Surrey County Council has been allocated an additional £5.3million funding to continue to support Surrey’s most vulnerable households over the winter months. This is part of the Government’s new Household Support Grant. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) announced a new grant of £500 million to be allocated across the UK, running from October 2021 through to March 2022.
The grant enables the Council to support vulnerable households who may be struggling financially to help with the cost of food, energy, water, and other essentials, and can also be used to support with housing costs in exceptional circumstances. With financial uncertainty, furlough ending, the Council has been glad to have helped those most in need.
Denise Turner-Stewart, Cabinet Member for Education and Learning said, “I’m so pleased that Surrey County Council has been allocated further funding from the Household Support Grant. Throughout the pandemic this council has made supporting our most vulnerable residents a top priority and this funding will allow us to continue to do just that.
“We have already used part of this fund to provide food vouchers for some of our most vulnerable families during the school October half-term holiday and, along with our partners, we will agree further proposals that ensure all our vulnerable residents have crucial support over the coming winter months.”
How the fund will be allocated…
- The Council decided that £330k of the fund would be used to enable the continued provision of food vouchers to eligible children over the October half term, Christmas holidays and February half term.
- A further £2.8m has been allocated to borough and district councils who will work alongside representatives from the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCF) to help the most vulnerable households in their area.
- Money has also been set aside to top up food banks, community fridges and food clubs.
- Surrey County Council’s Surrey Crisis Fund will be further equipped to meet demand until the end of the financial year. As at July 2021 the Surrey Crisis Fund has been delighted to have provided over £300,000 worth of support to some of Surrey’s most financially-in-need families.
Posted from Surrey News