Portsmouth to get £124k less for cost of living support

Portsmouth City Council has signed off on cost of living support funding for 2025/26, with the authority getting a £124k reduction.

The government is replacing the Household Support Fund (HSF) with a new Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) to help vulnerable or impoverished people with the cost of living.

While the new CRF allocates £3.7m to Portsmouth from April 2026 – an increase from £3.3m the year before – the original HSF, together with discretionary housing benefits, would have totalled £3,824,702.28.

Council reports state that “therefore the provisional allocation for CRF represents a £124,702.28 annual reduction in funding”.

Planned uses for the CRF include “rapid 48hr payments for households in an emergency”, accessed through a referral route.

There will be enhanced support with resilience services, which help households to become financially stable.

The free school meal vouchers scheme will come to an end, in line with guidance from the Department of Work and Pensions.

The HAF Fun Pompey scheme, which provides free meals and activities over the school holidays, will be expanded.

Katy Ricks, the council’s tackling poverty strategic coordinator, said: “The new CRF provides an opportunity to build a more prevention focussed, joined up system that strengthens households long term financial stability while still providing rapid support in crisis situations.”

Councillor Steve Pitt, leader of the council, said: “I hope that the new approach is effective. I just wish it was effective with the same amount of money we had previously.

“I am massively frustrated that this isn’t something Portsmouth can design itself to meet the needs that we know are there.”

He said that it’s an “abomination that we’re sitting here talking about the slim pickings tossed down at us by the government to fix problems that they’ve created”.

“If they can’t fix the basics so that people can go to work and earn enough money to pay their rent and bills, then there’s something fundamentally wrong with this country as a country.”

Councillor Darren Sanders raised concerns over the number of residents claiming universal credit increasing by 14.7 per cent between 2024 and 2025.

“People are really struggling – we shouldn’t have pantries and food banks in the seventh biggest economy in the world.”

Cllr Chris Atwell suggested the reduction in funding could be greater when taking inflationary pressures into account, and that Portsmouth suffers with structural inequalities which won’t be addressed with the “£2.50 we get”.

Poverty in Portsmouth

Poverty is rising both nationally and locally, with children remaining at the highest risk. In Portsmouth, around a quarter of children are living in relative poverty, while 35.5 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

Housing costs continue to drive financial hardship. Nationally, rents have increased by 14 per cent over the past two years. In Portsmouth, there is an average monthly shortfall of nearly £264 between the two-bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate and the cost of renting privately.

The city faces higher-than-average levels of deprivation, alongside lower wages, rising Universal Credit claims, increasing housing pressures and growing levels of debt.

The strain is also being felt in access to everyday essentials. Around 8,000 food bank vouchers were issued in Portsmouth during 2024/25.

Out of 317 English local authorities, Portsmouth ranks as the 73rd most deprived, according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation average.