£5.6m council grant to be used to support vulnerable in Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire Council has received £5.6 million in grants from the Government – and said the latest set of funding will have ‘a greater emphasis on supporting households with energy bills’.

Councillors will also be asked to approve the spending of £159,654 to cover eight jobs for administrative costs, while £900,000 of the new funding, which was released on April 1, has been used to fund free school meal payments for the Easter holidays.

The money from the Nottinghamshire Household Support Fund was due to be discussed during the authority’s latest Communities Committee meeting.

Council documents published ahead of the meeting stated: “There is a pressing need for support in communities that the funding should be used to alleviate as soon as possible.

“It was confirmed on April 1 that a further £5,646,450.03 has been allocated to Nottinghamshire Council.

“The extension to the fund is to cover the period from April 1 until September 30.

“Guidance provided outlines that county councils are to use the fund to provide support to those most in need and that at least one third must be spent on families with children and that at least one third must be spent on pensioners

“The funding must be spent by September 30 2022.”

Some £5.6m in funding given to the authority in October 2021 was used to fund free school meals, food and energy vouchers and vouchers for domestic appliances.