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More than £50m to keep families warm and well-fed this Easter

Families will receive a boost of over £50 million this Easter, with councils given additional funding to keep vulnerable children warm and well-fed.

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

The scheme, which was introduced in response to the current pandemic, primarily focuses on food and essential utility bills for low-income families. It has meant that councils can ensure that children in their area have the essentials they need.

This new funding comes in addition to the £170 million already allocated to the scheme from December until the end of March, and is on top of the previously announced Holiday Activities and Food Programme to support disadvantaged children during the Easter period.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Thérèse Coffey said:

“This scheme has helped thousands of vulnerable children stay warm and well-fed during the coldest months of the year.

“While circumstances remain difficult, it is right that we extend it to cover Easter, and I want any worried parent to know there is help at hand.”

The scheme will now run until Friday 16 April. The grants are primarily for helping families buy essentials, with at least 80% of funds ring-fenced to be spent on food, energy and water bills, with 20% available for other associated essential costs. Councils can also offer support to vulnerable individuals and households without children.

Every local authority involved in the scheme has already used it to provide food for vulnerable children. In addition, many areas provided further support thanks to the scheme, including white goods being supplied to vulnerable families in Cheshire East, and the creation of a winter clothing fund for children in Telford and Wrekin.

During the first two months of the scheme half the £170 million was spent, with almost two and a half million vulnerable households benefitting. Based on local authority reporting for this period, 95% of funding spent has been provided to families with children, and 95% of funding has been used to support households with food or utility bills.

This is all part of the government’s long-term plan to tackle poor health, hunger and education. In addition to the now-extended COVID Winter Grant Scheme, the Holiday Activities and Food Programme has been expanded to cover the major school holidays in 2021 – starting with this Easter.

The HAF provides local authorities with grants they can use to arrange childcare provision, provide valuable support to families on lower incomes, and give children the opportunity to access rewarding activities alongside healthy meals over the school holidays.

Information about Local Authority allocations of additional funding

Allocations of the original £170 million grant (not including the £59.1 million additional funding) can be found on the COVID Winter Grant Scheme guidance page.

This extension brings the total value of the scheme to £229.1 million.

Upper Tier Local Authority (County Councils, Metropolitan Districts, Unitary Authorities and London Boroughs DWP indicative allocation of £59.1m
Barking and Dagenham £302,480
Barnet £343,114
Barnsley £328,913
Bath and North East Somerset £134,435
Bedford £167,672
Bexley £215,445
Birmingham £1,803,918
Blackburn with Darwen £224,568
Blackpool £244,991
Bolton £386,195
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council £371,401
Bracknell Forest £76,904
Bradford £792,765
Brent £397,158
Brighton and Hove £300,860
Bristol City of £570,302
Bromley £262,078
Buckinghamshire £336,350
Bury £215,339
Calderdale £255,177
Cambridgeshire £507,387
Camden £272,292
Central Bedfordshire £204,088
Cheshire East £306,093
Cheshire West and Chester £321,729
City of London £7,011
Cornwall £636,739
Coventry £449,373
Croydon £419,542
Cumbria £520,225
Darlington £126,828
Derby £312,705
Derbyshire £758,227
Devon £710,157
Doncaster £418,396
Dorset £320,584
Dudley £367,847
Durham £650,974
Ealing £371,628
East Riding of Yorkshire £286,842
East Sussex £554,473
Enfield £399,635
Essex £1,334,287
Gateshead £257,380
Gloucestershire £524,139
Greenwich £336,411
Hackney £400,490
Halton £180,764
Hammersmith and Fulham £203,417
Hampshire £1,007,725
Haringey £342,895
Harrow £204,749
Hartlepool £137,998
Havering £231,087
Herefordshire £187,027
Hertfordshire £866,869
Hillingdon £289,004
Hounslow £286,245
Isle of Wight £158,821
Isles Of Scilly £1,442
Islington £304,980
Kensington and Chelsea £164,042
Kent £1,565,837
Kingston upon Hull City of £427,299
Kingston upon Thames £119,444
Kirklees £517,219
Knowsley £257,513
Lambeth £388,824
Lancashire £1,363,058
Leeds £986,468
Leicester £487,309
Leicestershire £508,316
Lewisham £376,331
Lincolnshire £772,976
Liverpool £847,834
Luton £254,726
Manchester £897,422
Medway £315,871
Merton £165,547
Middlesbrough £229,320
Milton Keynes £251,068
Newcastle upon Tyne £398,948
Newham £470,772
Norfolk £952,759
North East Lincolnshire £218,483
North Lincolnshire £185,145
North Somerset £183,700
North Tyneside £224,228
North Yorkshire £499,013
Northamptonshire £723,355
Northumberland £345,045
Nottingham £491,668
Nottinghamshire £805,153
Oldham £338,848
Oxfordshire £475,549
Peterborough £258,532
Plymouth £321,935
Portsmouth £266,171
Reading £161,481
Redbridge £274,259
Redcar and Cleveland £181,742
Richmond upon Thames £117,107
Rochdale £325,716
Rotherham £350,218
Rutland £21,909
Salford £378,711
Sandwell £488,307
Sefton £340,858
Sheffield £726,695
Shropshire £292,592
Slough £165,176
Solihull £196,712
Somerset £537,180
South Gloucestershire £197,867
South Tyneside £207,539
Southampton £313,183
Southend-on-Sea £199,442
Southwark £386,465
St. Helens £249,027
Staffordshire £772,271
Stockport £301,674
Stockton-on-Tees £236,223
Stoke-on-Trent £376,703
Suffolk £722,385
Sunderland £372,630
Surrey £739,234
Sutton £160,612
Swindon £213,781
Tameside £311,010
Telford and Wrekin £211,842
Thurrock £181,821
Torbay £173,985
Tower Hamlets £418,230
Trafford £204,502
Wakefield £437,747
Walsall £394,491
Waltham Forest £328,717
Wandsworth £290,705
Warrington £202,206
Warwickshire £488,309
West Berkshire £96,955
West Sussex £691,676
Westminster £266,431
Wigan £390,942
Wiltshire £385,170
Windsor and Maidenhead £82,168
Wirral £425,734
Wokingham £72,555
Wolverhampton £369,174
Worcestershire £558,760
York £144,875
Total £59,100,000

More information

  • Over £50 million boost to the Covid Winter Grant Scheme will cover the 2-week Easter period
  • Scheme helping thousands of vulnerable children stay “warm and well-fed” says Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey
  • Nearly 2.5 million awards were made to vulnerable households during December and January

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Published 12 March 2021