Funding to provide support to Warwickshire’s most vulnerable residents and households was approved by Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet this week. Cabinet approved the allocation o...
Funding to provide support to Warwickshire’s most vulnerable residents and households was approved by Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet this week.
Cabinet approved the allocation of the £3.47m Household Support Fund (HSF), this is Government funding which aims to provide crisis support with the cost of food, energy and water bills and wider essentials.
The County Council has successfully delivered the HSF over several years, with the previous grant allocation of £3.47million distributed to eligible households from 1 April 2024 – 30 September 2024, through the existing Local Welfare Scheme.
Over the last 12 months Warwickshire’s Local Welfare Scheme has successfully distributed £6.9m of funding to vulnerable residents as well as extending its general welfare offer to residents in crisis. The Local Welfare Scheme has also recently awarded grants to the value of £183,790 to local food banks, charities, and community groups to support local food and energy related projects.
Cabinet has agreed to allocate the next round of funding to provide short-term support through the Warwickshire Local Welfare Scheme to meet immediate needs and help those who are struggling to access the essentials, including food and energy. This support will include food and energy vouchers for families with children eligible for benefits-related free school meals and for young people leaving care. There will also be a campaign to support vulnerable households with energy costs, including pensioners. The funding will also provide winter warm packs to pensioners and residents in receipt of a disability benefit.
Cllr Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder for Portfolio Holder for Environment, Climate and Culture said:
“We are using our insight and learning from what has worked well with the allocation of previous
rounds of the Household Support Fund and applying this to our plans for the next six months. We
propose to use the latest funding in a similar way to provide short-term support over the winter months through the Warwickshire Local Welfare Scheme to meet immediate needs and help those who are struggling to access the essentials, including food and energy.
“The Warwickshire Local Welfare Scheme helps our most vulnerable residents at times of unavoidable crisis when they have no other means of help, and through the scheme we are able to distribute the Household Support Fund to families and individuals most in need through proactive targeted support and by application.”
For more information about the Local Welfare Scheme visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/localwelfarescheme, to enquire or to apply for support, call 0800 4081448 or 01926 359182.
Information and advice on managing household costs can be found on https://www.costoflivingwarwickshire.co.uk/
a copy of this Cabinet report can be found here: Household Support Fund Offer