Agenda item

Report from the Assistant Chief Executive.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet agree:

1.    That provisional allocations of the Household Support Fund Grant of £4.978m be made as follows:

a.    £2.5m for food vouchers to children eligible for free school meals for school holidays up to and including Easter 2024.

b.    £1.2m to cover the estimated costs of the Council’s Local Council Tax Support Top Up Scheme.

c.     £0.4m additional funding to top up the Council’s Discretionary Housing Payments fund.

d.    £0.563m to support applications from households for assistance with cost-of-living increases, through the Council’s Energy Crisis Support Scheme.

e.    £180k to provide additional tinned food to supplement the supplies available for crisis food parcels provided by local food banks and Community Food Members.  This sum would also assist with supplies to social supermarkets, which is a supplement to the Crisis Support service level agreement.

f.      £90k allocation to support care leavers, being young people leaving foster or local authority care and living independently in their own accommodation who are responsible for paying their own utility bills, providing additional financial support through the cost-of-living increases.

g.    £45k to support local VCS organisations to support vulnerable households over Christmas / New year through a supplement to the Crisis Support service level agreement.

2.    To delegate authority to the Assistant Chief Executive in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, to determine revised and final allocations for the Household Support Grant to include provision for other eligible actions within the use of Household Support Fund should it not be possible to achieve full spend of the grant through the approved provisional allocations. 

3.    £150,000 cost of living crisis grant funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is used to top up the allocation to Discretionary Housing Payments; of which, £50,000 will be utilised in the current financial year and the remaining £100,000 in 23/24.

4.    To approve use of the Council’s Business Rates Levy surplus distribution allocation of £538,415 to be used to support Energy Crisis Support Payments in 2022/23.

Consideration was given to the report which provided recommendations for a provisional allocation of the £4.978m. Any variations arising from actual spend under each of the provisional allocations would be managed through adjusting the allocation made towards the Energy Crisis Support Scheme.

The report also provided the Council’s proposed use of the business rates levy surplus distribution, announced by Government alongside the final local government finance settlement 2023/24. The Council’s allocation from the business rates levy surplus distribution was £538,415 and related to the financial year 2022/23. It was proposed to use the resource to support the Council’s current Energy Crisis Support Scheme, which allowed residents of the borough to claim £400 support towards the cost of their energy.

The funding meant that the Council could commit to a further year of the free school meal vouchers, that further funding was available to go towards the energy crisis grant. The Council could continue to support the council tax support top up fund and the ability to continue with the Christmas hampers and additional support for care leavers with their household costs.

Resolved: That Cabinet agreed:

1. That provisional allocations of the Household Support Fund Grant of £4.978m be made as follows:
   1. £2.5m for food vouchers to children eligible for free school meals for school holidays up to and including Easter 2024.
   2. £1.2m to cover the estimated costs of the Council’s Local Council Tax Support Top Up Scheme.
   3. £0.4m additional funding to top up the Council’s Discretionary Housing Payments fund.
   4. £0.563m to support applications from households for assistance with cost-of-living increases, through the Council’s Energy Crisis Support Scheme.
   5. £180k to provide additional tinned food to supplement the supplies available for crisis food parcels provided by local food banks and Community Food Members. This sum would also assist with supplies to social supermarkets, which is a supplement to the Crisis Support service level agreement.
   6. £90k allocation to support care leavers, being young people leaving foster or local authority care and living independently in their own accommodation who are responsible for paying their own utility bills, providing additional financial support through the cost-of-living increases.
   7. £45k to support local VCS organisations to support vulnerable households over Christmas / New year through a supplement to the Crisis Support service level agreement.

2.    To delegate authority to the Assistant Chief Executive in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, to determine revised and final allocations for the Household Support Grant to include provision for other eligible actions within the use of Household Support Fund should it not be possible to achieve full spend of the grant through the approved provisional allocations.

3.    £150,000 cost of living crisis grant funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is used to top up the allocation to Discretionary Housing Payments; of which, £50,000 will be utilised in the current financial year and the remaining £100,000 in 23/24.

4.    Approved use of the Council’s Business Rates, Levy surplus distribution allocation of £538,415 to be used to support Energy Crisis Support Payments in 2022/23.