Household Support Fund

East Sussex County Council has launched the Household Support Fund across East Sussex to help residents who will be most in need this winter.

The fund assigns £3.9m of extra support to our county and we’ve allocated it so as to give a hand to families and individuals who are struggling with basic living costs at the moment. We are also working with all our partners in borough and district councils and with the county’s excellent voluntary services to ensure we use these resources effectively in every part of East Sussex.

More than half of the fund will be directed to families with children. It will pay for free school meals for those who are eligible in the two-week Christmas school holiday, in the week of half-term in February and the two-week Easter holiday in April. Schools will work with families who qualify to help them take up the offer.

We will also target some of the money at families with whom Children’s Services are already working, because they have particular needs.

Elsewhere, households who are struggling to meet the cost of food, energy or water bills will be apply to apply to their borough or district council for support. They’ll be considered for this support if they’re 18 or over and receive a means-tested benefit (including universal credit, pension credit or working tax credit among others).

They should contact their borough or district council as follows:

Eastbourne Household Support Grants - Lewes and Eastbourne Councils (lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk) 01273 471600

Hastings Household Support Fund | Hastings Borough Council 01424 451066

Lewes Household Support Grants - Lewes and Eastbourne Councils (lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk) 01273 471600

Rother Household Support Fund – Rother District Council 01424 787000

Wealden Household Support Fund (HSF) - Wealden District Council - Wealden District Council 01323 443322

Resources for this element of the fund have been divided among boroughs and districts according to their relative number of recipients of universal credit and pension credit.

We’re also allocating some of the fund to strengthen the existing good work done by the Keep Warm and Well service in East Sussex. They can offer a free warm homes check for people struggling to heat their homes and can offer advice and sometimes grants for extra works like insulation, window replacement and boiler replacement.

There’s also more funding for Citizens Advice who operate from several sites in East Sussex and can direct people to the best sources of help.

And we’re adding more than £1 million to foodbanks and other volunteer-led organisations across East Sussex to help meet the rising needs the county will see this winter, along with the rest of the country.

The government grant, which largely replaces the previous Winter Covid Fund Support Grant and the Covid Local Support Fund Grant, is most welcome and I believe we’ve planned to use it as effectively as we can. Officer working groups from both the county council and district and borough councils will ensure delivery of the Household Support Fund by March.

We wanted to ensure you had the latest information about how the scheme will work. There is more information on the ESCC website: Household Support Fund - extra help for those most in need | East Sussex County Council

We’ll be happy to answer any further questions you might have.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Carl Maynard and Cllr Bob Bowdler