North Northamptonshire Council has approved a £2.6m government scheme handing out critical support to households across the county struggling with the cost of living. An estimated 14,000 families who are finding it difficult to feed their children will benefit from the funding, among others.

The fifth instalment of the household support fund (HSF) will be available to families struggling with paying for essentials such as food and energy bills until September this year. The extended £421 million of funding was announced in the government's spring budget following pressure from councils, charities and MPs.

The money is used by councils to distribute food, energy and water bill vouchers to cover essential living costs. Anyone can apply for the fund via their council, but the expectation is that payments should be used to support the households with the highest needs.

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Cllr Lyn Buckingham (Labour) said: "We’ve got a cut-off point for something which has almost become a norm for people struggling through the cost of living crisis.

"Coming on the horizon are changes to welfare payments, home to school transport, winter problems- I know this is talking about the here and now but do we have a plan B for vulnerable people?"

Executive member for adults, health and wellbeing, Gill Mercer said: "I'm sure we'll give it as much assistance as we can after that date, particularly through supporting the voluntary sector to help people that are vulnerable.

"£421m is no small sum and we get £2.6m- I think we have to just be grateful for what we’ve got and not just keep asking for more, but we always will if we can."

A massive 14,724 families with children are thought to be eligible for the funding, which has been designed to help out with back-to-school essentials and children's holiday food support.

Food vouchers worth £15 a week will be issued for kids during summer holidays as well as a further £30 per child to help purchase school essentials such as uniforms. Other financial support vouchers for food or wider essential living costs are thought to be distributed out to an estimated 800 households.

Any underspend from the council will be re-issued to local Food Banks to provide them with an additional source of income.

Leader of the council Jason Smithers said: "This is something that has been going on for a while now, since 2021 this scheme has been made available to help the most vulnerable across this country.

"I know our local MPs Tom Pursglove and Philip Hollobone have championed this in the House over the years and I think we need to thank them.

"I'm sure this household support fund will continue further on with the Conservative government, but we’ll see when that one runs out."