A CONTINGENCY fund to support some of Devon’s most hard-pressed families is to be launched after the county suffered a drop from a dedicated government pot.

The Household Support Fund (HSF) has provided councils with cash to be spent within a 12-month period to support some of their poorest residents.

But after Devon saw its share of the pot drop for the first time since it was launched in October 2021 to help people struggling financially in the wake of the pandemic, councillors have agreed to create a rainy-day fund to help.

The amount hasn’t been decided, but it will sit alongside Westminster’s replacement to the HSF that Devon is concerned it might not get as much from.

Cllr Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Liberal Democrat, Torrington Rural), cabinet member for rural affairs and broadband, said Devon’s £8.9 million in the latest and last round of the HSF was a nearly 12 per cent drop compared to the more than £10.1 million last time.

Furthermore, Cllr Cottle-Hunkin feared the Crisis and Resilience Fund, announced in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review to replace the HSF, might not benefit Devon in the same way.

“I feel a worry as we have no indication of what the new fund will mean, and with the recent ceasing of the rural services support grant and that cash being directed to urban areas, I’m concerned there could be a similar approach here.”

She will be writing to the government about the “lack of clarity over the new fund” and about the concern she had for the county’s deprived communities.

Funding from the last HSF round supported 60,000 households in Devon, something that is becoming increasingly important given Citizens Advice data showing roughly 80,000 earn less than their outgoings.

Cllr Cottle-Hunkin said an official measure of poverty, the index of multiple deprivation “does not accurately reflect rural deprivation and disguises rural need”.

She added that full-time salaries in North Devon are among the lowest in the country, and that Torridge is in the bottom 10 per cent of districts nationally for social mobility.

Cllr Jacqi Hodgson (Green Party, Totnes & Dartington), said that anything the council could do to help families in financial hardship had to be positive.

“People are working hard but they still don’t get enough to pay their bills,” she said.

“There is something in being able to say the local authority has your back, and we have the understanding that our families do need this support.”

Cllr Julian Brazil (Liberal Democrat, Kingsbridge), council leader, said while many headlines are about winter fuel payments, the household support fund is “equally if not more important as it is targeted not just at pensioners but everyone”.

“We need to make the case to government that the money is being properly spent, as we are drilling down to the people that need it most, so every single penny is needed,” he said.