I would like to request the following information on support provided through the Household Support Fund.

1. How much funding from the Household Support Fund for the 2023/24 financial year has been spent so far in your council? If all the funding has already been spent, please can you provide the date by which it was spent by?
Wokingham Borough Council has spent £906,660, with additional spending of £108,027 being made week commencing 18th March.

2. How many applications for a) vouchers and b) grants under the HSF scheme have been rejected so far in the 2023/24 financial year? If possible, please can you provide a breakdown of the reasons why these applications were rejected, e.g. incomplete application, deemed ineligible.
Wokingham Borough Council has so far received 3,029 applications for vouchers through its Hardship Alliance partners. Of these, 456 were rejected as follows:

• 201 were either duplicate or repeat applications from the same household during the same scheme period.
• 56 were not eligible.
• 199 did not provide any evidence of eligibility.

The Council also provided funding for Wokingham Food Bank, providing vouchers to 566 households. The Council does not hold details of how many were refused.

3. What is the longest time in days it has taken to process an application for a) a grant and b) a voucher under the HSF scheme in the 2023/24 financial year so far?
The longest process time was around 4 weeks for a brief period in November/December.