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Open letter to the Chancellor: Council leaders call for the Household Support Fund to be extended

The Household Support Fund has been extremely welcome and continues to provide a vital safety net for residents who are struggling to afford the essentials and are facing financial crisis. The LGA and council leaders have written to the Chancellor to call for the Household Support Fund to be extended beyond March 2024 for a minimum of a year.

Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt
Chancellor of the Exchequer
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 

Dear Chancellor,

                                           The Future of the Household Support Fund 

As local government leaders, we are writing to you to call for the Household Support Fund to be extended beyond March 2024 for a minimum of a year.

The Government’s provision of the Household Support Fund has been extremely welcome and continues to provide a vital safety net for residents who are struggling to afford the essentials and are facing financial crisis. 

Local services are experiencing record demand for local welfare support. We are therefore deeply concerned that ending the fund on the 31 March will create a cliff-edge in provision for our communities that councils will not be able to fill.  

A significantly reduced local welfare support offer risks more households falling through the gaps into financial crisis, destitution and homelessness and increasing pressure on already overstretched public services, including the NHS, social care and temporary accommodation.

In the long term, councils and our partners in the voluntary and community sector want to shift the focus from crisis support to prevention. However, in the short term, the need for an enhanced local welfare offer is not reducing. 

We would therefore welcome urgent confirmation that the Household Support Fund will be continued beyond March to allow us to keep residents well, support them to engage in work and education, prevent escalating crises and reduce pressure on wider public services.  

Yours sincerely,  
 


 

Highlighted pages

Prevent poverty risk by extending vital Household Support Fund, say councils

Household Support Fund survey report: January 2024