Social Fund
(asked on 3rd November 2014) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was made available through the Social Fund in each year since 2010.
The Social Fund is comprised of two elements, The Regulated Social Fund and The Discretionary Social Fund.
The Regulated Social Fund includes Sure Start Maternity Grants* Funeral Payments, Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments.
The Discretionary Social Fund is made up of Community Care Grants**, Crisis Loans** and Budgeting Loans.
Year | Combined Social Fund Payments | Additional Winter Fuel Payments |
2010/11 | £1.4 Billion | £2.7 Billion |
2011/12 | £940 Million* | £2.1 Billion |
2012/13 | £924 Million | £2.1 Billion |
2013/14 | £498 Million ** | £2.1 Billion |
* Sure Start Maternity Grants (SSMG) were restricted from 11 April 2011 so that a SSMG would not be paid if there is another child aged under 16 in the family at the time of the claim, unless the other child under 16 is dependant on the claimant or their partner and it is their baby that is the subject of the claim in question, or it is the other child in a multiple birth.
** Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants were abolished from 1st April 2013 with funding transferred to Local Authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales to provide new local support.