Issue - meetings

Household Support Fund

Meeting: 11/03/2025 - Cabinet (Item 8)

Additional documents:

Appendix 1, item 8 PDF 190 KB

Minutes:

Background:

The report provided the Cabinet with proposals for the use of the Household Support Fund (HSF) for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 to ensure the grant was disbursed in full to Medway’s residents.

The report explained that since November 2020, the Government had continued to provide financial support to vulnerable children and families via local authorities, with this being named the HSF from 30 September 2021.

The Government had confirmed that the HSF would continue for the 2024/25 financial year, with £742million nationally for the scheme. At the time of preparing the report, the Government was yet to confirm individual local authority allocations or publish conditions and guidance for the scheme.

Decision number:	Decision:
39/2025	The Cabinet agreed the proposals set out in section 5 of the report as the Council’s approach to delivering the Household Support Fund in 2025/26 and agreed to delegate authority to the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to finalise and implement these proposals.
40/2025	The Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to amend the proposals to ensure the Household Support Fund was disbursed in full to benefit Medway’s residents: i) Where amendment was necessary to meet the Government’s conditions for the use of the grant set down in guidance published after the date of this decision. ii) Where amendment was necessary to ensure the grant could be disbursed in full, including introducing further proposals to reach eligible residents. iii) Where amendment was necessary to ensure the activity in the proposals could be delivered within the total grant allocated to Medway Council.
41/2025	The Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to provide a delivery plan to the Department for Work and Pensions in accordance with the conditions and guidance associated with the Household Support Fund.

Reasons:

The Household Support Fund (HSF) is fully grant funded by the Department of Work and Pensions to support vulnerable households. The Government had confirmed that the HSF would continue for the 2025/26 financial year but was yet to confirm individual local authority allocations or publish conditions and guidance for the scheme. There had been no indications from the Government that the scheme for 2025/26 would be different than the scheme for 2024/25. Agreeing broadly consistent proposals with those in place for 2024/25, along with delegations to officers to amend, finalise and implement these proposals would enable officers to mobilise the scheme quickly when allocations and conditions were confirmed, and would therefore ensure continuity of support to vulnerable residents in Medway.