As the Government announces the continuation of the Household Support Fund (HSF) through the winter, help and advice in many forms and from a wide range of sources is still available in Cambridgeshire.
The Government has announced that the fund would continue until April 2025, although full details have not yet been revealed.
It follows a campaign by the Local Government Association (LGA) – including Cambridgeshire County Council – to persuade ministers to extend the fund at least over the coming winter.
The council works with partners to support families who continue to struggle in the financial crisis. Earlier this year the council committed £2.2m investment towards initiatives that tackle poverty across the county.
Help with money and benefits, utility bills, shopping and health are all available on the council’s website, together with advice on Council Tax, childcare and living with a disability. It also gives details of the council’s holiday supermarket voucher scheme, and the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.
The County Council funds the Cambridgeshire Local Assistance Scheme (CLAS), which helps families buy food, fresh fruit and vegetables and white goods such as washing machines and dishwashers.
In the three months from April to June this year it made 250 awards totalling over £60,000 to 243 households in the county.
The number of people experiencing food poverty continues to grow. Many households are finding that, after paying for rent and utility bills, there is not enough left over to get them to the end of the month. More people are therefore using Food Hubs, Food Pantries and Food Banks.
The County Council also gives the local Citizens’ Advice Bureau £400,000 a year to pay for professional advice to help families save money. This can range from advice on claiming benefits and how to mitigate the impact of benefit caps, to help with installing and calibrating utility meters such as water, gas and electricity.
Many of those helped improved their financial capability skills, receiving assistance with phone, internet and TV services to ensure they were getting the best deals based on their individual circumstances. Of the 938 people helped between April and June, the average amount recouped was £515 per person.
As part of the supermarket voucher scheme, the council has given the families of each eligible child or young person two £37.50 vouchers to cover the current summer school holiday period.
The HAF programme – which focuses on providing healthy meals alongside activities - offered funded holiday scheme places for children in Cambridgeshire this summer who are eligible for free school meals.
Approximately 19,000 HAF eligibility vouchers were sent to families - each voucher offering 64 hours of free access, for no charge, to a HAF scheme in the summer holidays.
The Council is currently convening a Cambridgeshire Poverty Strategy Commission with partners across the county. The purpose of the Commission is to gather evidence about poverty in the county, and people's experiences of poverty in Cambridgeshire, in order to develop a set of recommendations for the system about how officers can work better together to support residents.
The Council has conducted a 'Call for Advice' asking the public and partners for their input on who the commissioners should be and what they should focus on, hosted a partner design workshop at Homerton College, and is now working with range of partners to recruit the best possible Commissioners. The Commission is due to launch in September, with findings due to be published in early 2025.
Cllr Tom Sanderson, Chair of the Council’s Communities, Social Mobility and Inclusion Committee said: “Many families continue to face financial hardship, particularly in the colder months when energy bills are higher. The Household Support Fund has been a lifeline to many, so we are pleased that the Government has agreed to fund it until next April.
“In the meantime, Cambridgeshire County Council has been funding a wide range of initiatives to help vulnerable people - either directly or through partners like the Local Assistance Scheme and the Citizens’ Advice Bureau.
“We know from feedback how valued these are, and we are determined to honour our ambition of making sure people are helped out of poverty and income inequality, together with our commitment to making Cambridgeshire a fairer and more caring county.”
