Household Support Fund

The Department for Work and Pensions has provided Council’s funding to support those in need with rising energy bills and food.

The grant will run from 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022, the Council will contact eligible households advising them of their entitlement from week commencing 23 May and June.

Funding has been set aside to pay children whose parent is eligible for free school meals a food voucher during May half-term and summer holidays. Vouchers will be issued by the pupil’s school.

The fund will target and prioritise support for the following:

Must be in receipt of Council Tax Support and be in one of the following groups:

Pensioner without children

• In receipt of a disability related benefit at any rate, for example Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments, Employment and Support Allowance Support Component
• Have an allowance for heating and water element included in the financial assessment for Adult Social Care

Households with children

• Be responsible for a child who will be:
• under the age of 19 as at 30 September 2022 or
• a person aged 19 or over in respect of whom a child-related benefit (for example, Child Benefit) is paid or free school meals are provided.
• Have HIGH barriers to work, which includes receiving a disability related benefit Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments at the higher rate, in receipt of the carer premium, lone parent with a child under 5

Households without children

• Have HIGH barriers to work, this includes receiving a disability related benefit, Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments at the higher rate or in receipt of the carer premium

This list is not exhaustive and households may have to meet two of the criteria depending on their circumstances

Any other household may apply for support under the Council's Emergency Assistance scheme, qualifying criteria can be found at www.eastriding.gov.uk/living/emergency-assistance/

Households may also contact their nearest food bank when they require emergency support. Details can be found at https://www.erfpa.org.uk/find-a-foodbank

Households who are in the following list will not be accepted:

• Residents not residing within East Riding of Yorkshire Council boundary
• If your child(ren) attend an East Riding school but reside outside of the East Riding boundary
• Where a child spends time with a parent part of the week, it will be the person who receives child benefit for them that will be entitled to the grant
• Any household who is not in receipt of Council Tax Support

Payments for food and fuel will be allocated based on the figures below.

The Council will not award grants where funds are no longer available to do so.

Applicants will have exhausted other options of applying to Charitable Trust for items first, such as Turn2Us, housing benefit, universal credit and discretionary housing payments.

The Council will contact all eligible applicants, there will not be an application process.

When will I get paid?

The Council will contact eligible households from week commencing 23 May and June advising households how they will receive the funding. Where a household has previously received a BACS payment from the previous household support fund, payment will be made into their bank account. For all other eligible households the Council are currently working through the quickest and easiest way to pay households and will contact them shortly. 

All applicants must comply with the terms and conditions detailed below:

• East Riding of Yorkshire Council, in the operation of this scheme, reserves the right to request any evidence, explanation or proofs that it deems necessary and reasonable, in order to properly assess an applicant’s entitlement to a grant award. This condition applies at any time during or after the application process.
• In order to monitor the outcomes and effectiveness of the scheme, East Riding of Yorkshire Council reserves the right to request any evidence, explanation or proofs that it deems necessary or reasonable. This is to satisfy the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) requirement that all grant recipients may be required to provide, on demand, all evidence and proofs to DWP as DWP deems necessary. These conditions apply during and after the application process.
• If an applicant fails to satisfy all reasonable requests, made by the Council, the Council reserves the right to either not pay an award, or request the repayment of an award already paid.
• East Riding of Yorkshire Council may share information with the Councils Holiday Activities Programme as further support may be available under this scheme.

The Council reserves the right to undertake any checks it considers necessary to prevent fraudulent payments of grants.

Payments of the grant will be a one-off lump sum per household and will only be made direct into a UK bank. Any bank details supplied will be subject to anti-fraud measures. Payments will only be made into accounts that are in the name of the applicant.

The Council will not accept any deliberate manipulation, misrepresentation or fraud. Any business caught falsifying their records to gain grant monies will face prosecution and any grant funding issued will be clawed back. Grants paid in error will also be subject to claw back. 

Is there an appeals process?

There is no formal right of appeal if a grant application is not successful, however, the applicant may ask for their case to be reviewed, within 7 days of their decision.

All reviews will be undertaken by a senior officer who was not involved in making the original decision. This approach ensures the review is impartial, fair and consistent.

All applicants who have requested a reconsideration will be formally notified of the outcome.

Data Protection and anti-fraud measures

We will use your information to assess your application for a grant. We will confirm information about you and your account with credit referencing agencies. We will do this to ensure that the details you give are correct and that your identity is valid.

Where is it suspected that an applicant has obtained Emergency Assistance by misrepresentation or failure to disclose a material fact this will be investigated under East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Fraud Policy in line with the Theft Act 1968 sections 15, 15(a), 17 & 24(a) and Fraud Act 2006 sections 2,3,4,6 & 7.

If you provide false or inaccurate information, we will record this. We and other fraud prevention agencies may use and search these records to prevent fraud.

The Council and the Government will not accept deliberate manipulation and fraud. Any individual caught falsifying their records to gain grant money will face prosecution and any funding issued will be subject to claw back. 

To minimise the risk of fraudulent grant claims, the Council’s Fraud Investigation Team will carry out anti-fraud checks.  We may use data provided by third parties in undertaking verification of claims.  We will store this information electronically and will share it with other Council Officers who may be involved in considering your grant.

The Council is compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 and is complaint with all its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation.

All data collected will be stored in accordance with the law and will destroyed in-line with the Council’s data retention policy.