Reform of the social fund campaign

More than 12 months have passed since the Social Security Select Committee (now the Committee for Work and Pensions) called for an urgent overhaul of the discretionary social fund. MPs claimed that without reform and an injection of cash the social fund risked undermining the Government's polices to tackle child poverty and social exclusion. While officials have indicated that the social fund is 'under review' the pressure for action has been growing.

CPAG, the National Council for One Parent Families and Family Welfare Association has published a consultation paper Like it or Lump it, setting out recommendations for improving access to support for families and children. Harry Potter author, J K Rowling, is backing the campaign and wrote the foreword to the paper.

'The social fund was set up to help people who are trapped in poverty, with some of the basics that most of us take for granted - basics like beds, cookers and cots. The reality is that most of the help offered to lone parents is not in the form of a grant - but a loan. So where does this leave people in greatest need? Where does it leave those who have already been forced into debt just to keep their families afloat? Where does it leave those whose incomes are so low they cannot afford to repay a loan?
J K Rowling

Like it or Lump it includes the following proposals:

• Replacing he social fund with a new set of  'inclusion funds'
• Replacing much of the current system of loans with a programme of child development, health and safety and secure homes grants, focused on providing the poorest families with the basic essentials for a decent home and healthy children.
• Introducing an 'opportunity grant' to help lone parents make the transition from benefit to work.
• Considering piloting a scheme to match social fund debt repayments pound for pound when parents move into work.

Further information

• J K Rowling backs charities' call for social fund reform
  press release 15 April 2002
• Reforming the social fund: summary of proposals and background briefing
• Like it or Lump it: a role for the social fund in ending child poverty (196 KB Word document)
• Charity backs MPs' call for 'urgent action' by Government: The social fund lets the poorest and the vulnerable down
  press release 4 April 2001
• The Social Security Select Committee's report on the social fund: A Lifeline for the Poor – or the fund that likes to say no? was published in April 2001.
  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmsocsec/232/23202.htm
  The Government's reply to the report can be downloaded from the site.