Household Support Fund

What is it? The purpose of the Household Support Fund is to support households in the most need with food, energy and water bills and other essential items.

Individuals, working age adults, families (with or without children) and individuals of pensionable age can self-refer. Any referral agency in the voluntary or statutory sector can refer a client in need of financial support, for example, a support worker.

The Household Support Fund panel will provide management oversight and access to financial assistance for young people, working age adults, Individuals of pensionable age and families (with or without children).

The panel will provide a consistent and effective response to escalating need and ensure that effective interventions are available to meet the needs of applicants. The panel will assess needs against the eligibility criteria and cross-reference to other funding streams that may be appropriate for children and families.

Role of the panel:

The overall aim of the Household Support Fund panel is to ensure that identified young people, working age adults, older people and families have access to short-term funding in order to meet their basic needs of living in the most effective and efficient manner.

• The panel will work with an agreed process map that ensures all applicants meet eligibility.
• Each application will be assessed based on the information provided
• The panel will pass paperwork to Auriga in a timely manner to ensure payments are not delayed in reaching the individual or family.
• The panel will monitor spend and feed this back to senior management and finance on an agreed spreadsheet.
• The panel will put control measures in place to ensure that spend is authorised appropriately and links to the need outlined on the application form.
• The panel will oversee the applications to ensure the funding is being received from the correct funding stream and also add value from other funding streams known to the panel.