Agenda item

As part of efforts to recover following the pandemic, Hertfordshire County Council has been provided with £6.172m funding from the Government’s Household Support Fund (HSF). This funding will be used to help people in need this winter with things like the cost of food and energy.

Hertfordshire County Council are working with a range of partners across the county to make sure we can get the right help to those who need it, at the right time. This targeted approach will mean that residents can be supported and get professional assistance from the county council, borough and district councils and organisations such as HertsHelp, our Money Advice Service and local Citizens Advice services.

Three Rivers District Council will receive a total of £33,000 for food support and £44,000 for fuel support.

As part of efforts to recover following the pandemic, Hertfordshire County Council had been provided with £6.172m funding from the Government’s Household Support Fund (HSF). This funding will be used to help people in need this winter with things like the cost of food and energy.

Hertfordshire County Council are working with a range of partners across the county to make sure we can get the right help to those who need it, at the right time. This targeted approach will mean that residents can be supported and get professional assistance from the county council, borough and district councils and organisations such as HertsHelp, our Money Advice Service and local Citizens Advice services.

Three Rivers District Council will receive a total of £33,000 for food support and £44,000 for fuel support and was to be spent by 31 March 2022.

The Head of Community Partnerships advised in terms of the energy side of the fund this could be used for utility costs, warm clothes, cooking equipment and white goods.  The organisations the Council was proposing to provide the fund to had been included in the report.  Our housing team would be linking to the vulnerable registers scheme.  If someone came forward looking for help with their rent arrears we could also offer them a food voucher or utility voucher.  We would also be using the Revenue and Benefits team to reach out to our most vulnerable residents.  The Council had previously supported a number of other charitable donations for food and utility support through our local Covid support fund which was small amounts of money received from the Government since September for food and subsequently for utilities.  Organisations such as Homestart and the CAB had received funding.  They were not listed as they were still administering that funding.  The focus of this funding was on our Housing Associations, South Oxhey foodbank and Herts Mind network to reach the most vulnerable.  Rickmansworth food bank had been offered funding but did not want to receive any and was the same with the local Covid support fund.

A Member advised that the Council were taking an administrative cost why was that and were other organisations also taking admin costs. 

The Head of Community Partnerships advised that the admin costs had been given to the Council by Herts County Council. 

The Lead Member advised again how lean the Council were on staffing and why schemes had not been delivered as quickly as Members would like.  There was £6.1m to the County but only £33k and £44k to the Council if that was the case for all Councils in Herts the county would retain around £5.8m of funding. Heating costs were getting higher and higher and how many people could £44k help.

The Head of Community Partnerships said there had not been an opportunity to query the amounts allocated. 

RESOLVED:

Agreed the plan for spend of the Household fund so that funds can accessed by vulnerable people during the winter to the end of March 2022 in Three Rivers through a range of partners as identified in the report.