Emergency action has been taken to use £5.4 million of government cash to help Derbyshire's poorest households through the winter.

Derbyshire County Council received the funds in the form of the Household Support Fund at the end of last year and had to act quickly in order to get it out to the people who needed it the most.

On November 11, an urgent decision was made by the Managing Executive Director to approve spending plans for the funds, which can by used to ‘provide support to households who would otherwise struggle to buy food or pay essential utility bills or meet other essential living costs’.

On December 21, a further urgent move was taken to appoint a supplier to provide food vouchers using money from the scheme.

Both actions were approved retrospectively by Cabinet in a meeting on Thursday, January 13.

Speaking in the meeting, member for children’s services and safeguarding Councillor Julie Patten said:

“The team have had to turn everything around in a very very short space of time, but they’ve stepped up to the mark and show that it’s an exemplar service that we can deliver.”

She added that the scheme was ‘far reaching’, saying the £5.4million grant was being used to target families in need through a mixture of vouchers and energy support.

The grant will be split up as follows – Derbyshire Discretionary Fund £1.8 million, district and borough councils £1.6 million, early help teams and care leavers teams £460k, winter food and energy support vouchers £1.35 million and third sector grants £190k.

Sixty-one per cent of the funds have been allocated to households with children while the remainder will go to those without children.

Vouchers are being distributed throughout this month.

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