Agenda item - Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant

Summary:

Options considered:

North Norfolk District Council, People Services, will deliver a provision for discretionary financial support to help people deal with emergencies, resettle, or remain living in the community, and to ease exceptional pressures on households.

People Services are in the front-line of responding to challenges households face and they are at the heart of our district, interacting with residents’ lives on a daily basis. This provides them with an opportunity to identify households in hardship and provide them with support, and to manage the nature of that relationship in a way that supports them through a crisis or resettlement.

Unless local support is effective, there is a risk that situations will rapidly escalate which will compound the vulnerabilities of many at risk households and create further pressures on statutory services.

People Services are focusing on ways to improve targeting of their support to those in need the greatest, by creating the Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant. These payments could help to prevent higher-cost interventions being required from, for example, housing, health and social care services.

The aim is for the scheme to become a tool for support and resettlement to sustain vulnerable people’s independence in the community.

There is no statutory requirement to provide hardship support in this format. People Services believes in the present economic climate this new scheme will diversify and complement the support we already provide whilst widening our reach to the community.

To not approve the Discretionary Hardship & Support Scheme would miss the opportunity to provide crisis and resettlement support to the most vulnerable households. Doing nothing would undermine the ability of the Council to deliver its strategies to tackle community inequality. Without an equivalent intervention, we anticipate it would also lead to an increase in residents falling into financial crisis, escalating debt, homelessness, and destitution.

To have no written scheme in place would mean there is no visible guidance of eligibility criteria and outline of the approach taken by the Council in determining when support under the scheme is applicable. This would not be recommended as it could cause some uncertainty for residents and undue hardship.

To not approve delegated authority to the Assistant Director for People Services to make technical scheme amendments would cause delay in reflecting any revised changes in eligibility criteria, and would cause uncertainty.

Conclusions:

The proposed scheme allows the council to provide support to vulnerable households who are in a crisis situation or require support to resettle or remain in the community. The criteria and application process of the scheme is designed to be accessible, clear and easy to administer to ensure payments are timely and accurate. This scheme supports our corporate priority to support communities and provide excellent public service.

Recommendations:

Reasons for

Recommendations:

To agree the scheme for the Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant as detailed in Appendix 1.

As this is a new scheme, monitoring and evaluating the impact of the scheme will be particularly important. It is therefore requested that amendments to the scheme, where required, should be delegated to the Assistant Director for People Services.

More households are facing extreme crisis situations due to experiencing the highest cost of living increase in 30 years and expecting further rises, and this may now be even higher due to the war in Ukraine. The financial pressures on households have also magnified following the cessation of Covid-19 support, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and the Universal Credit uplift.

In this precarious environment, the economic realities mean that many residents are more vulnerable than previously to acute financial shocks and are at risk of falling into crisis. It is more important than ever that we find new ways to support our residents.

As we respond to these challenges, the Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant will provide support to vulnerable households who are in a crisis situation or require support to resettle or remain in the community.

As part of the decision making process we will also be able to connect residents to support which can help them to find financial inclusion through budgeting and debt advice.

Any changes in eligibility criteria or the amount of discretionary award should be changed quickly to ensure spending of the funding allocation is managed to maximise support to households in need and that the fund is not overspent.

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

Outturn Report Reserve Statement 2021/22 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Cabinet, 06/09/2021 10:00 (north-norfolk.gov.uk)

Cabinet Member(s)

Cllr Wendy Fredericks

Ward(s) affected

All wards

Contact Officer, telephone number and email:

Karen Hill – Assistant Director for People Services

karen.hill@north-norfolk.gov.uk

01263 516183

To agree the scheme for the Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant as detailed in Appendix 1.

As this is a new scheme, monitoring and evaluating the impact of the scheme will be particularly important. It is therefore requested that amendments to the scheme, where required, should be delegated to the Assistant Director for People Services.

Reason for the recommendation:

More households are facing extreme crisis situations due to experiencing the highest cost of living increase in 30 years and expecting further rises, and this may now be even higher due to the war in Ukraine. The financial pressures on households have also magnified following the cessation of Covid-19 support, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and the Universal Credit uplift.

In this precarious environment, the economic realities mean that many residents are more vulnerable than previously to acute financial shocks and are at risk of falling into crisis. It is more important than ever that we find new ways to support our residents.

As we respond to these challenges, the Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant will provide support to vulnerable households who are in a crisis situation or require support to resettle or remain in the community.

As part of the decision making process we will also be able to connect residents to support which can help them to find financial inclusion through budgeting and debt advice.

Cllr W Fredericks, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Benefits, introduced this item. She explained that the People Services team at NNDC were focussing on ways to improve the targeting of support to those in the greatest need and the creation of a Discretionary Hardship would provide payments that could help to prevent further interventions being required. In the long term it was anticipated that the scheme would become a tool for support and resettlement to sustain vulnerable residents’ independence in the community. Cllr Fredericks explained that the scheme was unique to North Norfolk, there was no statutory requirement to provide hardship support in this way but it was felt that it would diversify and complement the support already provided by the Council. She concluded by thanking officers for their hard work in pulling the scheme together.

Cllr J Toye referred to section 3.8 of the report which outlined resettlement support. He said he applauded the preventative, rather than reactive, approach of the scheme.

Cllr L Shires echoed Cllr Toye’s comments. She said she welcomed the reference to mental health issues within the eligibility criteria.

The Chairman commented that he also welcomed the preventative aims of the proposals, adding that there would also need to be discussions with partners such as foodbanks to ensure support was co-ordinated and reaching everyone it needed to.

Cllr J Rest asked whether there was an initial figure for how many people would benefit from this fund immediately. He said it would be useful if the Council could then monitor whether numbers of those requiring such support were going up or down. Cllr Fredericks replied that the grants would be distributed via the Social Prescribing team and the Early Help Hub. They were using the Council’s new ‘poverty dashboard’ to identify eligible families and those on pension credit. She said that it would be monitored. Cllr Rest asked for regular updates – ideally monthly so that it could be closely monitored.

Cllr Kershaw referred to paragraph 2.3 which set out the current number of residents considered to be eligible for the scheme.

It was proposed by Cllr W Fredericks, seconded by Cllr T Adams and

RESOLVED

To agree the scheme for the Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant as detailed in Appendix 1.

As this is a new scheme, monitoring and evaluating the impact of the scheme will be particularly important. It is therefore requested that amendments to the scheme, where required, should be delegated to the Assistant Director for People Services.

Reason for the recommendation:

More households are facing extreme crisis situations due to experiencing the highest cost of living increase in 30 years and expecting further rises, and this may now be even higher due to the war in Ukraine. The financial pressures on households have also magnified following the cessation of Covid-19 support, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and the Universal Credit uplift.

In this precarious environment, the economic realities mean that many residents are more vulnerable than previously to acute financial shocks and are at risk of falling into crisis. It is more important than ever that we find new ways to support our residents.

As we respond to these challenges, the Discretionary Hardship & Support Grant will provide support to vulnerable households who are in a crisis situation or require support to resettle or remain in the community.

As part of the decision making process we will also be able to connect residents to support which can help them to find financial inclusion through budgeting and debt advice.