Update from the Leader - 19 March

I’d like to update you on the Household Support Fund, as I appreciate the need for support is as great as ever.

Since the start of the Household Support Fund in October 2021, Bracknell Forest Council has distributed over £2.5 million of funding in the borough to households experiencing financial hardship. Over £1 million of this funding has helped families who receive free school meals with help for food during the school holidays.

The Household Support Fund has also provided assistance to the community through:

• grants to our local voluntary, charity and faith sector to help extend the excellent work they are doing to help with the cost-of-living
• extending help to households who just miss out on national cost-of-living payments with supermarket vouchers
• targeting low-income households with help for debt and fuel poverty

Following the autumn statement in 2023, the government did not confirm if the fund would continue after 31 March 2024. The end of the Household Support Fund would lead to a severe reduction in the ability of the council to support households experiencing financial hardship. 

To campaign for the fund to be continued, the council has:

• written directly to the secretary of state responsible for the Household Support Fund, Mims Davies MP
• supported the Local Government Association campaign for the continuation of the Household Support Fund
• worked with community partners, such as local foodbanks, to lobby the government to extend funding 
• worked with our local MP James Sunderland to raise the issue in Parliament

In the budget on 6 March, the Chancellor confirmed the scheme would be extended for 6 months, from 1 April to 30 September 2024. The full details of the next round of the Household Support Fund have not yet been released.  

The council will be working quickly to establish the policy and processes to distribute the funding to residents. The pathways of support are likely to start from 1 May 2024. I will keep you informed as more information becomes available.

Cllr Mary Temperton Leader of Bracknell Forest Council