Further cost of living support planned for 50,000 struggling Hucknall and Nottinghamshire families

The third round of the Government’s Household Support Fund (HSF) is expected to allocate around £5.6 million to the county and will once again be administered by Nottinghamshire County Council in partnership with its borough and district council partners between October 1 and March 31 next year.

HSF had already seen two packages of £5.6 million funds to provide food vouchers to those children entitled to free school meals (FSM) during school holidays and financial support given to households and individuals most in need of help to cover essential household costs, such as food, energy, and water bills.

As part of the second round of HSF funding, the council has allocated £2.85 million worth of holiday food vouchers, benefitting more than 32,000 children eligible or an equivalence of eligibility to FSM during three sets of school holidays.

It has also provided more than £1.9 million to help more than 15,000 vulnerable people of a pensionable age and more than £260,000 to help around 3,000 households in need where the occupants are not of pensionable age and have no children.

For the forthcoming third round, a one-off winter support voucher payment will be worth around a £100 for each household to use towards energy and food bills.

The final amount per household will be proportionately adjusted based on the number of eligible people in the household to help with extra food costs.

The plans include £2 million to be shared among households with children in receipt of FSM, or with children five or under with an equivalent eligibility, £1.55 million to be shared among households where one or more person is in receipt of or eligible for pension credit, £1.53 million to be shared among any other households who maybe facing significant cost of living challenges, and £210,000 to be used towards discretionary housing payments to help those who face homelessness;

Coun John Cottee (Con), cabinet member for communities, said: “We recognise the financial difficulties faced by some households across the county and not just for those in receipt of benefits.

“We’ve had to make some difficult decisions, as we want the money to be shared among as many households in need as possible, including those who are homeless and also those who often miss out as they don’t quite meet eligibility for benefits or other support, but continue to struggle to make ends meet.

Coun Tracey Taylor (Con), cabinet member for children and young people, added: “This once again reaffirms our commitment to helping households who are most in need of support, including helping low-income households with children entitled to FSM or equivalent.

“We are proud to have provided food vouchers to those children entitled to FSM during school holidays for the last two HSF rounds but, due to pressures so many families are facing, this time we are making a one-off winter support voucher payment based on the size of the household.

“This is the fairest way to spread these funds as widely as possible to make sure people get the help they need.”

For other financial support, a dedicated webpage is here.