Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to strengthening local welfare services.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A total of £3 billion including Barnett impact has been announced since October 2021 to enable the delivery of Household Support Fund in England. This includes over £2.5 billion allocated to Local Authorities in England. It is for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.
Councils continue to have the flexibility to use funding from the Local Government Finance Settlement to provide local welfare assistance.
The Government has delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the child poverty statistics published on 21 March, what plans they have to initiate a cross-government strategy to address child poverty.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions already works consistently across Government to support the most vulnerable households. This includes a cross-government senior officials’ group on poverty.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 6 March that the Household Support Fund has been extended until September, what assessment they have made of the position of local authorities who had already reduced their local crisis support services and disbanded delivery teams.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.
The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.
The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.
The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.
As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to work with (1) Barnado’s, and (2) other charities who have developed recommendations for the future of local crisis support, prior to the ending of the Household Support Fund in September.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.
The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.
The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.
The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.
As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.
Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 6 March that the Household Support Fund has been extended until September, what support they will provide to local authorities when the fund ends.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.
The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.
The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over £1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit 1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.
The Government has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.
As announced by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.