Sheffield’s poorest families facing “cliff edge” after loss of government support fund, warns councillor

Coun Dawn Dale, who chairs the council’s education, children and families policy committee, said vulnerable city households are looking at a “cliff edge” without continued support provided by the Household Support Fund. It provides emergency payments to cope with debts and bills and has provided food vouchers and free activities during the holidays for thousands of children who have free school meals.

Coun Dale put forward a motion approved by the February full council meeting opposing the government’s decision not to extend the fund.

The fund, which gave the council £10.4m in the current financial year, is set to end on March 31 as the government has said nothing about extending it. The fund was created in 2021 to support vulnerable households coping with the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.

“We’re going to have to look at the best way in which we can support our residents,” said Coun Dale. “I have written to Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, as have other local authorities and others, and other councillors from all quarters.”

She said: “It will create a dangerous cliff edge for people and it is unacceptable.”

Worry

Referring to last week’s full council meeting, she said: “We are having to deal with this situation. It was very disappointing last Wednesday when we became very party-political.

“This is about doing the right thing and supporting people who need it. We are going to look at what other money is available – at the moment we don’t have spare money.

“We are going through the budget process and continuing to make savings in children’s services, like every other area of council services, and things are really difficult.

“We have other small pots of money that help people in the council so we’re supporting people to access that. My main worry is the school meal vouchers.”

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Coun Dale said that many children who receive free school meals also go to breakfast clubs, so families that are already struggling to make ends meet then have to find the money for two meals a day for their children during the holidays.

It also puts far more pressure on community and voluntary groups that are supporting people living in poverty.

Thriving

Coun Dale urged the government to extend the fund, at least for another 12 months, to give the council time to plan for how it can help to provide the support people need.

She said that ultimately people need to see a thriving economy and more investment creating decent jobs to lift people out of poverty. Just thrusting people who have been out of work for a while into low-paid jobs with zero-hour contracts and a lack of certainty is not the answer, she said.

Councils have been able to help mitigate the worst effects of austerity, said Coun Dale, but they have been hit by years of government funding cuts that mean any real progression remains impossible.

“I have been around a long time, working in communities for 22 years,” she said. “We have seen cuts in investment in community learning, education and early years and youth provision. People can’t actually see a pathway out of poverty.”

Coun Dale said that Sheffielders in families where there are now three generations hit by unemployment need a lot of help with basic skills such as CV writing, interview techniques and confidence building to help them move forward.

She stressed that many people hate relying on support to help them survive.

Handout

“From the families that I’ve spoken to, none of them want a handout and to be reliant on free school meals and have to accept free school meal vouchers.

“What they want is to be able to provide for their children – we need support and investment in people. We talk about investing in infrastructure – roads, buildings, transport and all that sort of stuff and it’s all aboslutely relevant.

“When we talk about people, we talk about it as a cost but we should be investing in people’s opportunities and offering long-term support and activity, not just dropping into a community for a year when you only get a year’s worth of government funding for local government from the government.”

Coun Dale said that a future Labour government would look at a three-year system of funding for councils, allowing them to plan better because they would know what funding to expect.

She said that currently, councils are having to budget in the dark months before local government funding settlements are actually confirmed every year.

Coun Dale, who is a ward councillor for Shiregreen and Brightside, said: “My experience of the area where I live, and living in the area I represent as well, is that they had really built up after the war into blossoming communities.

Proud

“They were all council houses and everybody who lived in them worked – I don’t know what this thing is about home ownership now. They worked in steelworks, mining or some form of industry.

“They were proud working people who had really nice homes.

“Then the 80s started. I watched the community where my parents grew up become a dreadful place.

“They lost jobs in the steelworks and the mines closed. There was nothing put in place to offer an alternative form of employment.

“There was a feeling of no worth and low mental health.”

Coun Dale said that communities that have suffered years of deprivation now need to see consistency and a vision. “In Sheffield, we’ve got a vision but what we need, like everything, is crucial support behind us that works consistently.”