Household Support Fund survey report

Key findings

• Financial hardship: Over four-fifths of respondents (83 per cent) said their local authority has a local welfare assistance scheme (or something similar) in addition to the Household Support Fund. 
• Financial hardship: Over four-fifths of respondents (84 per cent) said that financial hardship had increased in their area in the last 12 months.
• Financial hardship: Around three quarters of respondents (73 per cent) said that they expect financial hardship to increase in their area in the next 12 months whilst just under a fifth of respondents (19 per cent) said they expect it to remain about the same.
• Supporting people with no recourse to public funds: Just under three quarters of respondents (71 per cent) said they use the Household Support Fund to support people with no recourse to public funds.
• Continuation of Household Support Fund: Almost all respondents (98 per cent) said they would support the continuation of the Household Support Fund to at least a small extent. The majority of these (94 per cent) answered to a great extent.
• End of Household Support Fund: Almost two thirds of respondents (62 per cent) said they would provide no additional discretionary funding to replace funding lost through the end of the Household Support Fund, whilst just under a fifth of respondents (17 per cent) said that alongside the Household Support Fund ending, they would also be reducing their own discretionary funding for local welfare assistance schemes due to financial pressures.
• End of Household Support Fund: When asked how the overall level of funding for local welfare assistance would be impacted, if the Household Support Fund were to come to an end on 31 March 2024, almost half of respondents (44 per cent) said it would reduce by 76 per cent to 99 per cent with a further 13 per cent saying it would reduce by 100 per cent.
• Supplementary advice services: Almost half of respondents (45 per cent) said there would be a decrease in the level of provision of advice services if the Household Support Fund were to come to an end.
• Redundancies: Around a fifth of respondents (22 per cent) said they would have to make redundancies if the Household Support Fund were to end.
• Effective welfare system Almost all respondents (95 per cent) said the current spending guidance allows them to deliver an effective welfare scheme that meets local needs to at least a small extent.
• Support: Over nine-tenths of respondents (92 per cent) said the Household Support Fund allows them to meet the costs of administration to at least a small extent.