See answers to previous information requests

These questions specifically pertain to the funding allocated to English Local Authorities as part of the UK Household Support Fund from 1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024.

We understand that the late announcement of the extension of the Household Support Fund may mean that you are still making spending decisions. However, we hope that our report will influence any further extension of HSF so we need to gather our data asap to publish our report in the summer. Please answer as many questions as you can and if you are unable to answer any, please let us know when that information will be available and whether we need to submit a fresh FOI to obtain it.

There have been four tranches of the Household Support Fund so far, we are referring to the fourth tranche. We believe you were awarded £1,051,147 as part of this tranche.

1. Please provide us with a copy of the management information return you are required to provide to the DWP for tranche four of the Household Support Fund.
Please see attached file

2. Please provide a breakdown of how tranche four was spent:
a) Targeted Grants (by targeted grants we mean any direct grants/proactive support given to households that did not need to be applied):
883 households received an energy voucher via Wokingham Food Bank. The total spent was £54,809.
b) Free School Meal Holiday Vouchers:
Up to 2,423 children in 1,323 households received:
• £105 for school holidays between April and September
• £140 for school holidays between October and March.
The total spent was £522,505.
c) Direct applications to the scheme (this means the amount that was open to application, but not through your local welfare assistance scheme):
• 835 households received £100 between April and September
• 1,261 households received either £120 or £240 between October and March (to qualify for the higher rate, a household needed to be categorised as: pensioner, or with disability, or a carer, or a large family (4+).
The total spent was £318,270.

d) Local Welfare Assistance Scheme:
No HSF funding was spent on Local Welfare Assistance
e) Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations:
The Household Support Fund helped to fund the following Voluntary Sector initiatives:
• Roots Community Pantry
• School Uniforms/Equipment for All
The total cost was £33,250.

f) Advice Services:
1,467 households receive advice on the following: Benefits, Housing, Employment, Debt & Money, Consumer, Family, Immigration, Accessing Essential Items Grants, and Energy Advice.
The total cost was £60,000.
g) Other (please clarify):
The administration of the Household Support Fund is undertaken by the Hardship Alliance, a partnership between the Wokingham Borough Council and several voluntary sector partners, including Wokingham United Charities; First Days children’s charity; Age UK Berkshire; Citizens Advice, Wokingham; and Wokingham Food Bank.
The total cost spent on administration, including publicity was £62,313.

3.
a) If you accepted applications to this fund how many did you receive?
Approx. 3,200 applications were made.
b) How many applications were successful?
2,096 applications were successful. The vast majority of rejected applications were because they were duplicates (applying more than once in each six-month period; in receipt of free school meals and so eligible for holiday food vouchers; and lack of evidence for eligibility).

4. Excluding funding given to local welfare schemes or third-party organisations, how much of the HSF did you spend on helping people with furniture and appliances?
None

5. How much did you spend on:
a) Vouchers: £895,584 was spent on vouchers.
b) Cash awards: No cash awards were made.
c) Third party organisations: £60,000 was given to the voluntary sector to provide advice services. £33,250 was spent on funding for Roots Community Pantry and for the School Uniforms for All project.
d) In kind furniture support: No in-kind furniture support was given.
e) In kind support for other purposes: No in-kind support for other purposes was given.
f) Other: The total cost spent on administration, including publicity was £62,313.

6. How much do you plan to spend on free school meal vouchers in the holidays in 2024/25?
The Development Plan is based on spending £329,000 on Holiday Food Vouchers for children in receipt of free school meals.
If HSF is not renewed in September, will you continue with the vouchers for the second half of the year? And if so, how will you be funding it? The Council does not hold information on this.

7. Did you take on additional staff for HSF 4 and if so are these staff likely to be retained for HSF 5?
No additional staff were taken on.

8. To what extent does the short notice of the availability of funding inhibit the planning and
delivery activity of HSF (e.g. internal finance and policy decision making, resource requirements, engagement with internal departments and external partners)?
The Council does not hold information on this.

9. When HSF 5 ends, what do you expect the impact to be on:
• Resources
• Local Welfare Provision scheme
• External partner agencies
• Communities
The Council does not hold information on this.