Agenda item

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance submitted a report for Executive consideration. The report sought approval of the Household Support Fund Scheme (HSF) for the first half of 2024/25 and sought delegated authority for the Director of Finance and the Executive Member for Finance to make minor revisions/modifications to the plan.

 

On 6 March 2024, the Chancellor announced in the Spring Budget a number of measures to provide further help through the extension of the Household Support Fund (HSF) to support low-income households to cover the period 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024.

 

Each Local Authority was required to prepare a local scheme to determine how the funding provided would be distributed. The amount allocated to Middlesbrough was £1,653,615.

 

Government guidance required Local Authorities to clearly advertise the scheme to residents, including publication on the Council’s website.

 

The value of individual awards was to be determined by Local Authorities in accordance with the parameters set out in the guidance.

 

The proposed scheme was based on the Council’s previous successful HSF schemes and had been endorsed by the Council’s Financial Inclusion Group and the relevant internal departments including Children’s Services and Adult Social Care.

 

The scheme was designed to support vulnerable residents and low-income households that included children, pensioners, people with disabilities and other households who might be experiencing financial difficulties brought about by the economic challenges.

 

The proposed scheme was set out in Table 1 of the report. Estimated expenditure equated to £1.521m (excluding administration costs).

 

In line with the guidance, the Council was able to recover administrations costs to deliver the scheme and these had been calculated at £0.132m.  This equated to 8% of the scheme funding. The administrative costs were in line with those of surrounding Local Authorities and also aligned to costs incurred from the administration of earlier HSF delivery plans.

 

Following implementation of the delivery plan, any remaining funds would be allocated to Council Tax accounts with a then current award of Council Tax Reduction (CTR) and where an outstanding balance remained following the issue of a summons in 2024/25 financial year. The Council also reserved the right to widen the group to those accounts not in receipt of CTR.

 

The scheme had been designed to provide support across the defined six-month period for awards.

 

The scheme would be subject to periodic reviews to allow alterations to be made should the scheme requirements need to change to keep pace with events.

 

Appropriate counter fraud measures would be put in place to minimise risk in accordance with the Council’s policies and procedures.

 

ORDERED

 

That Executive approve:

 

1.    The Household Support Fund delivery plan for 2024, which will be delivered between 1 April 2024 and 30 September 2024 and as set out in Table 1 (para 18) to target four main groups:

 

·         Families with children and in receipt of benefits.

·         Pensioners in receipt of Council Tax Reduction (CTR) and in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit (PCGC)  

·         Singles/Couples in receipt of benefits.

·         Application-based awards for residents not in receipt of CTR or other benefits.

 

2.    That any remaining funds following implementation of the delivery plan (and administrative costs) are allocated to Council Tax accounts, with a then current award of Council Tax Reduction (CTR) and where an outstanding balance remains following the issue of a summons in 2024/25 financial year. This may also be widened to incorporate accounts not in receipt of CTR. 

3.    That delegated authority is provided to the Director of Finance and the Executive member for Finance to make any minor revisions/modifications to the scheme and make decisions in respect of any remaining funds (as outlined in para 4) to ensure the scheme is distributed in line with the guidance and within the defined timescales.

 

OPTIONS

 

Do nothing; however, without a suitable scheme with sufficient defined criteria approved by the Council’s Executive and presented to the DWP, the funds would not be able to be utilised by the Council to benefit vulnerable residents and low-income households and would need to be repaid to the DWP.    

 

REASONS

 

The decision was deemed as special urgent as Central Government advised of a further round of the Household Support Fund (HSF) in the Spring Budget. This funding was due to end, therefore the decision by Central Government to continue has only just been made, hence the short timescale for implementation.

 

The decision is unable to comply with the notice periods in part 6.22 or the forward work programme requirements in part 6.32 of the Constitution.  The general exception in 6.35 could not be followed as the decision needed to be made urgently to approve the Household Support Fund and delivery plan, for submission of the delivery plan to DWP, to start to distribute the funds to vulnerable residents and deliver the scheme as a matter of urgency. 

 

Central Government had made allocations to Local Authorities through the HSF to provide support to households, who would otherwise struggle to buy food or pay essential utility bills or meet other essential living costs.

 

The Council needed to confirm an approach and submit an approved delivery plan to the DWP by 10 May 2024 for awards to be made within the timescale April to September. As the decision to continue has only just been made, hence the short timescale for implementation and the urgency of the decision

 

The policy is a key decision that impacts on two or more awards and will incur expenditure above £250,000.

 

The minor amendments that may be required will result in no changes to the threshold to services and support provided. 

 

The delegated authority sought for the Director of Finance and the Executive Member for Finance to approve future minor revisions/modifications and make decisions in respect of any remaining funds maintains service operation levels and ensures that the scheme can be delivered within the defined timescales.