THE Disability Poverty Campaign Group (DPCG) has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, as the September deadline for the closure of the Household Support Fund approaches.
The Household Support Fund (HSF) provides payments to help people in poverty with essential expenses such as food, utilities, and clothing. The money is provided by central government and administered by local councils to support low-income families in their area. Launched in October 2021, the HSF has provided up to £2.5 billion of welfare support via local authorities.
In March this year the then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his budget that the HSF would be extended to September and then closed. At the time of his decision, he said that he had “listened carefully” to representations from anti-poverty charities, adding that he had: “Decided that with the battle against inflation still not over, it is not the time to stop the targeted help it offers. We will therefore continue it at current levels for another six months.”
Following on from that decision, the DPCG along with 120 other organisations wrote to Mr Hunt urging him to extend the fund for another year at least, while a group of 160 local councils said that the fund must be extended as it is a “vital lifeline” for families across the country. Some councils at that time had already closed their HSF as all the money available had been given out.
As the September deadline for the fund approaches and with no word from the new chancellor Rachel Reeves, the DPCG has written again, urging the need for the HSF to continue past September and to be made a permanent means of support.
Dan White, policy and campaigns officer at DR UK and one of the co-leads at the DPCG said “As winter approaches and a rise in energy costs is expected, now is not the time to let the Household Support Fund expire. The fund provides support for so many, and many who receive that support are Disabled people and families with Disabled children.”
“All other cost of living support payments have ended and the HSF is essentially the last surviving avenue of aid for people living in desperate and deepening poverty. With benefit levels being inadequate, energy bills and rents rising, and care charges being increased, Disabled people are hit hard by the lack of an effective financial safety net. we have written to the chancellor to let her know the damage that will be done if Labour allows this last bastion of support to vanish.”
“Financially vulnerable people need certainty, and councils need consistent funding to efficiently maintain the staff, services and networks that support their most financially vulnerable residents. Without this, we will see more Disabled people falling further into financial crisis as we head into yet another winter, a first winter under a Labour government. This is not acceptable, extend the HSF.”
The DPCG is a coalition led by DPOs (Disabled Peoples Organisations) and includes many charities, organisations and allies, working together to raise the issue of disability poverty and to end it.
* More information on the Household Support Fund here.
* Source: Disability Rights UK