Emergency victims may face new streamlined and reduced support at times of need as Derbyshire council addresses a £39.5m budget shortfall with no guarantees about the amount of relevant Government funding for the coming financial year.
Derbyshire County Council has outlined four proposed changes to its Derbyshire Discretionary Fund after revealing that despite the Government stating it is expected to release Housing Support Grant Funding as a part of the DDF, no actual figures have been confirmed to indicate the actual level of support.
The council’s cabinet – while also considering wider saving proposals to balance its forecast £39.5m budget shortfall for the 2024-25 financial year – voted in favour of a public consultation into four proposed changes to the DDF which could lead to streamlined and reduced support for those in need.
A council spokesperson stated: “This review work has been distilled into a set of policy proposals outlining how the DDF offer could be re-shaped to operate within budget.
“This includes consideration of potential prioritisation options to manage competing demands when funding resource is limited.”
Three of the council’s DDF proposals expected to be considered during a pending public consultation include; A ‘budget brake’ to prioritise the most needy applications; A reduction in the number of Emergency Cash Payments from three to two per 12 months; And reducing the range of helpful items that merit an award.
However, a fourth proposal aims to increase the amount payable in an Emergency Cash Payment, or an ECP, in line with inflation or benefit rates.
The ‘budget brake’ plan would be based on criteria to allow applications to be prioritised particularly where the council is approaching the limits of its budget and in times of intense budget pressures or high demand and this would also be based on the vulnerability of the applicant.
By also planning on possibly reducing the range of helpful items that merit an award, the council agreed to consider stopping payments for rent in advance with Emergency Pressure Grants, removing reference to travel from the scope of the EPG and ECP funds, and winding down the provision of some items of furniture and flooring in social housing contexts over a period of 12 months under the EPG.
The council explained that since October, 2021, up to March, 2024, it has been allocated £27m of Household Support Grant Funding, or HSF, from the Government which supports the DDF but a significant amount of this has been discharged which has raised the DDF’s profile and increased demand.
With no formal Government confirmation of further HSF support beyond the end of March 2024, the council stated if it this funding ceases the value of awards could be expected to be lower, and the consideration of ‘hardship’ could alter while taking into account financial pressures while requiring evidence of an emergency, disaster or change of circumstance.
A council spokesperson stated: “A policy review is needed as increased demand for support cannot be met from within the DDF base budget within the current policy framework.”
The council stated that if it it does not bring in changes there would be an insufficient allocated budget to deliver the overall DDF at all which would lead to the fund becoming exhausted within months.
Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet voted in favour of recognising the demand and need for change, and approved the launch of a public consultation before a further report is to submitted back to the cabinet pending any final decisions.
A council spokesperson stated: “The council is entitled to consult on its proposed options, but other suggestions made during the consultation process will be considered and responded to, so as not to limit the scope of possible ways forward.”
The Cabinet Member for Heath and Communities, Cllr Carol Hart, told the cabinet meeting that it is essential to reshape the DDF so it can ‘operate within budget parameters’ and that the consultation will help to shape future policy changes.
She added that the DDF offers help to those in great need or in crisis along with a hardship fund and one area where it has been used for payments has been in the aftermath of flooding.
The cabinet report also states that the DDF, with its established direct payment mechanism, is also deployed at times of crisis as a hardship fund, to support residents as part of the Council’s Emergency Response – most recently for periods of flooding and to offer ‘welcome payments’ to those coming to the UK from Ukraine.
Cllr Hart told the cabinet meeting that the council hopes Government funding will become available in the future to provide options to better utilise the delivery of the DDF.
The report also added that at times there have been some ‘challenges’ in getting through to the associated Call Derbyshire system to access the DDF which can result in call ‘dropouts and disengagement’ particularly for EPGs so this will be explored further, according to the council, as the review progresses. m
Derbyshire County Council is expected to launch the eight-week public consultation into the proposed DDF changes from January 22 and the consultation is expected to run until March 18.
The council has stated many councils across the country are experiencing similar external, financial issues due to inflation rates, Covid-19, the cost-of-living crisis, higher prices for fuel, energy and materials, meeting the cost of the national pay award, and the unprecedented increase in demand for vital adults’ and children’s social care services.
