Buckinghamshire Council outlines winter support offer for residents

£4.8m of Household Support Fund (HSF) from the Department for Work and Pensions is being used to provide a wide range of support to residents. The HSF money is also being used to provide grants to food and welfare voluntary and community support organisations, to help those struggling with the ongoing cost of living pressures.

Buckinghamshire Council Leader Martin Tett and Cabinet Member for Communities, Arif Hussain, welcomed Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression, Mims Davies MP, to Buckinghamshire yesterday as part of ‘Household Support Fund Awareness Week’, to see how the Household Support Fund is helping people here in Buckinghamshire and beyond. They visited one of the local organisations that has received funding from the Helping Hand service. The Monthly Monday Meals programme at Buckinghamshire New University offers students a free monthly recipe kit and meal bag, as well as access to an online cookery course to learn how to prepare healthy and budget friendly meals.

The HSF supports the council’s Helping Hand service which assesses applications for financial help and navigates residents to the most appropriate support. Since April this year, using the Household Support Fund money, the council’s Helping Hand service has:

• managed 5,120 applications for support
• helped 2,540 residents with bespoke support
• referred 1,709 households to local food banks
• funded 1200 white goods and essential items
• issued nearly 30,000 free school meal holidays digital food vouchers during the May and Summer school holidays in 2023
• supported over 40 food banks and local voluntary organisations

In addition to the support provided to eligible families during school holidays through the Household Support Fund, Buckinghamshire Council also runs the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme during the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays. Funded by the Department for Education, HAF provides free holiday activities and a healthy hot meal for children in Reception – Year 11 who receive benefits-related free school meals.

Speaking about the fund, Buckinghamshire Council Leader Martin Tett said:

“I am pleased that the Minister has seen how the Household Support fund is benefiting our residents and making a real difference to their everyday lives. This money allows us to do so much at a time when many of our residents need extra help, and I’m very proud of the wide range of support that the council has been able to offer using the Household Support Fund. It’s a chain of support that is making a huge difference; Government is providing the means, the council is providing a co-ordinating role as well as giving direct help, and our voluntary sector is working hard on the ground with various projects, all meeting people’s needs.”

Arif Hussain, Buckinghamshire Council's Cabinet Member for Communities, added:

“The HSF supports the day to day running of our Helping Hand service which has become a vital port of call for thousands of residents. Through this service we have helped local households in a wide variety of ways. The funding being allocated for a full 12 months combined with some increased flexibility has allowed us to tailor our offering; we can now, for example, use the funds for debt advice and support for those who have received help from HSF funded initiatives but who require additional assistance to improve their finances.”

Minister for Social Mobility Youth and Progression, Mims Davies MP, said:

“It was great to visit the Monday Monthly Meals programme with local MP Steve Baker, as part of the Household Support Fund Awareness Week. I met the team here at Buckinghamshire New University who are utilising the fund by offering students the supplies and recipes they need to eat well – one of many cost of living initiatives taking place in the area thanks to a £4.8 million investment from our Household Support Fund.

“Without this important funding from the Government and the hard work of the council and local community, the over 234,000 awards of support already made to the most vulnerable would not have been possible. I encourage anyone struggling with the cost of living to speak to the council to find out what support is available for them.”

Professor Nick Braisby, Vice-Chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University, commented:

“We are grateful for the Household Support funding Government has provided. Our monthly Monday Meals initiative, delivered with our Students’ Union, is making a real difference to students who would otherwise find it difficult to make ends meet. The additional funding is part of the University’s award-winning support for students through the cost-of-living crisis. This includes free meals, reduced prices in our catering outlets, reduced rents in University halls of residence, increased scholarships and bursaries, and subsidies to ensure that students can access a range of sports, recreation and skills development sessions for free. The HSF funding is an essential element of this student support package.”