Household Support Fund survey report: June/July 2024

Key findings 

• Three quarters of respondents (76 per cent) said their local authority had a local welfare assistance scheme (or something similar) in addition to the Household Support Fund.
• Over four fifths of respondents (84 per cent) expect demand for welfare assistance support to increase over the winter months.
• The vast majority of respondents (94 per cent) supported the continuation of the Household Support Fund to a great or moderate extent, including 82 per cent who support the continuation to a great extent.
• Almost three fifths of respondents (59 per cent) said they would not provide any additional funding for local welfare assistance if the Household Support Fund came to an end after September of this year, whilst just one per cent of respondents said their authority would be able to match the lost funding.
• Just over two thirds of respondents (67 per cent) reported that local welfare funding would decrease if Household Support Fund was withdrawn.
• Regarding advice services, just under half of respondents (46 per cent) reported that their advice services would continue as normal, or see no change, whilst a similar proportion (43 per cent) reported there would be a decrease in the level of provision of advice services.
• Between September 2024 and March 2025, over half of all respondents (55 per cent) would like the fund to continue with the current arrangements, whilst 38 per cent would like it to continue with different arrangements.
• Beyond March 2025, over three quarters of respondents (76 per cent) believe that a successor scheme should be implemented to replace the Household Support Fund.
• The most common requests for a potential successor scheme were longer term funding settlements, a focus on crisis prevention and reducing dependency, and greater flexibility for authorities to decide how the funding is spent.