Just 2% of councils suppose Labour funding plan for struggling households is sufficient | EUROtoday

Just two per cent of councils in England consider the federal government’s new funding dedication to assist struggling households might be sufficient to fulfill quickly rising want, a stunning new survey has revealed.

Labour has pledged £1 billion a 12 months for not less than three years to native authorities by its new Crisis and Resilience Fund. This will change the Household Support Fund – utilized by councils to help low-income households – and Discretionary Housing Payments, that are one-off grants to assist with housing prices.

Councils in England have been allotted £842 million by the brand new fund for subsequent 12 months, up from £835 million in 2025/26 granted by the 2 schemes it would change. While it is a nominal enhance of £7 million, it will quantity to a real-terms reduce of £34.2m primarily based on September’s inflation fee.

The overwhelming majority (98%) of native authorities usually are not assured this funding will meet native must a fantastic extent, the survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals. Two-thirds additionally say they’ve seen family’s monetary hardship enhance over the previous 12 months, and count on this pattern to proceed.

Announcing the Crisis and Resilience Fund earlier this 12 months, the federal government stated the longer-term funding strategy was being put in place to allow native authorities to supply preventative help and ship on its manifesto dedication to finish mass dependence on emergency meals parcels.

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Prior to this, the continuation and precise funding for the Household Support Fund had been confirmed yearly. However, the LGA survey of 113 councils additionally finds that solely 15 per cent are assured the brand new fund might be able to implement by April.

Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor, chair of the LGA’s Health and Wellbeing Committee, stated: “Financial security and wellbeing are closely intertwined with the overall health and wellbeing of individuals and families and life expectancy, so reducing financial hardship can have a direct impact on reducing existing health inequalities across the country.

“We are pleased that the Government has maintained funding for local welfare support through the new CRF by bringing together the current HSF and DHP schemes. However, it is important that the best of these schemes is retained, particularly their role in supporting long-term financial resilience.

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“Streamlining the funds together will be a challenge as they are currently administered by different tiers of local government, with different rules and purposes. Local councils are ready to work closely with DWP and MHCLG as they develop and implement the new approach.”

The outcomes come as mounting analysis reveals that dwelling requirements within the UK are persevering with to fall, with native councils struggling to fund key provisions. A current report by the Resolution Foundation discovered that households in Britain at the moment are £20,000 worse off than they had been 20 years in the past resulting from a long time of stagnating development.

Meanwhile, the price of offering non permanent lodging grew to £2.8bn for councils final 12 months, as many grapple with a housing disaster that continues to push extra folks into homelessness.

A Government spokesperson stated: “We’re dedicated to stopping households from falling into disaster which is why we’re giving document quantities of funding to native councils by the Crisis and Resilience Fund, supporting individuals who want it most.

“We have been working carefully with Local Authorities on our proposal which is able to give them much-needed certainty and readability to plan strategically, co-ordinate providers and develop infrastructure that meets native wants.