The Community & Partnerships Manager introduced the report and provided an update on the delivery outcomes to date for the Household Support Fund (HSF) and a prioritisation framework to allow members to prioritise funding for Round 7 (April 2025 – March 2026).

The Chair invited Members to make comments, which included:

·           Thanked officers for their hard work and conversations with Seashells around household support;

·           currently, there was a massive issue with regard to the future of Seashells and the support that might be removed from Kent County Council (KCC);

·           there were plenty of families who relied on the support from Seashells and the vouchers it offered, so the committee needed to consider how the HSF was being allocated; and

·           the data showed there was a high demand at the one stop roadshows at the Seashells Centre; why was the proposal to reduce the service if the demand was increasing?

The Community & Partnerships Manager said that officers were working with families to understand how the Council could facilitate a similar role and educate families. She agreed that it was important to keep the service that the Seashells Centre provided to families for the fuel and water advisory role, which HSF only contributed to part of the funding. In response to the proposal to reduce the service at the Seashells Centre, the £100 MasterCard voucher was for billed fuel amounts and used to pay for bill accounts. This was an expensive service that the Council delivered and was spent by the recipients every time. However, the Fuel and Water vouchers were pre-card meter payments and it would be the committee’s choice on which service should receive the most funding from the HSF.

The Chair invited Members to make further comments, which included:

·           What were officers doing with regards to partnership working with Faversham’s businesses and organisations?;

·           congratulated officers with their approach to partnership working so far but thought there was more the Council could do;

·           supported the idea of moving towards preventative work;

·           some families were already cutting down unnecessary costs but were still unable to afford food shopping every week;

·           it was important to build resilience but this was difficult when the Council did not know if the HSF was going to be granted every year by the Government; and

·           lots of organisations and businesses were town centre based and not located in remote villages, could more information be circulated about how to get to the different organisations from the more rural locations in the borough?

Councillor Hannah Perkin moved the following motion: “That the Chair of the Community and Leisure Committee writes to the Government for a Funding Support assessment so the Council could look at the preventive strategies and that the Household Support Funding was not pulled away as part of the devolution process.” This is seconded by Councillor Charles Gibson and on being put to the vote, agreed.

The Community & Partnerships Manager explained that the report did not reflect all the partnership work that was being carried out in Faversham as the West Faversham Community Centre provided a lot of support for families in Faversham. She added that partnership working had only been improved because the Council kept receiving the HSF and she agreed to look at signposting the support networks available to families in the more remote locations across the borough.

Councillor Charles Gibson proposed that the Household Support Fund be allocated to the proposals set out in the table at 3.2 of the officer’s report and this was seconded by Councillor Tony Winckless.

The Community & Partnerships Manager informed the Committee that the funding allocation was dependent on guidance once officers had received the allocation but agreed to follow what was set out in the table as much as they could.

Resolved:

(1)   That the Household Support Fund (Round 7) be allocated to the proposals as set out in the table shown at 3.2 of the officer’s report.

(2)   That the Chair of the Community & Leisure Committee writes to the Government for a Funding Support assessment so the Council could look at the preventive strategies and ask for confirmation that the Household Support Funding was not going to be taken away as part of the devolution process.