Support provided through the Household Support Fund - Find a freedom of information request

I would like to request the following information on support provided through the Household Support Fund (HSF), under the Freedom of Information Act.

1) How much funding from the Household Support Fund for the 2023/24 financial year has been spent so far in your council? If all the funding has already been spent, please can you provide the date by which it was spent by.

2) How many applications for a) vouchers and b) grants under the HSF scheme have been rejected so far in the 2023/2024 financial year? If possible, please can you provide a breakdown of the reasons why these applications were rejected, e.g. incomplete application, deemed ineligible.

3) What is the longest time in days it has taken to process an application for a) a grant

and b) a voucher under the HSF scheme in the 2023/2024 financial year so far?

1. As at the 28 February 2024, the expenditure/funding allocated for the HSF four is £10,426m, by the end of March 2024, the full grant of £10.929m, is expected to be fully spent/allocated.

2. For all vouchers/applications – 211 claims have been rejected covering the whole period 01 April 2023 to 28 February 2024.The reason that the 211 applicants were rejected was that they did not meet the criteria set by Lincolnshire Community Foundation (LCF) of falling within the priority groups. The priority groups set by LCF are single parents, single household, pensioners, households with underlying health issues or disabilities. Other reasons include No further evidence provided, duplicate claims, excess capital, claimed at incorrect address and no evidence of household liability to pay bills.

3. The majority of vouchers/allocations are made within five to seven working days.

In some cases, inhouse applications have been processed within 15 working days and if Lincolnshire County Council (LCC)/district councils are unable to contact the applicant which then increases the processing time.

LCC send a message by text/email to the applicant for them to contact us in cases like these.

Applications that are processed by Lincolnshire Community Foundation are contacted within 20 working days and vouchers are issued within 30 working days.

In rare occasions, further evidence is required, and this would extend the processing time scale for the receipt of vouchers to 40 working days.