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 2022 – 31st March 2023.

There have been four tranches of the Household Support Fund so far, we are referring to the second and third tranches. The second tranche ran from April 1st – September 30th 2022. The third tranche ran from 1st October 2022 - 31st March 2023.

We believe you were awarded £525,00 in tranche two and £525,000 in tranche three of the HSF. Please answer the following questions with separate answers for tranche two and for tranche three.

1. Please provide us with a copy of the management information return you were required to provide to the DWP for both tranche 2 and tranche 3 of the Household Support Fund.
Please see the MI returns for HSF2 and HSF3 attached.

2. Please provide a separate breakdown of how tranche two and tranche three were spent respectively:
a) Targeted Grants
b) Direct applications to the scheme
c) Local Welfare Assistance Scheme
d) Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations
e) Other
All funding in HSF2 and HSF3 was spent via Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations

Spending – HSF2
Admin - Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations: £60,000
Free School Meals: £40,500
Grants - Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations: £425,074
Total: £525,574

Spending - HSF3
Admin - Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations: £60,456
Free School Meals: £240,030
Grants - Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations: £225,088
Total: £525,574

3.
a) If you accepted applications to this fund how many did you receive in tranche two and in tranche three?
b) How many applications were successful in each tranche?
Applications were made to Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations.

HSF 2 (where recorded by VCS):

Free School Meals: 2,700
Applications for Vouchers: 1,332
Successful: 1,025
Unsuccessful: 307 (mainly duplicates or lack of evidence of eligibility).

HSF 3 (where recorded by VCS):

Free School Meals: 18,156
Applications for Vouchers: 1,091
Successful: 875
Unsuccessful: 216 (mainly duplicates or lack of evidence of eligibility).

c) What were the eligibility requirements for applications, if any?
Households have 2 routes to receiving support via the HSF (they can only apply for one of these):
1. For those households where children are in receipt of Free School Meals, they can apply for holiday food vouchers. This amounts to £15 per week per child during school holidays, including half-term.
2. For those households in receipt of means-tested benefits: If a resident receives Universal credit or any other means-tested benefits (MTB) and has provided evidence for this, then they will be eligible.

If a resident is not in receipt of means-tested benefits, then a calculation is made on available income. For this, essential expenditure* is subtracted from the household income. If the resident’s available income is equal to or less than £1,000 and they have savings of less than £6k, then they will be eligible.

If a resident has more than £6k in savings, then they are not eligible (NB - pensioners or persons with disabilities may have savings of more than £6k, but their monthly care costs could be very high due to high electricity bills for running equipment etc. so local discretion applies).

* For essential expenditures we would be considering:
o Bills incl. Rent/mortgage, CT, Gas, Electric, Any other fuel, water & TV Licence, Phone & Broadband, childcare - if essential
o Household & Personal only including Grocery shopping & healthcare
o Any disability related expenditures e.g., taxi fares, cleaners, disability support pets.
o Transport
o Car or other vehicle
o Savings

4. (Please answer question four for the financial year 2022/23, without splitting the information into tranche two and three)
a) 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?
All funding in HSF2 and HSF3 was spent via third-party organisations. No HSF funding was spent on furniture.

b) If you did help people with furniture please tick (or otherwise indicate) which furniture/appliance types you provide and tell us whether these are new or preloved (e.g. Y/N, New/Preloved):
• Cooker
• Fridge
• Freezer
• Fridge Freezer
• Washing Machine
• Sofa
• Bed
• Wardrobe
• Chest of Drawers
• Table and Chairs
• Flooring (Carpets or Lino)
• Window coverings (curtains or blinds)
Not applicable.