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<p>As announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget on 6 March, the government
is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support
Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula
to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will
receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household
Support Fund.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The funding will be available to Local
Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.</p><p>
</p><p>The Household Support Fund is not the only way we are supporting people on
lower incomes. April’s benefit uprating of 6.7% will see an average increase in Universal
Credit of £470, raising the National Living Wage will deliver an increase of over
£1800 to the gross annual earnings of someone working full-time on that wage, and
uplifting Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents will benefit
1.6 million private renters by, on average, £800 a year.</p><p> </p><p>The Government
has also delivered a balanced package of funding through the Local Government Finance
Settlement for 2024-25 which makes available up to £64.7 billion. The most relatively
deprived areas of England will receive 18% more per dwelling in available resource
through the 2024-25 Settlement than the least deprived areas.</p><p> </p><p>As announced
by the Chancellor in this year’s Spring Budget, we are also doubling the repayment
period for new Universal Credit Budgeting Advances.</p>
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