MILLIONS of people have been left without support to buy essential household appliances after 35 local councils in England shut down their crisis schemes, new research shows. 

Local authorities can offer crisis grants through Local Welfare Assistance (LWA) schemes to people in immediate need and are typically used for fuel, food and essential white goods and furniture. 

In England, councils can decide whether to offer the scheme. New research by charity End Poverty Furniture shows that this has resulted in dozens of cash-strapped councils closing their LWA schemes.

The charity found that 35 councils no longer provide the grants, while council spending on welfare support has dropped by 91 per cent since 2010, based on figures obtained through freedom of information requests. 

End Furniture Poverty head of policy, research and campaigns Claire Donovan said: “Crisis support helps people to access food, fuel and essential furniture items. 

“It makes good fiscal sense to invest in this type of support because it stops people from hitting rock bottom. Plus, it is right that the sixth richest economy in the world helps its citizens at a time of crisis.
 
“This need is only going to increase in coming months and years so we ask for the sticking plaster approach to be abandoned and for a long-term financial pledge for crisis support.”

Other crisis support is available to struggling families through the Household Support Fund, which was renewed in late March 2022 and is also administered by councils. 

Ms Donovan said the support was welcome but highlighted “significant issues” with its short-term nature and “the fact that many local authorities struggled to spend the money due to tight spending deadlines.”

The charity is calling for the HSF grant to be made permanent and to maintain the current levels of funding for at least three years.