New funding has been allocated to a support scheme so Liverpool residents can continue to receive help as the cost of living crisis deepens.
Liverpool city council launched its Household Support Fund in October 2021 with funding from the Department for Work and Pensions. The scheme is designed to offer financial support to families through small grants to help with household essentials and bills, as well as supplementing initiatives such as free school meals.
Since the scheme was launched, households across Merseyside have been hit with hugely inflated energy bills after the energy price cap was lifted in April - meaning bills could increase by as much as 50%. Inflation has also increased the price of other essential household items, with warnings the energy price cap could be raised once again later this year.
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Liverpool initially received £6m from the DWP when the fund was launched, with the same amount now allocated to continue the scheme until September 2022. Liverpool city council will receive £6,054,020 in total after the decision was rubber stamped at a cabinet meeting last Friday.
The council has also outlined its desire to continue the fund should the necessary support from the DWP be provided past September of this year. A council document states that the Household Support fund “must be used to provide support to households, particularly those including children and pensioners, who would otherwise struggle to buy food or pay essential utility bills."
It adds that in “exceptional cases of genuine emergency” the fund can be used to provide support in paying for other “essential living costs”. The fund also goes towards supporting families where children receive free school meals.
The council adds that at least 33.3% of the £6m allocated for the fund is to be allocated to “households that include a person who will be under the age of 19 as at the 30 September 2022, or a person aged 19 or over in respect of whom a child related benefit is paid or free school meals are provided during the grant period.”
It was noted that Liverpool city council spent the full allocation of the first round of the Household Support grant in the period between October 2021 and March 2022. The council adds that plans are in place to “fully allocate” the new round of funding totalling £6m before September 2022.
