Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress her Department has made on allocating the Household Support Fund to local authorities.

Local Authorities have received their allocations from the £421m Household Support Fund extension for April – September 2022, alongside the grant determination and guidance. The allocations for Local Authorities for this period can be found here Household Support Fund (1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022): final guidance for county councils and unitary authorities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Local Authorities have discretion on exactly how and when this funding is used within the scope set out, based on their assessment of local need. This funding is available now for use by Local Authorities until 30 September 2022.

From October 2022, Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England £421m will be used to further extend the Household Support Fund (October 2022 – March 2023).

Guidance and individual local authority indicative allocations for this further extension to the Household Support Fund will be announced in due course.