Dear Colleague,
HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT FUND
Our Plan for Jobs is working. With our economy rebounding, record-high job vacancies and the formidable force of both our jabs and jobs army, we are getting Britain back to work, making sure work pays and helping people gain the skills they need to succeed. Work is the best route out of poverty. That is why our focus is on investing in skills and jobs, helping people to move into well-paid work, progress, earn more and increase financial resilience – boosting pay, prospects and prosperity.
As well as our multi-billion pound Plan for Jobs, as we enter the final stages of our recovery and the country returns to normal, we are launching a new £500 million Household Support Fund for vulnerable households who need some extra support over the coming months with the cost of essentials. The new Fund will be available to councils in England from October and run over the winter. Councils will be able to distribute funding within local areas to directly help those who need it most, including for example, through small grants to meet daily needs such as food, clothing, and utilities.
This new support fund, at least half of which will help families with children, will bolster existing measures we have introduced for low-income households, such as increasing the national living wage, the rise in the Local Housing Allowance, expanding the £221 million Holiday Activities and Food which will be offering nutritious meals and enriching activities to disadvantaged children this Christmas, doubling free childcare for eligible working parents and increasing the value of Healthy Start vouchers by over a third. The Fund also sits alongside the Warm Home Discount which provides a £140 rebate on energy bills each winter to over 2.2 million low-income households and the Cold Weather Payment which provides £25 extra a week for poorer households when the temperature is consistently below zero. Please direct constituents in need of support to their local council who will be able to help them access the Fund. The Barnett formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving £79 million on top of the £421 million for England.
I am placing a copy of this letter in the House Library
