Report of the Deputy Chief Executive.

This report provides a mid-year review and update of the Anti-Poverty budgets, including the Household Support Fund.

The committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive which provided a mid-year review of and update on the Council’s anti-poverty budgets.  

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Key points and themes within the report included: 

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·       The Making Manchester Fairer programme and the Anti-Poverty Strategy; 

·       Council Tax Support, which paid up to 100% of council tax liability for eligible pension-age households and up to 85% for working-age households; 

·       Discretionary Housing Payments, which provided support to households in rented accommodation who need help covering rent shortfalls 

·       The Welfare Provision Scheme; 

·       Discretionary Council Tax Payments, of which £66k had been paid to 331 households under the core scheme up to 31 August 2024; 

·       Cost-of-living crisis budgets, such as the Cost-of-Living Fund and the Council Tenants’ Support Fund; and 

·       Household Support Fund, which was the largest temporary anti-poverty budget administered by the council and had been extended further to 31 March 2025.  

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Some of the key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included: 

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·       What metrics were used to measure the effectiveness of anti-poverty budgets; 

·       How the Council was balancing the need for supporting immediate crises with investment in long-term prevention of poverty; 

·       How pension credit was being promoted to those eligible;  

·       How could the Council ensure that help was provided to all those in need; 

·       If there was any partnership working or signposting to Samaritans;  

·       How rent increases within the private rented sector impacted demand and need for Discretionary Housing Payments; 

·       The success of the pension credit campaign so far; and  

·       What Household Support Fund 6 would look like and how many residents were expected to apply for this support. 

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The Deputy Leader stated that the Council had made it a political priority to support the most vulnerable residents experiencing financial hardship despite budget pressures and the impact of austerity, and the Council continued to protect this funding. She highlighted that there was immediate cost-of-living support, the Anti-Poverty Strategy which provided support in the medium-term and the Making Manchester Fairer programme which aimed to tackle the root causes of poverty in the long-term.  

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The Director of Inclusive Economy explained that 48% of children and young people in Manchester were growing up in poverty and 100,000 households were vulnerable to cost-of-living pressures. She reiterated that poverty was long-term, structural and endemic and although not every lever to address this was available to local government, the Council was committed to alleviating poverty. She stated that this work was underpinned by a wide range of Council services working together and that £42m was invested through core schemes such as Council Tax Support, the Household Support Fund and the Council’s own cost-of-living schemes.  Of the total £42m, MCC investment makes up £25m.??  

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In response to a query regarding measuring effectiveness, the Director of Inclusive Economy stated that reach and activity was being monitored. She explained that the Council took a ‘cash first’ approach to providing support and paid this directly into residents’ bank accounts where this information was held by the Council. Post Office vouchers were provided to residents where this information was not available.  

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The Director of Inclusive Economy explained that Making Manchester Fairer focused on systemic change through a number of kickstarter schemes, including investment into speech and language in schools across the city. Making Manchester Fairer also embodied the principle of Proportionate Universalism which acknowledged that the impact of poverty was not felt in the same way by everyone, and data was used to identify the wards that contained the highest amount of households affected by poverty.  

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In response to queries regarding the pension credit uptake campaign, the committee was advised that this had been publicised in the Manchester Evening News and that pharmacies would be stapling information on pension credit and the cost-of-living helpline to prescriptions. There would also be events in wards with the greatest number of eligible non-claimants and some of the cost-of-living budget had been invested into an additional Citizens Advice phone line.  

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The Head of Corporate Assessments stated that the Council was taking clear responsibility for supporting pension credit uptake but advised members that the government delivered and administered the scheme so there were some limitations on the take-up data available to the Council. He emphasised that the Council was working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and sought assurances from them that this campaign remained a focus. He explained that the Council had used Council Tax Support data to identify approximately 1250 pension-age households who may be entitled to pension credit and had written to these in mid-October. An assessment of responses would be undertaken at the end of the month to understand whether it would be beneficial to contact again. The DWP had confirmed that letters would be sent to households regarding winter fuel payments, and they had identified 1363 households in Manchester for this.  

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The committee was informed that mapping work was undertaken in summer 2022 to identify residents most in need and a Residents at Risk group was established to focus on how services could support residents. It was also stated that the cost-of-living advice helpline was open to all and would triage those in need of support.  

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The Director of Inclusive Economy endeavoured to confirm if any partnership working was in place with the Samaritans following the meeting, but she assured the committee that the Council worked with a range of VCSE organisations and that £1m was allocated to commission and support frontline voluntary services. The Deputy Leader emphasised the wide network of VCSE organisations and the Age Friendly Network, which helped to communicate and raise awareness of pension credit. She also advised that GP surgeries would be writing to elderly residents in the following weeks to promote the support available over winter.  

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The Head of Corporate Assessments explained that Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) fundamentally aimed to prevent homelessness, and that deliberate action had been taken over previous years to effectively target money towards the private rented cohort. He acknowledged that more effective connections were in place with the social provider cohort, but DHP helped to address immediate need and rent shortfalls. The committee was also advised of the close links with the homelessness service and the Vulnerable Renters Fund.  

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In response to a query regarding the Household Support Fund 6, the Head of Corporate Assessments explained that the Council had used Council Tax Support and Housing Benefit data to identify 3918 households aged between 66 and 79 who were entitled to winter fuel payments last year and would receive a one-off payment of £150 and a further 850 households aged 80 and above who would receive a one-off payment of £200. He explained that there was a further budget of £263k to respond to online applications for winter fuel payment support. The Head of Corporate Assessments advised the committee that a light-touch approach would be taken to assessing these applications and the support available was being widely promoted. He also informed members of a pilot scheme undertaken in partnership with the Council’s Communications team to promote the Welfare Provision Scheme to those aged 45 and above in Clayton and Openshaw as take-up of this support was often lower for this age category and could help to reach people whose parents may be eligible for pension credit and winter fuel support.  

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The Deputy Leader commended the attention to detail, care and work in this area and highlighted that the Council continued to deal with the impacts of fourteen years of austerity and to create a fairer and just society for residents.  

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Decision: 

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That the report be noted.