Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to monitor the success of the Household Support Fund in reaching (a) unpaid carers and (b) other financially vulnerable households.

Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out for the fund. This is because they have the ties and the knowledge to best determine how support should be provided in their local communities. We encourage Local Authorities to consider how they may support a wide range of low-income households in need, including unpaid carers and other financially vulnerable households.

Management information, including details of how the fund has been spent on households with children, pensioners, disabled people, and other vulnerable households, including but not limited to only financially vulnerable households, is available here: Household Support Fund management information - GOV.UK.

The Department for Work and Pensions is currently conducting an evaluation of the Household Support Fund that ran from April 2023 to March 2024, to understand the benefits of the awards made across England during this period. This will be published in due course.