Residents who may be facing financial challenges due to the cost-of-living crisis are being reminded, and encouraged, to access the support available.
This week, (Monday, 16 – Sunday, 22 October) is Household Support Fund Awareness Week and we, together with our partners, are continuing to provide a range of support for residents.
So far, we have distributed more than £8million from the Household Support Fund to those most in need; worked with the Medway Food Partnership to ensure residents are able to access sustainable and healthy food and spent £1.7million providing more than 500,000 free school meal vouchers for eligible children during the school holidays.
We have also provided free MedwayGo holiday activity club sessions to more than 5,000 eligible children, funded by the government’s Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) and reduced the council tax bills of more than 16,100 residents through the council tax reduction scheme.
The Household Support Fund is there to help households most in need with the rising cost-of-living, including families, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people.
For the 2023/2024 financial year the government allocated £4,524,926 to help Medway residents.
In April, the council’s Cabinet agreed plans on how the fund should be spent which included providing grants to residents. However, the number of residents applying for support reduced in the first quarter of the financial year, compared to last year, and a higher proportion of those applying were unable to demonstrate financial hardship. As of Monday, 14 August, the council had only received eligible applications to the value of £178,575, which provided supermarket and school uniform vouchers and energy cards to residents.
At the council’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 5 September, councillors agreed to amend the arrangements to make sure that all the funding is used to support Medway’s most vulnerable residents.
We have made changes to simplify the Household Support Fund application process. This includes removing the need for residents to include their income and expenditure on the application form, instead, residents can simply attach their most recent bank statements and council staff will carry out a financial assessment to determine their eligibility. The application form also now includes an information box to ask residents to state why they are applying for the grant. As of Friday, 13 October, £256,256 has been distributed to 832 households.
We understand that December can be a very difficult month for families on low incomes so children eligible for benefits-related free school meals will also be provided with supermarket vouchers of £25 per week, with a maximum of £50 for the school holidays per child. This is an increase of £10 per week, compared to the previous £15 per week.
We also recognise the effect the cost-of-living crisis is having on its partners and their ability to support residents and has allocated £150,000 to the Medway Food Partnership to distribute amongst its members.
In July, Medway Council’s Cabinet also agreed a new cost-of-living crisis response plan which brings together all of the support that is available for residents from the council, and partners, into one place to make it easier to access.
Committed to doing everything we can to help residents
Leader of Medway Council, Cllr Vince Maple, said: “We are committed to doing everything we can to help residents who are facing financial pressures as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. I am pleased that we have distributed more than £8million from the Household Support Fund, but we want to make sure residents benefit from all of the funding government has allocated to us. We understand that those residents who have never had to access help before may feel uncomfortable reaching out, but I would encourage them to find out more about the wide range of support on offer.”
Find out more about all the support on offer in Medway, and apply to the Household Support Fund