In 2023/24 the UK Government has provided the County Council with a grant to increase the funding available for cost-of-living support. The County Council is using the Household Support Fund in the following ways:

1. Those who receive Housing Benefits but do not also receive other qualifying benefits will not receive the national cost of living payments in 2022/23 or 2023/24. We are using the Household Support Fund to make an expected payment of £450 to these residents. Those eligible residents will receive a letter from us in November.
2. The free school meal equivalent support payment for school holiday periods and the parallel scheme for early years, see our Help with rising living costs page, is funded from the Household Support Fund.
3. We are delegating funding to the City and District councils to allow them to meet locally identified needs better and support the voluntary and community sector.
4. Additional funding is being made available to schools to help meet children and young people’s basic needs where no other support is available.
5. Funding is being made available to social care teams to provide additional support for those leaving hospital and experiencing financial hardship or a change in circumstance.
6. Our new Resident support scheme is partly funded by the Household Support Fund.

A report giving further detail on how the council is using cost of living funding this year

Information on help available is also published on the Government’s Cost of Living Hub.