities and effective arrangements are put in place to deliver The Fund promptly and efficiently. 40. 56. 58. 66. 79. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. Applicants who received funding between October and December 2022 will be able to re-apply for additional support, if required. There is no requirement for Authorities to undertake a means test or conduct a benefit check unless this specifically forms part of the Authoritys local eligibility criteria. However, committed spend does not include large volumes of food vouchers, procured quite late in The Fund, which cannot be distributed to vulnerable households within the period of The Fund. Application Form. Household Support Fund (HSF) The HSF grant is a one-off award that could help to buy food, gas, and electricity. Applications were invited if you live in the Dudley Borough and: You are the only adult in the household and your gross income, including wages and any other income (for example, pensions and all benefits), is less than 35,000 per year and your savings are less than 6000. However, support is not restricted only to vulnerable households in receipt of benefits. 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. This funding covered the period 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 inclusive. You have done fantastic work! 112. 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. 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