Flexible Support Fund
(asked on 13th April 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the under-spend in the Flexible Support Fund in each of the last five financial years for which data is available; and to where those funds were reallocated.
The table below provides the budgets and outturn for Flexible Support Fund in the relevant years*.
| 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
Budget | £99.9 m | £127.6 m | £178.8 m | £76.8 m | £51.7 m |
Outturn | £115.0 m | £110.1 m | £91.5 m | £58.4 m | £51.0 m |
Underspend | £15.2m | £17.5 m | £87.3 m | £18.4 m | £0.7 m |
*All figures have been rounded to the nearest tenth of a million, with negative values enclosed in brackets.
The Flexible Support Fund budget is subject to review and change, based on claimant needs and volumes and as new policies are agreed and old policies are withdrawn. As discretionary expenditure it is also dependent upon overall Departmental affordability. The level of expenditure reflects these changing policies and the level of claimant demand. For example, in 2014/15 the Department received funding as part of the Spending Review 2013 in order to meet travel and childcare costs to facilitate additional support for claimants, but the use of this increased funding was limited. The budget for the Flexible Support Fund is not ring-fenced, so any underspend or overspend contributes to the Department’s overall financial position in each year.