INFORMATION FROM SHROPSHIRE COUNCIL ON THE HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT FUND
Shropshire Council has received additional funding through the new Household Support Fund, we have until 31 March 2022 to spend this money. Please refer to the following recent news article regarding this:
Money to support Shropshire households with fuel costs has also been given to Shropshire Rural Communities Charity and Marches Energy Agency but we have also received extra money for local welfare provision which we will use for a number of things:
- Food
- Energy and water
- Essentials linked to energy and water (e.g. cookers, fridges, freezers, cooking equipment, sanitary products, soap, warm clothing, blankets, boiler service and repair)
- Wider essentials (eg phone bills, broadband, other clothing, school uniform, essential transport-related costs, other essential furniture – this list is not exhaustive)
- Housing costs “in exceptional circumstances.” DWP have placed a number of caveats on using this money for housing costs, including exhausting all other avenues of alternative local funding to the extent that we do not envisage using it in this way – but please remember that we still have money available in the welfare fund that can help with this.
Because we have more money, we can help more people and this will mean that for many people, the usual restrictions we have to put in place for the normal Local Support and Prevention Fund applications will not be applied to this new funding. If someone is struggling financially, please encourage them to contact us as we may be able to help.
To make things simple, we are classing all of the money available to us as Local Welfare Provision. This means that customers only need to make one application, we will help from whichever pots of money are appropriate.
Please do encourage anyone that you encounter who is in difficulty to call us on 0345 678 9078 (option 2), and we will take an application from them over the phone. If you are supporting the person, then with your customer’s consent, we would welcome any information that you feel would support them