Raft of Measures in New East Riding Household Support Fund

Boiler replacements and heating vouchers form part of the latest household support fund scheme in East Yorkshire.

One hundred thousand pounds is being made available to help replace faulty boilers for some of the hardest hit households in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The money is coming from the county's Household support fund and as the councils' Director of Revenue - Gillian Barley - explains it's to help some of the least well-off household's cope with boiler breakdowns.

The third phase of the Household Support Fund Scheme will also see around 900 single person households in the East Riding benefit from fuel vouchers.

The East Riding Council has given £45k to support a scheme being operated by citizens advice.

Gillian Barley says the extra cash could provide help over the next six months.

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.

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).

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.

Council Leader, Councillor Jonathan 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.”