Surrey County Council is running the Household Support Fund for the fifth time.

The fund was started in 2021 to help households with the rising cost of living and provides emergency support for those across Surrey who need financial support.

Since 2021 over £26 million has been raised and funded by the UK government.

The latest round of funding saw £5.3 million raised and will be distributed across Surrey organisations and projects.

Approximately £2.5 million of the fund will go towards will be used to give food vouchers to children over half-term and the summer holidays.

The rest will be distributed to charities, food banks and citizen advice Surrey.

Last year the fund saw 86,000 households provided with financial support including 53,000 households with children.

Food was a particular issue the fund helped to solve as food banks saw an increase in demand of nearly 300 per cent and the fund contributed £400,000 to help solve this matter.

Nearly 26,000 children received food vouchers for the school holidays through the fund.

Surrey County Council Deputy Leader Denise Turner-Stewart said:  “Yet again by working closely with our partners out in our communities, we are ensuring that funding gets to where it is needed most, to ensure no one is left behind.  By working with Citizens Advice we are also helping to ensure our most vulnerable residents are getting all the financial support they are eligible for and are managing their finances for maximum benefit.”