£30 rise in payments for crisis-hit households

£30 increase in support for crisis-hit households

Sheffield City Council’s crisis resilience fund can be used to cover essentials such as utilities

Crisis payments for Sheffield residents facing severe financial hardship have been increased by £30.

Single-person households eligible for support from Sheffield City Council’s crisis and resilience fund will now receive a one-off payment of £95, up from £65.

Two-person households can apply for £110, while households with three or four people are eligible for £120 if they qualify, and households with five or more people can receive £130, the authority said.

Announcing the change, councillor Elle Dodd, chair of the authority’s finance and performance policy committee, said life was “difficult and expensive” for “too many people” in Sheffield.

According to the council’s website, the fund can be used to help people buy essentials including food, toiletries and utilities.

The increase followed a cost-of-living review carried out by the committee, which is made up of a group of Sheffield councillors.

The review found that almost 50,000 households in Sheffield were struggling to make ends meet and could not pay their bills.

At least 7,000 crisis grants, worth nearly £600,000 in total, have already been awarded by the council since April.

Dodd said: “Behind every statistic is someone making impossible decisions, feeling stressed and looking for a little breathing room.

“We are determined to tackle the root causes of poverty, and to provide immediate support to those who need it.

“We are keeping tackling poverty and the cost of living firmly on the agenda.”