The final line of defence? The Household Support Fund and its role in the cost of living crisis.
In 2022 we saw demand for local welfare support, like the Household Support Fund, triple compared to the previous year; a reflection both of the cost of living crisis but also underlying weaknesses in the welfare state.
The Household Support Fund is administered by local authorities who receive a set amount of money to distribute alongside Government guidelines on how to prioritise who receives support.
Our advisers report issues with variation in local rules, access and exhausted local funds. Based on our data and research, we can see the following areas for improvement:
Locally
Flexibility in delivery - ensuring that requirements to apply online or delivering support only through vouchers don’t exclude people from support.
Linking to holistic support - the Household Support Fund acts as a short-term sticking plaster and it is important households accessing it are signposted to ongoing support.
Nationally
Sufficient funding - too often local funds are exhausted before the end of each funding round.
Alignment with wider welfare support - targeting support at those marginalised by existing welfare provision.
And underpinning all of this is the need to ensure benefits themselves keep pace with the cost of living and that people have enough coming in to meet their essential costs.