To receive a verbal update from the Healthy Living Strategic Lead.

The Chairman welcomed Roxanne Warrick, Healthy Living Strategic Lead to present Members with an update on the Household Support Fund (HSF).

Members received a presentation (a copy is attached at Appendix B to the Minutes), following which Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

N.B.  At this point in the Meeting, Councillor Jill Makinson-Sanders asked that it be noted she started the Baby Bank in Louth.

N.B.  Councillor Fiona Martin, Chairman asked it be noted that she was a member of the Horncastle Support Team.

·       Further to the comment made in relation to the Lincolnshire Community Foundation (LCF) who were delivering the HSF, the Healthy Living Strategic Lead informed Members that it was a very established and reputable grants provider.  ELDC had worked with the LCF since the flooding in Wainfleet when they managed the emergency grant scheme.  They also had the staff capacity to administer both online and telephone applications and provided additional onward signposting, including delivering flyers into various community venues.  It was further highlighted that the LCF had been on the steering group of the Lincolnshire Financial Inclusion Partnership with the Council for seven years.

·       A Member asked whether the LCF could be invited to a future Reserved Members Day briefing to better inform Members on the role they had with the Council.

·       A Member queried the funding and details of the ‘pots of money’ available from the scheme.  The Healthy Living Strategic Lead explained that the money did not exist in a bank account and the Council’s allocation was the maximum that could be drawn upon and was pleased to advise that for the last three schemes, ELDC had spent its total allocation.

·       A Member thanked the Healthy Living Strategic Lead and all involved and stated that it was good to hear of people benefitting and reaching those in areas of deprivation.  A query was raised in relation to the 10% of vouchers that had not yet been claimed and whether the Council had a follow-up process in place as it was a loss to families if the take up was not 100%.  The Healthy Living Strategic Lead advised Members that families had three months to redeem the vouchers, and the current scheme only circulated the vouchers in the last three weeks.  With regards to the last tranche of funding that had achieved a 90% redemption, it was possible to identify those families who had not redeemed the vouchers as names and addresses were noted alongside those allocated.  Therefore, it would be possible to send a follow up letter, but it was highlighted that some people may have moved house, passed away or chosen not to redeem the vouchers.  It was highlighted that there was an element of mis-trust from people dealing with the Department of Works and Pensions, therefore it was important to get the message out through the Council’s charitable networks that the scheme was genuine.

Members were advised that any unredeemed vouchers were credited back to the Council after three months, following which it could be drawn back out and used for any of the other winter welfare gaps.

·       Further to a query in relation to eligibility, the Healthy Living Strategic Lead informed Members that eligibility was not attached to home ownership.  The Council had asked the LCF to record types of tenancy for statistical insights.  The scheme was not to help homeowners with their mortgages, and as with most schemes if you owned a property you would not be eligible to apply for funding, it was about reaching that ‘just about managing’ cohort.  Nationally, the HSF could be used towards housing costs but in Lincolnshire it was decided to rule this out because of the anomalies around rent subsidies and mortgage subsidies.  The vouchers and support were really for people on a low income that may be just above the Universal Credit threshold who did not qualify for benefits.

·       A Member requested that a copy of the HSF presentation be circulated in the Members’ Point Brief.

No further comments or questions were received.

The Chairman thanked the Healthy Living Strategic Lead for the information provided and the efforts of all involved with the Household Support Fund.

N.B.  Roxanne Warrick, Healthy Living Strategic Lead left the Meeting at 10.58am.

N.B.  Adrian Sibley, Deputy Chief Executive, Programme Delivery joined the Meeting at 10.58am.