Subject:
Cost
of Living Update including the Household Support Fund
2023/24
Date of
meeting:
16 March 2023
Report
of:
Chief
Finance Officer
Contact
Officers: Name: Becky Pratley,
Tabitha Cork, Debbie Abbott, Paul Ross-Dale
Email: Paul.Ross-Dale@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s)
affected: All
For general
release
1
Purpose of the report and policy context
1.1
This report follows on from the report to Policy & Resources
Committee in October 2022, which updated the council’s work
coordinating the city’s response to rises in the cost of
living. It focused in particular on the expected local impacts on
households in relation to food, energy and fuel, welfare benefits,
housing and homelessness.
1.2
Aside from energy caps and discounts, the government’s key
response is the Household Support Fund, which will cover the period
1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. The value of HSF for 2023/24 has
been announced nationally at £1 billion and the allocation
for Brighton & Hove will be £4.280m.
1.3
The proposed allocations for HSF 2023/24 provide for a similar
delivery plan to previous 6 month allocations of Household Support
Fund but scaled up to a 12-month period. This will continue to
utilise the excellent partnerships that have been built with third
sector organisations to ensure that the funding is widely
accessible to residents in crisis, regardless of their need,
protected characteristic, or who they choose to turn to for
support. The report seeks necessary delegations to officers to make
adjustments to allocations where there is evidence of changing need
throughout the 12-month period.
1.4
Alongside HSF, the council will continue to provide a wide range of
welfare advice services as well as financial hardship support. This
includes Council Tax Reduction discounts, other discretionary
funds, support to CVS advice services, and community grant support.
A key focus will be on continuing to develop advice and support to
improve energy efficiency. The report also provides an update on
the key areas of work that have been undertaken across the city in
response to the Cost of Living crisis.
1.5
These update reports to Policy & Resources Committee –
this is the third in the series – attempt to pull together in
one place the latest reference information and updates for
residents, partners and other interested parties and therefore
contain a lot of information, data and updates regarding the impact
and responses to the cost of living crisis in the city.
2
Recommendations
2.1
That the Policy & Resources Committee notes the update on key
areas of work across the city in response to the rising cost of
living set out in Appendix 1.
2.2
That the Policy & Resources Committee notes the outcome of the
council’s lobbying of central government for increased
measures to prevent homelessness caused by the cost of living
crisis and an increase to the National Living Wage (Appendix
2).
2.3
That the Policy & Resources Committee notes the report in
Appendix 3 from the Institute for Employment Studies, analysing the
impact of areas and groups most at risk from the rising cost of
living in the Brighton Greater Area.
2.4
That the Policy & Resources Committee notes the outcomes of the
Cost of Living Summit, a summary of which can be found in Appendix
4.
2.5
That the Policy & Resources Committee notes the information
leaflet sent to all households in the city in November, detailing
the additional support available this winter through the
government’s Household Support Fund, plus information on how
to access help and support with energy, money advice, food and
health and wellbeing support, which can be found in Appendix
5.
2.6
That the Policy & Resources Committee approves the proposed
indicative allocation of the Household Support Fund for 2023/24 as
set out at 4.13 noting the associated Equality Impact Assessment at
Appendix 6.
2.7
That the Policy & Resources Committee delegates adjustments to
allocations to the Chief Finance Officer, within the bounds of the
council’s rules for virement, where there is evidence of
changing need throughout the 12-month period, to ensure that all of
the fund is utilised.
2.8
That the Policy & Resources committee approves the proposed
distribution of any excess funding emanating from the
government’s new Council Tax Support scheme, after the
£25 discount to each household eligible for Council Tax
Reduction has been administered, as set out in paragraph 4.20 of
the report.
3
Context and background information
Cost of Living Crisis
3.1
As reported to 6 October Policy & Resources Committee, the
council, in collaboration with the local Community & Voluntary
Sector (CVS) has put in place a number of working groups to ensure
a coordinated response to the rising cost of living. The groups
include:
·
Cost
of Living Officer Group (Leads)
·
Welfare Support
& Financial Assistance Group
·
Fuel
Poverty & Affordable Warmth Steering Group
·
Food
Cell
·
Mental Health and
Debt Steering Group
3.2
These groups ensure that data and knowledge are shared, using data
analysis software such as the ‘Low Income Family
Tracker’ (LIFT), so that support can be effectively
prioritised and aligned to optimise the use of the limited
resources and funding available. This has enabled provision of a
joined-up range of advice and financial support focused on
identified households and individuals in need, both through the
council’s Welfare Support teams and its Community Hub, and
through partner and associate CVS organisations. This is provided
via existing council resources and programmes, and with emergency
resources provided by government, mainly through the Household
Support Fund.
3.3
The Household Support Fund 2023/24 (HSF) should enable continuation
of additional emergency support for the next year from April 2023.
However, there are concerns that this response will not be
sufficient to outweigh growing food and fuel poverty across the
city, or prevent additional homelessness, and can do nothing to
support small businesses, whose failures could further compound
financial hardship through job losses.
3.4
The report below considers these matters and provides brief updates
on key topic areas together with proposed actions. The support and
responses needed from government are also discussed.
Lobbying and Cost of Living Summit
update
3.5
At P&R committee on 6 October, it was agreed that the council
would lobby government for urgent and sustained support throughout
the cost of living crisis for both residents and local businesses.
A total of 17 lobbying actions were agreed. It was also agreed that
the council would hold a Cost of Living Summit to bring together
key institutions in the city. The Policy, Partnership &
Scrutiny team is leading the council’s lobbying response to
the cost of living crisis and organised the recent Cost of Living
Summit.
3.6
Noting the importance of central government hearing directly from
local government on how the crisis is impacting people and
businesses in localities across the country, the PPS team worked
with colleagues across the council to deliver the lobbying actions.
Lead officers compiled letters to government that were signed by
the Leader of the Council, on behalf of Brighton & Hove City
Council, supported by a
news story on the call for more support for small businesses.
The letters referenced the measures outlined in the
government’s Autumn Statement and advised where measures had
not gone far enough.
3.7
On 23 January a response was received from Kevin Hollinrake MP,
Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business within the
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. On 21
February a response was received from Felicity Buchan MP, Minister
for Housing and Homelessness, Department for Levelling Up, Housing
& Communities. Both responses can be found at Appendix 2.
3.8
The council is also supporting the following campaigns:
·
The
national #BusinessSOS campaign raising awareness of the impacts on
small and medium-sized enterprises;
·
The
‘Warm This Winter’ campaign calling on
government to provide emergency support, help to upgrade homes and
access to cheap energy to lessen reliance on gas and
oil;
·
The
‘Free School Meals for All’
open letter to the Prime
Minister.
·
The
Children’s Society’s open letter to the
Chancellor to invest in and strengthen the Household Support
FundSign
letter to the Chancellor | The Children's Society
(childrenssociety.org.uk)
·
Guide dogs open letter to the Chancellor regarding
the Cost of Living and families with a vision impaired child
(Guide
Dogs open letter to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer).
3.9
In response to the P&R Committee resolution requiring the
council to work with regional public and private sector partners in
the Greater Brighton Economic Board (GBEB) to assess the impact of
the cost of living to support local SME businesses through sharing
intelligence and offering mutual support, GBEB commissioned the
Institute of Employment Studies (IES) to look at the impact of the
cost of living crisis and wider economic outlook on the Greater
Brighton Economy. The report was presented to GBEB on 7 February
and is included as Appendix 3 to this report.
3.10 More broadly,
officers continue to be involved in a range of working groups
involving DWP, NHS and Community & Voluntary Sector partners to
coordinate and align approaches across the city and ensure that
support is reaching those who need it most.
3.11 The Cost of
Living Summit took place on the morning of Tuesday 24 January.
Information packs, containing the latest data, were shared with
partners in advance. The summit, which was very well attended,
aimed to bring partners together to gain a shared understanding of
the challenges and to explore ideas for responding
collectively.
3.12 Attendees heard
from Gavin Stewart of the Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership
and Brighton Business Improvement District on the impact on local
businesses, as well as receiving an update on the impact on food
and energy from Vic Borrill of the Brighton & Hove Food
Partnership and Kayla Ente of Brighton & Hove Energy Services
Co-operative.
3.13 There are high
levels of motivation to work collectively across the city.
Participant turn-out, energy and engagement at the Summit was high,
with partners keen to collaborate. A summary of the summit can be
found at Appendix 4.
Communications Campaigns
Information and advice for
residents.
As part of the Comms campaign agreed at the
October P&R meeting, to promote awareness of available advice
and support for those in need and to re-promote charitable giving
toward the Cost of Living crisis from those who are able and
willing to help, the council sent out a 4 page leaflet to all households in
the city detailing the additional support available this winter
through the government’s Household Support Fund, plus
information on how to access help and support with energy, money
advice, food, and health and wellbeing support. It was delivered
week commencing 28 November. A copy of the leaflet is attached for
your reference at Appendix 5.
The council have also set up a new section on the council
website at www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/cost-living-support
with detailed information on advice and support available
to help any residents struggling this winter.
It includes advice and information on:
·
Emergency help
and money advice
Information on claiming benefits and emergency help to pay for
food, energy and other essentials, and where to get advice to
manage your money.
·
Help
with energy bills
Information on support available for energy bills and advice about
keeping your home warm and saving energy.
·
Help
with food, meals and shopping
Information on free school meals, free food vouchers and free or
low cost food, and how to donate food and volunteer to help those
struggling to afford food.
·
Health and
wellbeing support
Information on mental health support, free physical activities,
support to help people stop smoking, manage weight and look after
their wellbeing.
Up to the 19th February, there have been over
23,000 visits to our cost of living webpages. The Warm Welcome
directory and Help with Energy Bills continue to be the most viewed
pages outside the Cost of Living section landing page.
Warm welcome directory
3.14
The council has worked with community partners to set up an online
‘Warm Welcome Directory’ with information on free
indoor activities and places residents can go to keep warm across
the city this winter. There are now 51 participating places which
includes council buildings and Community Voluntary Sector. In the
last month we have seen an increase in faith organisations joining
the directory. The council is offering each participating place a
small grant of £350 to help towards the running costs. The
directory is linked to from the main BHCC webpage and is available
at www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/warm-welcome.
Just Giving Campaign
3.15 Since May 2022,
the city council has collaborated with Brighton & Hove Citizen
Advice and Brighton & Hove Food Partnership to help set up a
cost of living appeal – aiming to raise money to help people
in poverty in Brighton & Hove with food and fuel costs through
vouchers, food parcels, and low energy items like electric blankets
and slow cookers to enable people to maintain their health. The
Just Giving campaign has raised more than £74,000 so far and
is currently being distributed - Brighton
& Hove Cost of Living Crisis Appeal JustGiving page.
4
Household Support Fund 2023/24
4.1
The Household Support Fund has been provided to Local Authorities
by the government for 18 months now, in 3 separate allocations up
to 31 March 2023. The first tranche was focused on recovery from
the pandemic, but later tranches have shifted focus to support the
cost of living. The purpose of the fund is to provide support to
households in need, with food, fuel and other essential items.
Local Authorities are each responsible for determining how the fund
will be used in their area within the bounds of published
government guidance for the fund.
4.2
A further allocation has been provided to Local Authorities for
2023/24, although this time covering the whole year. The government
requires Local Authorities to spend all of the allocation by the
end of the period and no funding can be carried over. The current
HSF finishes at the end of March 2023, and the HSF 2023/24 will run
from 1 April 2023 through to 31 March 2024. As each HSF allocation
is a separate fund with new guidance, the HSF for 2023/24 will
require approval of a new local allocation of the funds.
4.3
Previous allocations of this funding have required an element of
ringfencing in the way in which the grants are distributed,
focusing on particular demographics, such as families with
children, or pensioners. The
guidance for HSF 2023/24 has now been published without any
ringfenced areas for the funding to take into account, although the
guidance does make reference to considerations around sustainable
energy solutions. It has requested additional reporting
requirements around how many households with disabled occupants
have been supported and for the first time allows for the funding
of advice services. This change could provide a strategic
opportunity to build on the temporary intervention of HSF awards
with more sustainable, longer-term solutions to financial crisis.
The amended guidance was received at short notice, but a modest
allocation has been set aside to develop an appropriate linked
advice function. The guidance requires there to be a link between
HSF awards and advice so officers will consider the most effective
and practical way of achieving this.
4.4
Publicity of the previous HSF, along with
the corresponding increase in need has resulted in a stark increase
in requests to the scheme. The definition of crisis, by
default, has expanded accordingly in order to acknowledge the fact
that so many people in the city, and nationwide, now find
themselves in this position. Food banks and other third sector
partners are reporting a lot of return demand, as well as
households being pushed on to other services.
4.5
We know that where temporary monetary
support is linked in with advice, there is a positive impact in
terms of financial sustainability for those households. This
has been demonstrated through previous successful schemes such
as:
·
Warmth for Wellbeing - linking grants
with advice;
·
The LDSF 3-3-3 scheme (dormant under HSF
funding) linked a sequence of 3 sets of vouchers with advice, with
the aim of lifting people out of crisis for longer;
·
The Lift Up programme at Money Advice
Plus, helping Just About Managing households (low income, but not
in receipt of out of work benefits) with HSF grants and linked
financial advice. The advice part of this scheme had to be
separately funded but has produced some worthwhile outcomes for
households being able to stabilise their finances and either move
into work or maintain their employment status.
4.6
Feedback from CVS throughout our HSF delivery partnership, and from
the Advice Matters and Moneyworks partnerships’
Community Needs Assessment,
has been that whilst the HSF is crucial to the city during cost of
living crisis, the demand for advice has remained very high and the
citywide advice infrastructure has at times been beyond capacity,
with some services temporarily closing to new referrals. In
Brighton and Hove, each previous allocation of HSF money has been
distributed across a broad range of services, initiatives and
community organisations with a priority of providing food and fuel
support. The fund has provided for Free School Meals in the school
holidays, and it has also enabled the Local Discretionary Social
Fund to scale up the level of crisis support provided to households
in the city. It has added funds to the Warmth for Wellbeing
programme, and it has supported the Brighton & Hove Food
Partnership. It has also distributed funds to a wide range of
community organisations.
4.7
The Brighton and Hove Food Partnership has been central to the
planning, coordination and delivery of funding from HSF to meet
food poverty needs in the city. The council’s role as an
initial stakeholder in the development of the BHFP has been
highlighted as an example of good council practice in addressing
the challenges brought about by the Cost of Living crisis.
Brighton & Hove City Council’s case study can be
found on the Local Government Association website, highlighting the
benefits of partnership working with community organisations.
Our collaborative work through HSF has further built upon these
existing strong relationships with third sector partners.
4.8
The overall approach to the scheme over the three previous periods
has been to maximise the ways in which households can access
support. Residents can approach the council directly for help from
the Local Discretionary Social Fund or Community Hub, or they might
instead access support through their community group, or via a food
bank. Free School Meals provide a blanket of voucher support during
school holidays. Additionally, the HSF has supported sustainability
schemes such as Warmth for Wellbeing, providing fuel grants as a
complement to advice (which itself is not funded by HSF).
4.9
Gathering feedback and examples of good practice in delivering HSF
funds is key to the planning and delivery of HSF. A survey will be
carried out with community organisations who have helped to deliver
the funds previously and our partners throughout the Community and
Voluntary Sector (CVS). This will ensure that there is a
thorough understanding of need in the community and that the policy
design has been effective in reaching out into the community, fully
utilising diverse and accessible pathways for all.
4.10 HSF guidelines,
unusually, did not ringfence the funding to those in receipt of
means-tested benefits or set an income threshold. This
enabled us to build on a new scheme that delivered support to
households often referred to as Just About Managing (or
JAMs). These households would not be in receipt of a
means-tested benefit and would often be working on a low income,
yet still struggling to afford their basic, essential needs.
Working in partnership with the advice sector and delivered through
Money Advice Plus, HSF was able to fund the
‘Lift-Up’ scheme, which linked crisis grant
payments with ongoing debt advice and financial capability
coaching. There is a general theme of supporting households
to stay in work, increase their hours or move into work, although
the scheme is not limited by this criteria. The Lift-Up scheme has
encouraged households who have traditionally not sought help from
the Local Authority to come forward, receive help and link into
advice services. This is a new demographic of people
struggling, whose needs are often varied and unusual, stretching
our accepted definitions what is traditionally considered crisis
support. However, it is clear to see the ongoing financial
sustainability benefits of these one-off awards, which assist
people into or maintain employment status. Examples of grants
awarded include:
·
Paying upfront
childcare or travel costs for the first month of employment until
they receive their first salary payment in arrears.
·
Helping to pay
one month’s mortgage repayment for a person unable to work
through serious ill health. Or helping to pay for food and utility
costs for those unable to work temporarily through ill
health.
·
Upfront costs of
medical assessments, or licencing requirements needed to move into
work.
·
And
even funding a set of knives, necessary to enable a young person to
accept a job as a chef.
4.11 Demands on the
fund are increasing, although the amount given to the Local
Authority has remained static since the first Household Support
Fund in 2021, without any inflationary uplift or caseload
recognition. Reflecting back on the previous allocations of HSF,
one issue that was consistent though each round of funding was the
need for additional staffing to administer the significant increase
in demand experienced by those delivering the fund. Without
sufficient resources, delays in processing emergency payments occur
and it is not possible to deliver help in the timely manner that is
required. The range of supported organisations has also increased
over successive HSF allocations, partly due to the additional
numbers of food banks in the city that have opened to meet the
presenting need. The funding pot therefore has to stretch
further.
4.12 In order to
address pressures experienced in delivering the HSF, including the
need for some increase in staffing and increased demands on LDSF
and Discretionary Council Tax Reduction (DCTR) support, some
realignment of allocations will be required for the 2023/24 HSF.
This realignment recognises that formal support options, such as
LDSF or CTR, remain the primary route of support for those in need
but that these entail necessary processes to ensure the fair and
equitable distribution of funds. However, where there is immediate
need, this is where households will turn to the third sector food
banks and clubs to assist them. It is therefore more
efficient for the delivery of HSF and more supportive of those in
need if the funds are distributed to ensure help is provided at the
first door a household presents to.
|
Area
of Support
|
Proposed
Allocation
(£)
|
|
Free
School Meals vouchers - 11 weeks, continuing previous amounts
(£15), including early years to 6th Form
|
1,485,000
|
|
Local
Discretionary Social Fund (LDSF) awards
|
1,418,000
|
|
Community
Organisations, including food banks, food stores and other
essentials.
|
310,000
|
|
Food
clubs and providers of delivered meals
|
125,000
|
|
Brighton
& Hove Food Partnership / Impact Initiatives
|
55,000
|
|
Sustainable
energy solutions / BHESCO
|
35,000
|
|
Warmth
for Wellbeing, including £0.030m for staffing and extra
admin
|
219,000
|
|
Discretionary
Council Tax Reduction (to work in conjunction with the Council Tax
Support Fund)
|
140,000
|
|
Staffing
- LDSF Officer x 3 (Sc 6), LDSF admin x 2 (Scale 4b), Community Hub
Officer x 1 (Sc 5)
|
213,000
|
|
Local
Lift Up scheme (for Just About Managing households)
|
85,000
|
|
Carers’
Centre
|
20,000
|
|
Family
Hubs (formerly Children’s Centre allocation)
|
70,000
|
|
Children’s
Services – Section 17 payments, distributed by the Social
Work pods
|
60,000
|
|
Advice
staffing
|
45,000
|
|
Total
Allocated
|
4,280,000
|
4.14 Free School
Meals: A central element of HSF has been to provide Free School
Meals (FSM) in the school holidays for qualifying low-income
families. The proposed allocation continues the support at the same
weekly level as the 2022/23 year. Families who are entitled to FSM
will receive a £15 voucher for each child for each week of
the school holidays. The total amount over a year is £1.485m.
The Easter 2023 school holiday was covered under HSF tranche
3.
4.15 Local
Discretionary Social Fund: The allocation for Local
Discretionary Social Fund (LDSF) is £1.418m and this high
value reflects the enormous leap in demand for crisis support. LDSF
provides food vouchers, help with fuel payments and other essential
items, along with larger items such as furniture and white goods.
Prior to Covid-19, the LDSF fund was allocated from the
council’s budget, on a one-off basis, at a rate of
£0.180m per annum. owever,
However, in January 2023 alone, the team spent £0.178m,
almost equivalent to an entire year’s budget in pre-Covid
terms. HSF has therefore been essential for covering the
significant increase in demand, to the extent that in 2022/23, the
projected expenditure is £1.3m. The table below illustrates
the growing demands:
|
Month
|
Number
of applications
|
Amount
of awards
|
|
April
2021
|
140
|
£17,337
|
|
April
2022
|
393
|
£86,366
|
|
January
2023
|
598
|
£178,924
|
4.16 For 2023/24, the
council does not have any available one-off resources due to the
impacts of inflation and growing demands for core services and
therefore the LDSF will be entirely funded by HSF.
4.17 As noted above,
the landscape for dealing with LDSF claims has changed dramatically
because of a four-fold increase in applications over the last 2
years. Whilst it is not feasible or appropriate to quadruple the
staffing provided by the fund, some increase is necessary to avoid
unacceptable processing delays for people in crisis. A further
impact of slow processing times is that more households turn to
food banks and so the pressure is simply transferred elsewhere in
the citywide welfare eco-system.
4.18 The
government’s guidance for the HSF allows for reasonable admin
costs, and so in previous Household Support Funds, there were
allocations for staffing. However, with the growing demand
this turned out to be insufficient to cover the task effectively.
In HSF 3, £0.065m was set aside for staffing, but as the six
month period progressed, a further £0.049m had to be
allocated from underspends elsewhere within the fund in order for
the team to process all of the backlog cases. The base allocation
has accordingly been increased in the 2023/24 allocation to
£0.213m. This amount will pay for three Benefit Officers, two
admin support officers and one Community Hub officer. While this
will still present challenges in terms of covering leave and
turnover of staff, this is considered to be a reasonable balance
between minimising administrative costs and ensuring reasonable
response times.
4.19 Discretionary
Council Tax Reduction: Similarly to the LDSF, prior to 2023/24,
the council allocated one-off amounts from its budget towards a
Discretionary Council Tax Reduction (DCTR) fund, typically
£0.200m in recent years. That amount has been supplemented by
additional funding from HSF over the last 18 months. In the current
financial year, £0.211m DCTR has been awarded up to the end
of December 2022.
4.20 For 2023/24, the
council does not have any available one-off resources due to the
impacts of inflation and growing demands for core services and
therefore, as for LDSF, the DCTR fund will be met from the
Household Support Fund. However, this can be supplemented with
funds from a separate central government grant that is intended to
support the Council Tax Reduction scheme (see paragraph 4.20
below). The required allocation from the HSF is therefore lower and
the proposal is to allocate £0.140m for the DCTR fund.
4.22 To receive an
additional £25, a household must be entitled to CTR on 1
April 2023. There is currently a backlog in processing CTR cases,
meaning that there could be eligible households who have not yet
been awarded CTR at the time of Annual Billing. For this reason, it
is not possible to project exactly how much funding is likely to be
available for redistribution but it is projected to be between
£0.050m and £0.075m.
4.23 The LA has
discretion to take a local approach with the remaining fund and
therefore it is recommended that:
·
there
is a grace period to the end of April, to allow for new cases
moving in up to 30 April to be processed and awarded the extra
£25;
·
On 1
May 2023 the remaining fund is re-allocated to the overall
Discretionary Council Tax Reduction fund.
4.24 On 1 May 2023,
the DCTR fund would then contain a mixture of £0.140m HSF
funding, and an additional amount from Council Tax Support Fund
when finalised. This combined budget will be monitored through the
year and in the event of a projected underspend, funds can be
diverted to areas of higher need (for example LDSF or community
organisations).
4.25 Community
Organisations: Another central principle of the HSF has been to
partner with organisations in the voluntary sector to help us
deliver the funding. For previous HSF tranches, partners in the
voluntary sector have ensured that help reaches parts of the
community that may not otherwise present themselves to the council
for help, with the added benefit of linking that household into the
wider support options that these organisations offer. The range of
organisations supported also ensures that targeted support can be
given to households with protected characteristics.
4.26 The range of
supported organisations has increased over successive HSF tranches,
partly due to the additional numbers of food banks in the city that
have opened to meet the presenting need. To give an idea of these
numbers, the HSF tranche 3 directly funded 35 community
organisations, whilst the BHFP assisted approximately 30 groups
with its collective funding (although there may be crossover from
some organisations who used the BHFP Hub to top up on food and
toiletries). Between community organisations (which includes many
organisations providing food support), BHFP and food
clubs/providers of prepared meals, there is an allocation of
£0.490m. This exceeds the previous HSF tranche 3 offering of
£0.230m (half-year) for these categories. However, it is
acknowledged that with a growing emergency food sector, the funding
therefore has to stretch further.
4.27 Brighton and
Hove Food Partnership/ Impact Initiative: An amount of
£0.055m has been allocated to the Brighton and Hove Food
Partnership/ Impact Initiatives. This will pay for £0.038m of
online food shopping undertaken by Impact Initiatives, emergency
food vouchers issued by BHFP and purchase of food and cooking
equipment. The allocation will also contribute £0.017m to the
part funding of two posts (one at Impact and one at BHFP) to
undertake the work. This includes answering calls from
people in need, issuing vouchers and doing online shops, purchasing
food and cooking equipment, making referrals to food banks and
other agencies and keeping the information about food support up to
date for others to use.
4.28 Family
Hubs: There is a transformation programme currently underway,
funded by the Department for Education, which includes the
restructure of all Early Help services in the council. From 1 April
2023 Children’s Centres will be part of the new Family Hub
model of delivery for early help and will work with children aged
0-19 and up to 25 with SEND. Children’s Centres have
previously received HSF funding to enable them to support families
living in food poverty with children aged 0-5 years. However,
the Family Hub model will see a broader range of families coming
under the scope of the new Family Hubs model.
4.29 Work is
currently being undertaken to look at how the 2023/24 HSF
allocation can be distributed through Family Hubs, with a revised
eligibility criteria and process for distribution after a whole
family assessment is completed. The expanded age range may mean
that the monetary value or amount of vouchers that the family are
given are reduced, or that vouchers are only issued as a one-off
emergency payment. These proposed new processes for distributing
the funds can only be finalised once the transformation has been
realised and a better understanding of the demand is gained.
5
Analysis and consideration of alternative options
5.1
The council has now successfully delivered 3 successive Household
Support Funds, working in partnership with third sector
organisations and collaboratively across the council, linking in
with key services to ensure need is met in a way that minimises
impact on service delivery and wider budget pressures. It is not
perfect and the funding is not sufficient to meet all needs but the
reach and distribution attempts to strike an equitable balance of
support and access across those in need.
5.2
One alternative approach would be to centralise the funding and
deliver the scheme through one point of access, such as the LDSF.
Although the message of how to access the funds would be clear and
simple, this approach would fail to understand or meet the
individualised needs of some groups in the community. Some people
prefer not to engage with statutory organisations, such as Local
Authorities, or share information with a formal body. These people
will often seek help from the charitable or voluntary sector
instead and the support needs ideally should be delivered at that
point of contact.
5.3
It is also understood that the council, in most cases, may not be
able to provide ongoing support or be able to add any value to the
original crisis payment. Third sector partners are likely to have
more knowledge and experience in supporting a particular type of
household, or someone with a protected characteristic.
Lastly, having one point of application for all users of the fund
would require significant staffing increases which would then take
core funding away from the households in the community in need of
it.
5.4
Regarding the Council Tax Support Fund, an alternative option was
considered of continuing the automatic awards of £25
throughout the year for any new CTR case. However, that would
deplete the remaining pot of discretionary money, possibly to zero.
Whilst £25 will be of value to households in need, there will
be greater impact in making a smaller number of more targeted
higher value awards as part of the main Discretionary CTR scheme.
It is important to add that DCTR can also be used to clear
unrecoverable arrears from previous financial years for financially
struggling households. Whilst the new Council Tax Support Fund can
help to reduce the bill for households in this financial year, it
will not relieve enough pressure for some households in greater
need and it won’t be able to reduce debt that remains from
previous years.
6
Community engagement and consultation
6.1
The proposals have been discussed in meetings with the Brighton and
Hove Food Partnership and the Welfare Support and Financial
Assistance group, which includes representation from services
within the council and also the voluntary sector, including
Community Works and the Advice Matters / Moneyworks partnerships.
There is broad recognition that more funding is needed on top of
the allocation given to the Local Authority in order to meet
demand. However, there is also recognition that without a solid
administrative infrastructure to support the HSF, paralysis in the
system can occur, and the strain increases on the overall welfare
eco-system in the city as households bounce around from one
organisation to another, seeking help.
6.2
The council’s Welfare, Revenues & Business Support (WRBS)
officers will also be conducting a survey of its delivery partners
regarding management of previous HSF tranches to gauge an
understanding of successes, potential areas for improvements and
examples of good practice. This will feed into any improvements
identified for administering the fund over the 12-month period and
help to inform planning for any similar schemes in the future.
7
Conclusion
7.1
HSF 2023/24 will provide much needed support to households across
the city during the winter and beyond and this scheme is one of the
key mechanisms that the council can employ to support its most
vulnerable residents.
8
Financial implications
8.1
The Household Support Fund 2023/24 was announced on 17 November
2022 as part of the Autumn Statement. Nationally, it is set at the
same value as the previous two 6-month tranches (£1 billion).
The city council will receive £4.280m for the 2023/24
HSF.
8.2
Final guidance for the scheme is unrestricted, as for the previous
HSF tranche, following widespread feedback from local authorities
that restricting allocation to specific demographic groups does not
enable optimum deployment of funds for those in need. The
fund can therefore be allocated to any households in need, in any
proportion. It can also be used to support limited administrative
and technical resources and staffing, as well as advice,
communication and awareness resources. It must be expended by 31
March 2024 and cannot be carried forward.
Finance officer
consulted: Nigel Manvell Date consulted: 16/02/23
9
Legal implications
9.1
Policy & Resources Committee has delegated authority to make
decisions regarding the allocation of financial and other resources
addressed in this report, including the distribution of the
specified funds. There are no specific legal implications arising
from the recommendations in the report, with the proposed
distribution of the HSF being in undertaken in accordance with
Government requirements.
Lawyer
consulted: Elizabeth
Culbert
Date consulted: 16.2.23
10
Equalities implications
10.1 As outlined in
this report, the rise in the cost of living has negatively impacted
disproportionately on some groups. The council is seeking continual
feedback from its CVS partners to better understand the impacts on
demographic groups with protected characteristics in Brighton &
Hove and to ensure the funding is reaching those who are in
greatest need. The information gleaned from this ongoing dialogue
has fed into the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) for the
council’s Cost of Living response and HSF delivery at
Appendix 6 (to follow).
10.2 Through the
community organisations that HSF is distributed to, the council is
able to target support to those with protected characteristics who
are experiencing a greater detrimental impact. The EIA helps to
inform which groups require a more considered approach and which
organisations should be targeted for funding distribution to
alleviate this recognised hardship.
11
Sustainability implications
11.1 There are
specific sustainability implications around fuel and energy. In
particular, the council’s retrofit programmes, programmes
such as Warmth for Wellbeing, and the proposed support to
organisations such as BHESCo and LEAP, to provide advice and
support on how to save energy or improve energy efficiency, will
all contribute to carbon reduction.
12
Public health implications:
12.1 There are
specific Public Health implications around food and energy poverty.
The health risks for certain groups are significantly higher from
living in a cold home i.e. older people and people with
disabilities and long term health conditions. Often these groups
will incur a higher energy cost due to these issues and therefore
not adequately heating their homes will have a disproportionate
effect on health. The council’s response to the Cost of
Living situation, including its core budgets for local welfare
assistance, working with partners and CVS organisations to provide
support and advice, lobbying and recommendations to government, and
local allocation and management of government support such as the
Household Support Fund all contribute to minimising negative public
health impacts.
Supporting
Documentation
Appendices
1.
Key
Areas of Work – Updates and Information
2.
Lobbying
responses:
a)
Letter from
Felicity Buchan MP, Minister for Housing and Homelessness,
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities in response
to lobbying for increased measures to prevent homelessness caused by the
cost of living crisis and
b)
Letter from Kevin
Hollinrake MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department
for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, in response to
lobbying for an increase to the National Living Wage
3.
Institute for
Employment Studies report – ‘Cost of Living Impacts in
Greater Brighton
4.
Cost
of Living Summit Outcomes
5.
Information
leaflet sent to all households
6.
Equalities Impact
Assessment (updated)