Is your council one of the 152 authorities responsible for distributing the Household Support Fund (HSF)?
Yes Devon County Council is one of the authorities responsible for distributing the HSF.
If so, could you please tell me how many applications has your Local Authority received for Household Support Fund Payments between October 6th 2021 to July 1st 2022? Please can you provide this information on a month-by-month basis?
Devon County Council does not hold this information because we know only about the applications that were successful, as this information was reported to us by each gateway.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am referring to households eligible for this scheme.
a) Of the applications made for the Household Support Fund payments between October 6th 2021 to July 1st 2022, what percentage of applications have been successful?
Devon County Council does not hold this information. In the interests of providing advice and assistance we can say that the total number of households was HSF1 173,754 and HSF2 41,383.
b) For households that have received the Household Support Fund payments between October 6th 2021 to July 1st 2022, how was their payment processed? (i.e. transfer via BACS, postal cheque etc.)
We would not hold this information, as it was not a management information requirement set by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). The various external organisations and internal teams (support gateways) who administered the funds would have used various methods such as vouchers, BACs and post office vouchers. These support gateways may or may not hold this information within their data systems.
c) A breakdown of number of awards made by type of household (i.e. with children, pensioners) (October 6th 2021 to July 1st 2022)
HSF1 Households with children 166,142, Households without children 7612.
HSF2 Households with children 20,272, households of pensionable age 20841 and 270 other households.
d) A breakdown of number of awards made by purpose (i.e. energy and water, food, housing costs, other essentials) (October 6th 2021 to July 1st 2022).
HSF1 energy and water 6586, Food 164,659 essentials linked to energy and water 939, wider essentials 1048 housing costs.
HSF2 energy and water 5905 Food 25082, essentials linked to energy and water 5197, wider essentials 5198 housing costs 25.
e) What steps has your Local Authority undertaken to ensure that Household Support Fund payments are being used for their defined purposes? (October 6th 2021 to July 1st 2022)
Please see this Devon County Council webpage on the Household Support Fund 2 Approach.