A total of 17.8 million people in England will be cut off from crisis support if the household support fund ends next month, new research has revealed.
The household support fund is provided by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and is currently set to expire on 31 September, which could mean that local welfare assistance disappears across many parts of the country.
There are already 36 local authorities who have closed their local welfare schemes, which support people with food, fuel and essentials in times of crisis, according to the charity End Furniture Poverty.
- Majority of councils unable to help those in crisis after DWP’s support fund ends next month
- Renters ‘must earn more than £75,000’ to afford to live in London
If the DWP’s household support fund ends for good, more councils will close their schemes, meaning there will be no crisis support in 44 local authority areas. That is nearly one in three (29%) local authorities in England.
The fund was introduced by the previous government in 2021 to support families through the cost of living crisis, with £1bn distributed to local authorities and the devolved governments each year. It was extended for a further six months by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt in his Spring Budget.
Claire Donovan, head of policy at the End Furniture Poverty, said: “We know the household support fund is a sticking plaster, but we desperately need one last extension of funding while an urgent review of local authority crisis support is carried out.”