‘It’s scary to think how people are going to survive’: Councils and community groups call on Government to extend vital funding

Councils and community groups are calling on the Government to extend vital funding which helps the most vulnerable households with essential food and energy costs.

Lambeth and Southwark council have sent a letter – signed by health charities and food banks – to Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt MP, urging the Government to extend the Household Support Fund past March this year. 

The fund, allocated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), made £842million available to councils from April 1, 2023. This included more than £6million to Croydon council and about £5.5million to both Lambeth and Southwark councils.

Southwark councillor Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for communities, democracy and finance, said: “We spend more than double our household support grant on helping households most affected by the cost-of-living crisis.

“We need an immediate decision on household support grants, as part of longer-term action by the Government to get serious about funding for local councils.”

Despite being extended several times since its launch in 2021, the Government has not confirmed the fund will continue past March. Mr Hunt has not responded to the council’s queries.

This comes as food inflation remains at 8 per cent and gas prices are still 2.5 times higher than before the cost-of-living crisis.

According to Lambeth council, single parents, carers and people from ethnic minority communities are disproportionately represented among the poorest in the borough.

Brixton-based charity Healthy Living Platform hosts weekly pantries across Lambeth offering low-cost, healthy food to about 7,409 people.

Stockwell resident Lucy Thomas, 40, is a mother-of-three and carer for her husband and father. She started using the Brixton pantry just before lockdown.

She said: “My two older children were at school and I just had my third baby.

“My older two loved seeing all the fruit and veggies I got.”

Ms Thomas, who also volunteers at the service, said cuts in funding will be “devastating” for her and the community.

She said: “It’s quite scary to think how people are going to survive. People rely on a pantry, a food bank and just that support from others that are in the same situation.”

Household Support funds make up almost 50 per cent of food supplied by the pantries that customers choose from.

Carla Thomas, 40, who lives in an estate near Windrush Square in Brixton, is the community food manager at Healthy Living Platform.

She said: “The fund allows us to buy long-life stable cupboard items. Not everyone has a fridge or cooking facilities, some people just have a microwave and need foods that suit what they have.

“It also means we can get food appropriate for our communities – we get coconut milk in because we have a lot of Caribbean families in Lambeth, we try to get halal foods, too.

“People deserve the dignity of choice – that’s what the fund gives people here.”

The pantries provide food to 40 community groups a week, including specialist support groups, children’s centres and refuges.

Ms Thomas said: “If the fund stops we will see the hub run out – shelves will be bare and the range of food we provide is going to drop down drastically.

“Families are struggling as it is.”

A DWP spokesman said: “We have invested over £2billion in the Household Support Fund over the last two years – with almost £800million already paid to families with children to help with the cost of living.

“The current Fund is available up until March 2024 as part of wider cost of living support worth on average £3,700 per household, including raising benefits by 6.7 per cent from April and increasing the Local Housing Allowance.

“We continue to keep all existing programmes and cost-of-living measures under review.”

Pictured top: Front row from left, pantry volunteers Lucy Thomas, Lizzie Durham, Petrina Goode, Doreen Nembhard and (Back right) Jon Woodason (Picture: Carla Thomas)