The Household Support Fund has received a six-month extension, the Chancellor announced in his Budget yesterday.
During his Budget speech on Wednesday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the Commons: “Next, the Household Support Fund. It was set up on a temporary basis and due to conclude at the end of this month.”
He said he had “listened carefully” to representations from anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust, which runs a network of food banks, as well as MPs.
He added: “I have decided that with the battle against inflation still not over, now is not the time to stop the targeted help it offers.
“We will therefore continue it at current levels for another six months.”
Mr Hunt had been under pressure to continue the Fund beyond the end of March.
Council leaders from across the political spectrum wrote to him calling for an extension as well as almost 90 parliamentarians.
The Government has now confirmed it will extend the fund with an extra £500million.
Started in 2021, the HSF has provided £2.5billion of welfare support via local authorities to help vulnerable people with food, water and energy bills.
Shaun Davies, chair of the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said while they are “pleased” at the extension, the “very last minute” announcement and the fact it is “only for a short period” was “disappointing”.
He said: “Three-quarters of councils expect hardship to increase further in their area over the next 12 months.
“The Government needs to use the next six months to agree on a more sustainable successor to the HSF.
“Councils need certainty and consistent funding to efficiently maintain the staff, services and networks that help our most vulnerable residents. Without this, we risk more people falling into financial crisis as we head into winter.”
The Trussell Trust said the Chancellor’s announcements “will provide short-term relief to some” but added they were “disappointed” that the Chancellor had only offered “temporary sticking plasters instead of long-term solutions to the crisis of rising hunger, hardship, and debt”.
Its director of policy, Helen Barnard, said: “When it (the HSF) ends, councils and charities will be left scrambling to fill an even bigger gap.”
She said the spring Budget “will do little” to prevent living standards “falling even further in the coming year”.
