Stockport is on a "cliff edge" as a crisis support fund is due to run out next month.

Struggling residents are currently able to get help to pay for essentials such as food and energy bills from a scheme known as the Household Support Fund.

The former government gave Stockport and other councils around the country money to fund this programme, with a six-month extension to the scheme announced in March.

Stockport Council was given £2 million to last until September 30 – but the new Labour government has not confirmed if it will continue beyond then.

The situation has left councillors in Stockport town hall worried that losing the money could cause "huge harm" to vulnerable residents in the borough.

Cllr Jilly Julian, Stockport council's finance chief, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the problem is "is literally keeping [her] awake at night."

(Image - Nub News)

"When the outgoing government extended the Household Support Fund by only six months, it created an inevitable cliff edge at the end of next month that the new government has been entirely silent on," she added.

"The support provided by the Fund comes to a hard stop a whole month before the Chancellor delivers the autumn budget, and yet residents in Stockport will continue to suffer the impacts of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

"There may be a new government, but there's still an enduring cost of living crisis.

"Councils are faced with chronic underfunding whilst trying to provide crucial support to increasing numbers of residents struggling to make ends meet.

"Failing to extend the Household Support Fund would be a national scandal, and hugely harmful to residents of Stockport."

Stockport town hall (Image - Alasdair Perry)

Since the HSF was first launched in 2021, around £2.5 billion has been spent by the government to help people around the country with the cost of living.

While Stockport is considered by many as a borough on the up, with major regeneration projects taking place in the town centre, there are pockets of poverty in its communities.

Delays to a separate Stockport Council Family Support Voucher scheme last month sparked fears from residents that some in the borough could go hungry without the extra help.

The Department for Work and Pensions said an update about the future of the Household Support Fund will be announced "in due course."

A spokesperson added: "This government will tackle the scar of poverty by making sure work pays and improving support to help people into good work."

~

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stockport Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our town.

To get our top stories in your inbox each week, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter HERE.

Please consider following Stockport Nub News on Facebook or Twitter