Household Support Fund (Scheme No.7)
The Household Support Fund (Scheme No.6) operated until 31 March 2025. Plans for the new Household Support Fund (Scheme No.7) are currently being developed in partnership with Devon district councils and voluntary and community sector partners.
Key decisions relating to the deployment of the HSF7 will need to be taken by the new DCC Administration, following the Local Government Elections in early May 2025. Content on the Household Support Fund will be updated once plans have been finalised.
Free school meals funding for Easter and May holidays
It is expected that HSF7 fund will be 11.87% less than previous funds. Decision about how the new fund will be distributed will be made by the new Devon County Council administration. In the interim, Devon County Council has decided to continue to fund free school meal vouchers for both the Easter and May holidays at the same level as previously provided in HSF6.
More about the Household Support Fund
Devon County Council (DCC) has been awarded funding of £5,064,876.12 by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for the sixth Household Support Fund (HSF6) for the period 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025.
The HSF6 must be spent or committed by 31 March 2025 and cannot be held over for future usage. As HSF6 is a finite fund: once the money has been spent the fund will close (therefore, this could potentially be earlier than 31 March 2025).
This HSF6 allocation covers the DCC administrative area of Devon. You can contact Torbay Council or Plymouth City Council for information concerning their respective HSF6 approach.
The fund is designed to provide rapid short-term financial support to address economic vulnerability and financial hardship. It should be used to support households who are struggling to meet their food, energy, water and other essential living needs.
It can also be used to support households with essential costs related to those items and with wider essential costs. In exceptional cases of genuine emergency, it can additionally be used to support housing costs where existing housing support schemes do not meet this exceptional need.
Deployment of household support funds
As the DWP payment to Devon will be in arrears and subject to DCC submitting timely management information returns, Devon must have a robust policy and process in place to meet the DWP requirements.
DCC has worked with district or city councils and other partners to identify households experiencing financial hardship. The approach to deploying the HSF6 is on the following basis.
Free school meal (FSM) holiday food vouchers
If a child or young person in a household qualifies for FSMs in term time then, currently, they automatically qualify for free school meal holiday vouchers.
The vouchers ensure families of children or young people eligible for free school meals during term time, are also able to purchase food over the holidays to replace the meals a child or young person would have received during a school day.
Households currently in receipt of free school meals are eligible for a supermarket voucher to the value of £15 per child per week of the school holidays, to help pay for groceries over the break. The vouchers will automatically be distributed to eligible households prior to the holidays.
More information about applying for free school meals.
Team Devon district or city council hardship schemes
Each District Council will operate a HSF6 hardship scheme; the latter will be finalised via the respective Council’s governance and decision-making procedures; ensuring open, transparent and informed decision-making in this regard.
All district/city councils will be provided with a funding allocation based on the universal credit uptake in their respective areas, enabling each of them to either:
- provide direct and targeted financial help and assistance to households who they have identified via data held as eligible against their criteria and who are vulnerable and struggling financially to secure food, water, energy, essential and exceptional (e.g. rent arrears prior to being in receipt of appropriate housing benefits) provisions and/or
- to operate an open application based scheme for households struggling financially.
For any direct and targeted work, the district/city council will use appropriate and accessible datasets, which are compliant with data protection requirements, to proactively identify vulnerable and in need households; making contact with them and offering ‘one-off’ financial assistance. In finalising their approach in this regard, Districts will consider including support to people of pensionable age, on low income, who are struggling financially and are either:
- in receipt of pension credit and winter fuel payment already
- are likely to be eligible for pension credit (and winter fuel payment) or
- are on income just above the qualifying Pension Credit income threshold.
Such consideration does not exclude groups that fall into other possible qualifying datasets, such as but not limited to disabled people and carers.
Many households, such as those in receipt of Housing Benefit only and/or Council Tax Relief, might well be eligible for Pension Credit and subsequently the Winter Fuel Allowance (for the latter only if the pension credit application is received by 21/12/24 and subsequently approved). Alongside the HSF6 scheme, Team Devon councils are promoting and raising the profile of Pension Credit, in line with the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) campaign, and will support people to apply to DWP. To find out if you are eligible for Pension Credit, visit the Government’s website.
Visit the cost of living and support pages on your district council’s website to find out more about support in your local area. As plans are finalised the following webpages will be updated:
Citizens Advice Devon Energy Relief Scheme
Citizens Advice Devon will receive Household Support funding, so that they can continue to support people who are struggling to meet their energy needs. Support comes in the shape of fuel voucher payments, and longer-term relief of fuel poverty through initiatives that help homes become more energy-efficient, and that help people stay warm at home – heated throw, body warmer or rechargeable hot water bottle, for example. The scheme runs until 31 March 2025 but may close earlier if the fund has been dispersed fully.
DCC early help
Families on low incomes can get help with food and utility costs, which early help is administering locally.
Through this fund, early help is able to provide a support grant to eligible households. Referral applications can be made via a professional working with the family concerned. The scheme runs until 31 March 2025 or may close earlier if the funds have been dispersed and are exhausted.
Food, Fuel and More
The County Council is pleased to be working again with Devon Community Foundation to provide Food, Fuel and More targeted grants to organisations working with vulnerable households and people most in need of support over the finding period (until 31 March 2025).
Grants will be used to alleviate immediate needs and help those who are struggling to afford food, energy, water and other related essentials, and be given to households that find it difficult to access support elsewhere, for example, via other support gateways such as district councils, Citizens Advice, school or community hub.
Communication
Communication will be released (via DCC and partners’ websites and communication channels) on the HSF6 allocation for Devon and the support gateways put in place to support households. Where appropriate, further direct, timely and specific communication to the individual households concerned will then follow nearer to actual implementation of the above initiatives.
Ongoing review
Following a review of the above actions and the subsequent confirmation of the funds being dispersed in the way described, and assuming HSF funds still remain available, a further review and deployment of the HSF will then be considered.