New household support fund for East Riding households
People will have to apply for £400 grants but there are warnings there may not be enough to go around
Around 1,980 East Riding households in work are set to be eligible for £400 grants but they will have to apply amid warnings there may not be enough to go around.
East Riding Council’s Cabinet heard the grants, worth around £790,000 in total, were coming along with winter clothing allowances, boiler and fuel funding and other measures for eligible households.
Council Leader Cllr Jonathan Owen said it aimed to help those in work struggling amid the cost of living crisis, but added distributing finite amounts of funding would be difficult.
The measure is part of the council’s latest Household Support Fund, worth more than £2m, which has been drawn up to tackle issues set to become more severe with winter.
The fund is backed by Government cash, after it was extended from October to March next year to help councils tackle the deepening cost of living crisis.
The cabinet heard the council faced its own financial difficulties as inflation, higher than expected public sector pay settlements and energy bills widen budget gaps.
Councillors heard the new £400 grants would be open to single households who are working, not getting benefits and who make less than £26,000-a-year and have no savings.
Family households who are working, not getting benefits and with a total income of less than £31,000 without savings will also be able to apply.
Grants are also set to be given to households with people who have long term health conditions.
Council revenues lead Gillian Barley said officials were currently working on how the application process would work.
She added the council had to open it to applications, which would be in two windows, because officials were trying to reach people who were not in the welfare system.
The remaining roughly £1.2m of the Support Fund is set to be spent on £10 free school meal vouchers in the December and February holidays.
The £400,000 voucher scheme comes alongside a fund worth a further £200,000, which will be spent on a £20 warm clothing allowance for schoolchildren in December.
The payments are due to help an estimated 10,000 children, including around 1,200 who are thought to be eligible for free school meals but whose families have not claimed support.
An estimated 192 homes are set to get £520 each to fund heating systems running on oil or liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
The council has earmarked £100,000 to repair or replace boilers for 40 eligible households.
A total of £45,000 has been given to Citizens Advice to fund their £50 fuel vouchers for about 900 single-person households for six months.
Housing benefit claimants who did not receive a Government Cost of Living grant, an estimated 900, are set for a total of £360,000 in extra support.
Cllr Owen said the authority was trying to be innovative in finding ways to help people through the cost of living crisis.
But he added they were constantly having to respond to an ever-changing situation.
The leader said: “It’s incredibly difficult to decide how to distribute funding because there will never be enough to go around for everyone.
“But the work that’s been put into this will be well received, because it’s not just people on benefits who need help its also the struggling working poor who aren’t used to coming forward.
“This support is as good as it gets in an ever-changing situation.”
The council is yet to confirm how the application process for the £400 grants will work and when it will open.