• 8.9 million grants given to families in first round of Household Support Fund, new data shows
• Local Authorities use government funding to help communities with innovative measures
• It “has been an important intervention to provide Help for Households”, minister says

The vital support was given to families in England from the Household Support Fund in the first six months of its introduction, with £400 million spent in support and given directly to those in need.

The Fund has since been extended to the end of March 2023 after receiving another £842 million in funding through two extensions.

Local Authorities administer the fund on behalf of the government to help vulnerable households across the country access support to help with the rising costs of energy, food, water and other related essentials.

Department for Work and Pensions Minister for Welfare Delivery, David Rutley said:

The Household Support Fund has been an important intervention to provide Help for Households facing challenges with the cost of living.

Local Authorities know what support works best in their areas. It has been good to see the different ways they have used the Fund to enrich the lives of people in their communities.

With the extensions announced, Local Authorities can now provide that vital support through Christmas and beyond.

The latest figures show how the first round of the Fund was used from October 2021 to March 2022. Almost nine million instances of support were given to families who need it most across England.

Those in need of support were told to apply for, or directly received, the help through their local authority, and councils were empowered to use the Fund to support their communities in a way tailored to their needs. It’s clear from the latest data that many around the country have found the Fund useful.

In Leicestershire, the local authority partnered with Leicester City Football Club to put on community cooking events, providing nutritious meals for families while also improving their cooking skills to prepare healthy meals at home. In Darlington, the council worked with local organisations to give families end-of-day supermarket goods at a fraction of their usual cost.

London’s Lambeth Council has used some of its allocation to help fund its Healthy Living Platform food boxes for harder to reach communities, while Rochdale set up a community warehouse that distributed over 700 winter packs with blankets and sanitary products.

To access the latest round of funding available people should contact their upper tier local authority and ask what help is available through the Household Support Fund in their area.

By the end of March 2023, £1.262 billion in additional support will have been given out in England to help people with rising costs. Devolved governments will have received a total of £238 million through the Barnett Formula.

• During the period of 06 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, 8.9 million awards were made to families across England.
• As part of the government’s £37 billion support package, an extension of the Household Support Fund was announced in the Spring Statement and again in May 2022.
• Local Authorities have had some autonomy on how they use the Fund to reach the vulnerable people in their communities. Some examples from the first round of below:
• Leicestershire: The council created a partnership with Leicester City Football Club – community cooking events during the Whitsun week.
• Hampshire: The Local Authority provided cookbooks, cookery lessons, and slow cookers to help families cook cheap and healthy meals at home over the long-term.
• Lambeth: Lambeth is providing food boxes with a difference via the Healthy Living Platform. They have access to a range of ethnic minority communities and are providing more typically preferred food types in the boxes which are more relevant to these communities.
• Darlington: Darlington worked with a local third party organisation to secure end-of-day supermarket goods to be sold to families. These goods were sold at a significantly reduced price compared to their usual value, with families able to pay £7.50 to get three bags of shopping.
• Rochdale: Rochdale Council set up a community warehouse in the local area designed to distribute over 700 winter packs to families during the coldest months. They managed to distribute over 700 between October 2021 and March 2022.

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Council leaders in Carmarthenshire have welcomed the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales David Davies MP to the site of Llanelli’s landmark Pentre Awel development.

Mr Davies visited the 83-acre site at Delta Lakes to find out more about the innovative Carmarthenshire County Council-led project which has received £40million funding as part of the Swansea Bay City Deal.

The first development of its scope and size in Wales, Pentre Awel will bring together life science innovation, community healthcare and modern leisure facilities at one prime location.

It will provide world-class medical research and health care delivery and support and encourage people to lead active and healthy lives creating over 1,800 jobs and boosting the local economy by £467million over the next 15 years.

Pentre Awel is one of nine major projects under the Swansea Bay City Deal which is being funded by the UK Government, the Welsh Government, the public sector and the private sector.

The business case was approved by UK and Welsh Government earlier this year and building work on Zone One of the project will start this autumn with an estimated completion date of summer 2024.

It includes a new state-of-the-art leisure centre and hydrotherapy pool together with education, research and business development space; a clinical research and delivery centre; and a well-being skills centre. Externally, Pentre Awel will enjoy landscaped outdoor public spaces for recreation, walking and cycling.

Wales Office Minister David Davies said:

I was delighted to see the start of this exciting project and congratulate some of the people who’ve worked so hard on it.

The UK Government is proud of our financial contribution which, along with our partners, will help deliver this hugely ambitious plan. It has the potential to transform lives by creating innovations in health and wellbeing, as well as providing an economic boost to the area. This is levelling up in action.

Pentre Awel is being delivered by Carmarthenshire County Council in partnership with Hywel Dda University Health Board, Universities and Colleges including Cardiff University, Coleg Sir Gȃr, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Swansea University.

Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure, Culture and Tourism Cllr Gareth John said:

Pentre Awel is one of the largest regeneration schemes of its kind in Wales and will deliver a significant programme of community benefits and economic regeneration across the county.

Not only will it bring major employment and training opportunities for the area, but it will also provide state-of-the-art leisure and health facilities for local people. It is a truly transformational project, and it will make a huge difference to people’s lives.

Bouygues UK have been appointed to design and build Zone One following an extensive tendering process via the South West Wales Regional Contractors Framework. The contract has a key focus on social value to ensure significant employment and training opportunities for local people during the construction phase.

Peter Sharpe, Bouygues UK’s Project Director at Pentre Awel said:

It was great to welcome Mr Davies to the site at Pentre Awel and talk through our plans for the building of the development and how we will be working closely with the local community, as well as Carmarthenshire County Council, to create as many employment and training opportunities for people in the region.

Our first meet the buyer event was a marvellous success and we have already spoken to many local suppliers and sub-contractors about how they could work with us at Pentre Awel. We are now looking forward to beginning the ground works and then pushing ahead with the build, working in partnership with as many local businesses as possible.

Later phases of the scheme include a hotel, a range of social and affordable housing, assisted living accommodation and a nursing home.

Pentre Awel is one of a number of projects being carried out as part of wider council plans for the regeneration of Llanelli. The housing-led Transforming Tyisha project provides a vital link between Pentre Awel and Llanelli town centre, with millions of pounds being invested throughout the area to create a thriving and more resilient local community and to improve the appearance of the main town centre to attract more commercial interest and footfall.

ENDS

Sixteen faith-based groups working with the most vulnerable people in local communities will receive a boost to support their work through the government’s £1.3 million Faith New Deal pilot scheme.

The groups, which include Christian, Jewish and interfaith organisations, will work in partnership with councils, schools, police, health providers and voluntary groups to develop innovative interventions to tackle social issues affecting those in most need of support.

Projects will include providing debt and employability advice, tackling food poverty, providing support for mental health issues and combatting loneliness and isolation.

The fund will also help faith groups to build on the collaboration with national and local government that happened during the pandemic.

Examples of this include supporting government’s effort to reach communities and administer the COVID-19 vaccine:

• A Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise partner, Strengthening Faith Institutions, helped to transform the Greengate Mosque in Oldham into a temporary vaccination centre, where over 2,000 people from local communities received life-saving vaccines.
• Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Wolverhampton worked hand in hand with public health services to help the government better understand coronavirus detection by running testing pilots in partnership with faith groups across the city.

The Faith New Deal Fund will also inform the development of a Faith Compact that will set out key principles to aid engagement between faith groups and government.

Faith Minister Paul Scully said:

We saw the instrumental role that faith organisations played in supporting vulnerable people during the pandemic. Working closely with local partners, councils and government, they supported communities where they need it most.

This pilot scheme will build on that vital work, so that faith organisations and their partners can continue to support communities as they recover.

Minister Scully recently visited the Church Revitalisation Trust based in West London, one of the faith groups awarded funding. Through their nationwide Love Your Neighbour project, they work in partnership with volunteers and public services to provide debt advice, employment training and other community care.

Revd Tom Jackson MBE, Chief Executive, Love Your Neighbour said:

Love Your Neighbour is delighted to be a partner in the very significant and timely launch of the Faith New Deal.

We look forward to working with churches and local partners including statutory authorities across the United Kingdom to increase the impact of the crisis food support, debt advice, employment training and other wrap-around care this ground-breaking initiative will enable”.

Other projects the Faith New Deal fund will support include:

• Jewish Action for Mental Health (JAMH) based in Manchester will expand their work with other faith groups, councils and health services to deliver food to those in need and work in partnership with public services to tailor mental health provision and provide support to those in need.
• All Souls Serve the City, based in London, have partnered with local churches, Westminster Council, charities and the police force to improve mental wellbeing and combat loneliness for vulnerable women.

List of successful applicants receiving Faith New Deal Pilot Fund awards.