County / Borough Council

Norfolk County Council  - November 2024 Briefing.

Norfolk County Council Household Support Fund – October 2024 to March 2025                                         

Background

Originally launched in September 2021, the Government’s Household Support Fund was aimed at providing a bridge between the end of both furlough and the Universal Credit top-up, helping alleviate winter hardship while the economy recovered from Covid.

The fund is now in its sixth round and this briefing outlines how Norfolk County Council will spend its share of the fund for the coming year.

The council will receive £6.7 million from central government to cover a 6-month period to the end of March 2025.

Since the fund began, the council has received over £39 million from the Government and has supplemented this support with almost £3 million of additional funding. This funding has provided direct support to over 200,000 households.

The announcement of round 6 funding means that by March 2025 the council will have spent just over £50 million on Household Support. Working with partners, we have supported people to buy food, utilities and other crucial supplies. We have also given households access to advice and guidance, and invested in community facilities like food hubs, community hot spots and warm places.

The Fund was due to cease at the end of September 2024, and we lobbied hard for the continuation of this vital support. We were pleased that the Government recently announced a further extension of the scheme. This allows us to continue this valuable programme of support and implement some longer-term solutions to help families to manage the ongoing impact of increased costs of living. We will continue to work in partnership with schools and local councils to distribute the funds. We are not expecting the funding to continue beyond March of next year.

What support is available?

Based on our experience in earlier phases, we expect the funding to provide support to around 50,000 households across Norfolk.

Support for families who receive Free School Meals £3.6 million

The Council will continue to provide cost-of-living vouchers for free school meals eligible children with those eligible receiving a total of £120 in vouchers per child for the period October 2024 to March 2025.

The vouchers are provided by Edenred, which can be used in a number of supermarkets for food and groceries.

If families receive a means-tested benefit and are entitled for Free School Meals (Pupil Premium) they will automatically receive the vouchers from their child's school.

Children who are home educated and may be entitled to the vouchers can complete the Norfolk Assistance Scheme form and will be supported to access Edenred by NAS. Find out more about free school meals on our website.

Around 30,000 children will have access to this support.

Client Hardship Service (NAS) £1 million

The Client Hardship service already provides hardship support to Norfolk residents who are struggling with their living costs. The service will now receive additional funds to be able to support more people over the next year.

Delivered directly by the County Council, the scheme includes: - 

·         Providing household items through charities (e.g. cooker, fridge, washing machine, bed)

·         Financial support for emergency energy needs (Pay Point payment for gas and electricity)

as well as other types of support and guidance: -

§   Support with grant applications

·         Support with money management and budget, DWP benefits entitlement, referral to debt agencies and support disability relates expenses etc.

·         Introductions to support workers, advice organisations and voluntary agencies to provide wraparound support to help prevent further crisis occurring

·         Referral to other services and partners for complex areas

Client Hardship Service – Norfolk County Council

Working with our trusted partners to support residents affected by the winter fuel payment changes £750,000

To further support pension age residents who are experiencing hardship but are not eligible for pension credit, we are allocating £750,000 of the Household Support Fund to our trusted partners. These partners, who provide accredited advice, are in the best position to identify and assist those in need and are already working to support Norfolk residents to access pension credit where they are entitled. The funding will allow our partners the flexibility to award residents £120 per household to help towards their increased costs of living through the winter, such as fuel and heating. This approach ensures that support is targeted and effective, addressing the specific needs of those who might otherwise fall through the cracks. 

Local support in the community provided by district councils £700,000

This allocation will enable the seven local councils across Norfolk to continue to provide proactive and crisis support to residents.

Funding has been divided up in proportion to the number of Universal Credit and Pension Credit claimants in each district as follows:

Norwich                              £143,281

Great Yarmouth                       £123,441

King's Lynn and West Norfolk   £113,609

Breckland                            £101,045

South Norfolk                      £80,121

Broadland                           £68,688

North Norfolk                           £69,809

A number of data sets are provided by DWP to support work to proactively identify those in need of support. Work will be carried out to ensure that there is some consistency in how those most in need are proactively identified across the seven local councils, and to ensure that there is no duplication of effort, with a view to maximising the reach of any support made available.

Links to local council officers for more information can be found at the end of this briefing. To ensure adequate funds are allocated at a local level we will continue to review demand and spend with each local council and adjust accordingly.

Adult Learning £250,000

The County Council’s Adult Learning service provides a range of free to access courses, including: -

·         Cooking on a budget – which includes food supplies and recipes for families to take home at the end of the session to cook at home

·         Money management

·         Family learning sessions

·         Digital skills to enable families, as well as older and disabled people to access advice and support services

This funding will enable the service to continue this expanded programme and deliver more courses across the county during this period, to help families to better manage the impact of the increased cost of living.

The service will focus on providing additional courses in those areas where the need in highest, for example in areas of deprivation and to those people who we know are more impacted by cost-of-living increases (older and disabled people).

Using our own community spaces as Winter Warm Spaces £400,000

Norfolk County Council is committed to supporting our vulnerable residents through the winter months and will be using our libraries and museums, as winter warm spaces. These spaces will provide a safe, warm environment for residents over the winter months. In addition to warmth, these spaces will offer free hot drinks, some essential supplies, and access to advice and support services. By using our community spaces in this way, we aim to create a network of support that helps to mitigate the impact of the cold weather on our most vulnerable residents. Individuals will be able to access: -

·         Free grab and go bags with essential daily supplies, e.g. hygiene bags

·         Winter warm grab and go bags including blankets, hot water bottles and draught excluders

·         A free drink (including through our Just a Cuppa sessions)

·         Warm spaces during the winter/colder months

How long is this funding in place?

This additional Government funding for household support ends in March 2025. Vouchers/ grants can be distributed until the end of March 2025 and must be redeemed/ fully spent before the end of April 2025. We will review the demand and funding allocations at the end of January to reprofile to meet need, as necessary.

How can people access support?

People can go to www.norfolk.gov.uk/costofliving to find out how to access the support available. Organisations and support workers can also do this on people’s behalf. If people have problems accessing online services, then they can visit their local library or call us on 0344 800 8020.

What can I do to help?

If you are working with, or aware of, a family who you think may be eligible for free school meals, who are not currently receiving them, please encourage them to speak to their children’s education provider or support them in that conversation where needed.

Please direct people to the website www.norfolk.gov.uk/costofliving so that they can find the right support for their needs.

Who can I contact for further information?

• Hardship Support General Information – Hannah Edge, Head of Communities and Customer Services, Norfolk County Council Hannah.edge@norfolk.gov.uk

• Client Hardship Service and the support on offer - John Baldwin, Head of Finance Exchequer Services john.baldwin@norfolk.gov.uk

• Free School Meal vouchers and support for families –philip.beck@norfolk.gov.uk

• Broadland Council’s support offer -  Mike.Pursehouse@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

• Breckland Council’s support offer – Jessica.Creighton@breckland.gov.uk

• Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s support offer – Steve Scott-Greenard earlyhelphub@great-yarmouth.gov.uk 0808 196 2238

• King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council’s support offer - Judith.Berry@West-Norfolk.gov.uk

• Norwich City Council’s support offer – covidhub@norwich.gov.uk

• South Norfolk Council’s support offer - Mike.Pursehouse@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

• North Norfolk District Council’s support offer - Sonia.Shuter@north-norfolk.gov.uk

County Councillor Jim Moriarty

Gayton and Nar Valley - Norfolk County Council

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