What challenge(s) have you faced this past year?

Maximising the number of households that we could reach for Household Support Fund (HSF) 7, identifying the most effective way to address households in crisis as well as build resilience through taking a more preventative approach.

What led you to choose Policy in Practice's product to address your challenges?

Previously, HSF was allocated through an online application process, through various council departments and through partner organisations,  relying on households being aware of opportunities or having existing relationships with providers/services. 

LIFT has enabled us to pilot a more proactive approach to supporting households, proactively identify and contact individuals who might not have otherwise reached out for help but who were still identified as most at risk / financially vulnerable, including those in temporary accommodation or at high risk of being made homeless.

What success have you had, or expect to have, as a result of using your Policy in Practice product?

The Policy in Practice product has enabled us to take a far more joined-up and data driven approach to our work.

Proactively contacting households we know are eligible for the household support fund through LIFT has ensured that support is distributed more equitably across individuals and households, reducing the risk of over-supporting some while others go without. 

The system allows us to quickly and clearly identify whether a client meets eligibility criteria for various forms of assistance, saving valuable staff time and enabling faster interventions.

As a result, our resources are targeted where they are needed most, ensuring a fairer and more efficient distribution of funding across the community.  

Internal council departments and partner organisations have also told us that, through LIFT, they are reaching new households not previously engaged with.

This proactive contact is opening up conversations and triggering a chain of support across multiple services, ensuring holistic, wraparound assistance for people and families in need immediately, whilst also developing relationships with the organisations to support longer term resilience.

Reflecting on your work and that of your colleagues, what has been your most notable success story from 2025? How has Policy in Practice contributed to this achievement?

Two examples from partners working with us on delivery of the HSF using LIFT:

Case study 1: Helping a carer access the support they were missing

Improving Lives Plymouth recently supported an unpaid carer who was looking after their husband, who received the lower rate of PIP. Through the contact prompted by LIFT data, ILP carried out a benefits check to maximise the family’s income and identified that a change of circumstances form should be submitted to seek an increase to the higher rate of daily living PIP. 

During this process, ILP also discovered that a family member of the carer had recently been diagnosed with dementia. ILP supported an Attendance Allowance application on their behalf, which has since provided additional income to help cover essential costs such as taxi fares to and from hospital appointments.  

In addition, ILP were able to offer the household a grant from the HSF to ease winter fuel pressures. Rising energy costs had been a major source of anxiety for the family, and this support ensured they could afford to keep their home warm during the colder months.

Case study 2: More than a grant: data led targeting delivers £25,922 in HSF and money advice to 94 households 

In another example, Citizens Advice Plymouth used the LIFT product to identify those on a low income that may be eligible for assistance through the Household Support Fund.

So far in 2025 a total of 94 LIFT-identified households have received HSF support, totalling £25,922.  These households will also have received income maximisation advice as part of the process. Provisional figures show that income maximisation advice has the potential for income gain of £125,000 across these households. 

The trends for people on LIFT data who, in the majority, are single occupancy households in receipt of housing support, are that they are in receipt of correct amounts of means-tested benefits, but these are not enough to cover their costs, especially where rent is higher than the maximum that housing support will cover, or a client is impacted by the bedroom tax.

These cases highlight the powerful impact of using Policy in Practice’s data-driven tools.