The Society of London Treasurers (SLT) has called for the government to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) into the 2024/25 financial year.
A letter sent to chancellor Jeremy Hunt highlights that boroughs under severe financial strain “will be challenged to fill the gaps cancelling the HSF would create”.
The SLT previously wrote to the government in December calling for the HSF to continue, and has now reiterated its call ahead of the Spring Budget on 6 March.
With boroughs required to finalise their budgets by March, the organisation is requesting clarification on whether the HSF will be extended or if transitional funding will be available to help maintain local support services.
Clive Palfreyman, president of the SLT and strategic director of finance at Southwark Council, wrote in the letter to Hunt that it was “more critical than ever that essential programmes like the HSF continue”.
He stated: “The HSF enables boroughs to partner with local voluntary and community organisations to provide much-needed support to low-income households struggling with the cost of living.”
Across London, the SLT said boroughs were spending approximately £137.5m on HSF related activity during 2023-24, including providing meals to 472,000 children during school holidays and delivering emergency food support to 218,000 households.
“Continuing the HSF for at least another year or arranging transitional funding will allow time for the effects of much-welcomed policy decisions like uprating the Local Housing Allowance and increases in Universal Credit and state pension to work through,” Palfreyman added. “This will allow for a better assessment of the need to continue the HSF in the future.”
Palfreyman concluded the letter by stating that the SLT “looked forward to further discussions” on how the organisation can partner with government “to address the urgent issues we face, maintain the provision of local government services, and strengthen the financial sustainability of the sector in the long term to ensure it continues to deliver the critical services, including those supported by the HSF, that our residents rely on”.
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