Council leader describes vital support fund a ‘sticking plaster’ – despite welcoming its extension

Council leader Neil Emmott

A support fund that has acted as a lifeline to families across the country has been extended – which has been welcomed in part by Rochdale’s council leader.

The spring budget announcement from chancellor Jeremy Hunt in Parliament yesterday (6 March) saw the six-month extension of the Household Support Fund. This funding provides vital support to low income families in the area, mainly through free school meal vouchers.

Despite welcoming the extension of the fund, which provides around £4.7m to Rochdale Council to put on support services, Councillor Neil Emmott described it as a ‘sticking plaster’.

In a letter penned to Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove last month, the council leader described the fund as a ‘vital part of the social safety net that has been crucial during this period of rising destitution’. He previously stated ending this funding would mean “financial crisis, destitution, homelessness and increased pressure on already stretched public services, including the NHS, social care and our homelessness teams.”

This six month extension does not go far enough for Councillor Emmott though, who wants to see more long-term support for struggling families in a time of the cost of living crisis.

Councillor Emmott, reacting to the Spring Budget announcement, said: “Although I am pleased that the government has seen sense and listened to councils like ours that pressed them to urgently reconsider their decision to end the household support fund, it does still leave the question of how people are going to be supported in the long-term.

“We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis that has been exacerbated by decisions taken by the government and there is no plan to turn things round. This is a sticking plaster for an economy that is in intensive care.”

In Rochdale, the HSF is used for:

• Food vouchers targeting support for low-income families
• Energy cost support for older people
• Emergency short-term food and fuel assistance for people in crisis
• A Warm Homes scheme – which provides immediate support for vulnerable residents so they can stay safely in their homes
• Homelessness prevention scheme

Councillor Emmott was one of over 170 council leaders to call for an urgent extension of the HSF.

In his letter sent on 20 February to Mr Gove, Councillor Emmott said: “For the past three years, Rochdale Borough Council has received circa £4.7m per year from the National Household Support Fund to provide vital support to households, who would otherwise struggle to buy food, pay essential utility bills or meet other essential living or housing costs.

“The HSF is a vital part of the social safety net that has been crucial during this period of rising destitution. Along with our other partners we are not in a position to plug the gap if the government proceeds with their decision to end the fund.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter