Freedom of information response

Publication date:

Thursday 13 July 2023

Request:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I wish to request information about the Household Support Fund and I have attached an excel spreadsheet containing 14 questions. I am a social policy master's student and the information will be used for a thesis on the cost of living crisis in the UK.

Name of Council
Main contact for further HSF enquiries: name, job title, and email address.

1. Please provide the total amount of HSF funding allocated by the Government to you (either directly, or indirectly through an upper-tier authority) over all four rounds of HSF funding.
2. Please provide the total amount allocated to district authorities within your County or Upper Tier Local Authority area to distribute on your behalf, including administration expenditure, as a total for all four rounds of HSF funding. Please provide as a total for all four rounds of HSF funding.
3. Please provide the amount allocated to third parties who are not district authorities to administer on your behalf. This may include but is not limited to organisations such as VCSE partners, Citizen's Advice, or private companies and includes administration expenditure. Please provide as a total for all four rounds of HSF funding.
4. Please provide the total amount spent, or allocated, on vouchers for all four rounds of HSF funding. Please include vouchers purchased and not yet distributed. Please also include total budget allocation for HSF4 (April 2023 to March 2024) for supermarket vouchers if vouchers have not yet been purchased. The total provided should be the whole amount spent, and/or allocated to be spent, on vouchers to award as part of the HSF programme, either through an application or direct award, either by you or by a third party on your behalf.
5. Please provide the total number of vouchers purchased (whether distributed yet or not)
6. Please provide the total amount of budget allocated for the purchase of vouchers for HSF4 (April 2023 to March 2024) if vouchers have not yet been purchased.
7. Please provide the total amount of direct cash awards made to recipients of HSF funding over all four rounds of HSF funding. Within this total, please include the total budget allocation for HSF4 (April 2023 to March 2024) for cash awards if cash awards have not yet been distributed. The total provided should be the whole amount spent, or allocated to be spent, on cash payments made directly to recipients as part of the HSF programme, either through application or direct award, by you, or by a third party on your behalf.
8. Please provide the total number (quantum) of cash awards made to date, over all rounds of HSF to date, including all cash awards made by you, or by a third party on your behalf.
9. Please provide the total amount (£) of budget allocated for the award of direct cash payments for HSF4 (April 2023 to March 2024) if payments have not yet been made. Please include the whole amount allocated whether or not this allocation is to be awarded by you, or a third party on your behalf.
10. Please provide the total amount (£) of credit allocated to Council Tax accounts to recipients of HSF funding for all four rounds of funding available to date. Please include the total budget allocation for HSF4 (April 2023 to March 2024) for Council Tax awards if awards have not yet been allocated to Council Tax accounts. The total provided should be the whole amount spent, or allocated to be spent, on Council Tax awards made direct to recipients as part of the HSF programme, either through application or direct award, either by you, or by a third party on your behalf.
11. Please provide the total number (quantum) of awards made, including 2023/24 allocations if not yet applied to Council Tax accounts. Please provide the total for all applicable financial years, for example if you have made 100 awards for the financial year 2022/23, and then 100 more for the year 2023/24, this will be 200 awards. Please include within this total, the total number of awards you expect to make for the 2023/24 financial year if these awards have not yet been made.
12. Please provide the amount spent at each supermarket in vouchers as part of HSF expenditure for all four rounds of HSF funding. Please include vouchers purchased and not yet distributed. Please also include total budget allocation for HSF4 (April 2023 to March 2024) for your intended supermarket(s) if vouchers have not yet been purchased.

List of supermarkets	Total amount spent on vouchers as per Question 12.
Aldi
Asda
Lidl
Marks and Spencer
Morrison's
Sainsbury's
Tesco
Waitrose
Others (please state which)





13. Please provide the total amount spent, or allocated, to households in receipt of Free School Meals. Please include amounts allocated but not yet distributed. Please also include total budget allocation for HSF4 (April 2023 to March 2024) for FSM households if allocation has not yet been purchased. The total provided should be the whole amount spent, and/or allocated to be spent, on awards as part of the HSF programme, either through an application or direct award, either by you or by a third party on your behalf. If you are an upper-tier authority, please only include FSM allocation you have allocated, not that allocated by district authorities in your area.

14. Please list all data sets you have used to proactively identify potential recipients of HSF support over all four rounds of funding. To assist, I have provided a list of common local authority data - please select all that apply. If you have used any other data, please list.
Council Tax
Council Tax Support
Housing Benefit
Pension Credits
Universal Credit
Other DWP data
Free School Meals
Adult Social Care
Children's Social Care
Waste and recycling data
Data held by education authorities
Previous application data
Data provided by the NHS either through PCNs, ICBs, or local surgeries
Credit data such as, but not limited to, Experian (please state which)
Council, or social housing, housing data including rent arrears data
Data held by charities or VCSE partners
Electoral data
Data held by utilities companies, including but not limited to water, gas, electric. Please state which, for example British Gas.
Others - please state

Response:

Please see appendix A attached

Unfortunately we are unable to provide in full the information you have requested. We do hold the information but an absolute exemption applies. Personal Information (Section 40,2)

Personal data of any other person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. This aspect of Section 40 is an Absolute Exemption and is therefore not subject to the Public Interest Test.

The names of officers working for the Council is personal data specific to them. It is therefore subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Information can be withheld if its disclosure would be likely to breach one or more of the Principles of the Data Protection Act. There is no prior expectation on the part of team Managers (or other officers working below the level of Director) that their names and job titles / positions would be published into the wider public domain under FOI. A disclosure made under FOI constitutes a publication to the world at large. We believe that to disclose this would be likely to breach the first Principle of the Data Protection Act by unfairly contravening their right to privacy and confidentiality in the work place.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. An internal review must be submitted within 40 working days of your original reply. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review.

If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.