Buckinghamshire Council making best use of Household Support Fund for residents
A senior government minister visited Buckinghamshire this week to find out how the council is using the Household Support Fund (HSF) to help local residents facing hardship and challenges brought on by cost of living pressures.
Left to Right, Martin Tett, John Glen, Henry Allmand, CEO of Heart of Bucks
The Rt Hon John Glen MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, met with the Leader, Cabinet Member for Communities and the chief executive of local charity Heart of Bucks, in addition to council officers, at Aylesbury Library – one the county’s welcoming spaces - and heard first-hand how HSF funding in Buckinghamshire is being used to support residents via the council’s Helping Hand service.
Last year, this fund was used to provide digital food voucher, including for eligible children during school holidays; to support local organisations including charities and food banks; and to provide targeted support to priority groups, such as care leavers, who were struggling the most. The council also jointly set up a local crisis fund with Heart of Bucks, asking for people who were able to donate to contribute to this fund. To date the fund has raised more than £190,000 in donations.
The council has recently outlined how it will be using an additional £4.8m funding from the government’s Household Support Fund to continue providing support for residents in the year ahead.
Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council said:
“We were delighted to welcome the Minister to Buckinghamshire today to talk about how we have been proactively using the Household Support Fund to support households who have been facing financial hardship due to the ongoing cost of living pressures.
Over the past 12 months, our Helping Hand service has received more than 11,000 requests for support from Buckinghamshire residents, so we’re really pleased that we can continue to help those most in need over the coming year.”