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Lambeth council, in collaboration with various foodbanks, charities and school associations have addressed a letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, calling for the renewal of the Household Support Fund.
For many low-income households in Lambeth, the Household Support Fund is a lifeline. A Lambeth resident and regular guest at the Norwood & Brixton Foodbank, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “Things have definitely gotten worse in the last four years.”
“More people are struggling now just to try and find something for their children’s dinner and parents will go without so they can feed their children”.
The fund runs out at the end of the financial year in early April. There is no confirmation as to whether it will be renewed, or if so, how much money it will grant the council.
The Household Support Fund provides 1 billion pounds to local authorities across the country. Lambeth uses the funding to support its most vulnerable residents. This includes initiatives such as: reducing holiday hunger, providing additional capacity to foodbanks and boosting emergency support schemes.
Without clarity on the future of the fund, foodbanks in the boroughs are having trouble planning ahead. Alison Inglis-Jones, a Lambeth councillor and trustee of the Norwood & Brixton Foodbank, says that the uncertainty surrounding the fund’s continued existence hampers efforts to help Lambeth’s poor.
She says, “That household support fund was absolutely crucial in ensuring people got the help they needed”
“So what we need to know pretty fast [is] when [the fund] is coming and how it’s coming so we can work out the numbers of people likely to apply and just make it available.”
The Norwood & Brixton Foodbank is among the biggest food distribution services in Lambeth, delivering hundreds of parcels of food a week.
Carla Thomas is the Food Community Manager at the Healthy Living Platform in Brixton. The surplus food distribution service delivers customised food parcels to more than 50 community groups a week across Lambeth. It also hosts pantries where individuals can buy bundles of fresh and long-life food items at a discounted price.
Carla Thomas says the fund allows more diversity in choice of food that the charity gives out.
According to Carla, the fund gives the charity the flexibility to provide a broader spread of food to the community. This gives vulnerable individuals the power to choose what they are eating.
She says, “The food items [acquired through the Household Support Fund] means that in somewhere like our pantries, we’re offering a really wide range of food. We’re giving people the dignity of choice”
“People deserve the dignity of choice, whatever their situation, and that’s what the pantries enable them to do. ”
An uncertain future
The Household Support Fund allows the Healthy Living Platform to keep a stock of long-life food items.
Pointing at the shelves of stocked cans behind her, Carla adds “By taking away the household fund, all these shelves will be empty… the surplus food comes in and goes out straight away.”
When asked what would happen if the fund is not renewed, Lambeth councillor Alison said “I just don’t know. People are desperate. The pressure is on.”
Still, Alison is hopeful that Lambeth council will fill in the gaps. She says, “From my understanding the Council will do everything they can to ensure that they can meet some of the need of people in the bar. But while we live in this right right now, this moment of uncertainty, it’s incredibly difficult to plan when we don’t know what’s coming down the road.”
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Headline‘We need clarity now’ say Lambeth foodbanks facing funding uncertainty
Short HeadlineLambeth foodbanks facing funding uncertainty
StandfirstWith the need for foodbanks set to increase, Lambeth's Council and charities are worried about the future.
Lambeth council, in collaboration with various foodbanks, charities and school associations have addressed a letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, calling for the renewal of the Household Support Fund.
For many low-income households in Lambeth, the Household Support Fund is a lifeline. A Lambeth resident and regular guest at the Norwood & Brixton Foodbank, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “Things have definitely gotten worse in the last four years.”
“More people are struggling now just to try and find something for their children’s dinner and parents will go without so they can feed their children”.
The fund runs out at the end of the financial year in early April. There is no confirmation as to whether it will be renewed, or if so, how much money it will grant the council.
The Household Support Fund provides 1 billion pounds to local authorities across the country. Lambeth uses the funding to support its most vulnerable residents. This includes initiatives such as: reducing holiday hunger, providing additional capacity to foodbanks and boosting emergency support schemes.
Without clarity on the future of the fund, foodbanks in the boroughs are having trouble planning ahead. Alison Inglis-Jones, a Lambeth councillor and trustee of the Norwood & Brixton Foodbank, says that the uncertainty surrounding the fund’s continued existence hampers efforts to help Lambeth’s poor.
She says, “That household support fund was absolutely crucial in ensuring people got the help they needed”
“So what we need to know pretty fast [is] when [the fund] is coming and how it’s coming so we can work out the numbers of people likely to apply and just make it available.”
The Norwood & Brixton Foodbank is among the biggest food distribution services in Lambeth, delivering hundreds of parcels of food a week.
Carla Thomas is the Food Community Manager at the Healthy Living Platform in Brixton. The surplus food distribution service delivers customised food parcels to more than 50 community groups a week across Lambeth. It also hosts pantries where individuals can buy bundles of fresh and long-life food items at a discounted price.
Carla Thomas says the fund allows more diversity in choice of food that the charity gives out.
According to Carla, the fund gives the charity the flexibility to provide a broader spread of food to the community. This gives vulnerable individuals the power to choose what they are eating.
She says, “The food items [acquired through the Household Support Fund] means that in somewhere like our pantries, we’re offering a really wide range of food. We’re giving people the dignity of choice”
“People deserve the dignity of choice, whatever their situation, and that’s what the pantries enable them to do. ”
An uncertain future
The Household Support Fund allows the Healthy Living Platform to keep a stock of long-life food items.
Pointing at the shelves of stocked cans behind her, Carla adds “By taking away the household fund, all these shelves will be empty… the surplus food comes in and goes out straight away.”
When asked what would happen if the fund is not renewed, Lambeth councillor Alison said “I just don’t know. People are desperate. The pressure is on.”
Still, Alison is hopeful that Lambeth council will fill in the gaps. She says, “From my understanding the Council will do everything they can to ensure that they can meet some of the need of people in the bar. But while we live in this right right now, this moment of uncertainty, it’s incredibly difficult to plan when we don’t know what’s coming down the road.”
