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Social Fund reform: debt, credit and low-income households

Background

This consultation sets out a package of reforms for the social fund scheme. It applies to England, Wales and Scotland. It has a number of proposals and discussion points including:

• 'encouraging' people who use the social fund 'to take more responsibility' for managing their finances and planning their future
• reducing frequent applications to the fund
• providing 'goods and services' instead of cash for community care grants
• introduction of a standardised resettlement grant to assist people in meeting the costs of setting up or re-establishing their home - possibly through the regulated social fund
• consideration of devolution of aspects of community care grants system to the Scottish Government
• instituting a simplified budgeting loan structure
• examining ways to increase social fund debt recovery
• improvements to the administration of social fund funeral payments
• help for students under the social fund funeral payments scheme
• examine the possibility of access to affordable credit for low income households
• provision of financial health checks to customers
• proposals for changes to the system for credit card repayments

The closing date for responses was 7 June 2010.

More information

• dwp website
• disability alliance's response to the social fund: a new approach - December 2008

Note: for pdf files you will need to download adobe acrobat reader. To convert the pdf to alternative formats or for more information on accessibility go to access adobe.

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