Party leaders have penned a joint letter to the Chancellor urging him not to withdraw vital support for the most vulnerable families.

Councillors in Medway agreed to write to Jeremy Hunt MP to ask for an extension of the Household Support Fund (HSF) which is due to draw to a close in nine weeks.

The £4.5 million grant provides money for things like free school meals, supermarket and school uniform vouchers, and energy cards.

A motion was put forward at a full Medway council meeting last Wednesday by Cllr Tracy Coombs (Lab) asking central government to continue the scheme due to its vital importance for families during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Cllr Coombs said: “In the financial year up to March 2023, the government allocated over £4.5 million to Medway’s HSF, and this financial year we were grateful the government made a similar allocation, which we’re using to help ease financial pressures for many of our residents.

“The HSF has helped huge numbers of Medway residents since it was introduced. Every member will have people in their ward who have benefited.

“There were over 135,000 small grants made to help with basics such as food, energy and utility bills. The most recent figures show that 19712 households with children, 2291 households with pensioners, and 6988 households with a disabled person were helped by this fund.

“The amount of each individual grant is small, but the difference each one makes is huge.

With no mention of continued funding in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, they face a cliff-edge on March 31 when this fund ends.

Cllr Coombs added: “We must make it clear to him that he needs to make that commitment in his Spring Budget so that we are able to offer continued additional help to those residents that need it.”

The motion was supported unanimously, with Conservative councillors saying the fund did vital work to help those who were struggling.

Tory leader Cllr Adrian Gulvin, who seconded the motion, said: “The HSF has provided a lifeline to people who desperately need a helping hand.

“I think this is a good example of, when funding is put into local government, local government being very efficient at getting this help to the people that actually need it.”

He also suggested that to demonstrate the cross-party support for the extension of the HSF, the leaders of the three political groups sign the letter to the Chancellor, along with the chief executive officer of Medway Council, Richard Hicks.

He added: “I think, to show our cross-party support on this, I would like it not only to be signed by the chief executive but signed by the leader of the council, I would like to sign it, and our independent colleagues would sign it too.

“That would show we’re all together on this in Medway.”

Councillors from all parties praised the work the HSF does in giving support to residents, particularly the funding for free school meals during school holidays.

Cllr George Crozer, leader of the Independent Group, said: “I’d like to thank Cllr Coombs for bringing forward this extremely important motion.

“I’m pleased about how much has been distributed so far and let’s hope we can get more because the people of Medway certainly need it.

“We’re happy to support the motion and delighted to sign the letter.”

The HSF was introduced in late 2021 and has been renewed in the years following, with Medway receiving £4.5 million in April 2023 to help residents struggling with the cost of living crisis.

In October the authority doubled efforts to make the fund more readily available to those who needed it after a low uptake.

In September, the cabinet decided to make the process to apply easier, so that people could just supply bank statements for officers to evaluate for eligibility, rather than having to submit their income and expenditures.

The motion passed with support across the chamber and the letter, signed by the council’s chief executive and the party leaders, is due to be sent ahead of the Spring Budget by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

costs of essentials should speak to their council about how the fund could help them."