STRUGGLING families in York will this year be able to claim only a single food voucher and a single fuel voucher under a government support scheme for hard-up households, instead of the three of each they could claim before.

That’s because the government’s Household Support Fund will run only until September 2024, instead of through to next March.

In a bid to ensure help remains available for the rest of the financial year, council bosses who administer the funding have decided to reduce the number of vouchers households can claim.

The decision was made initially by a senior council official last month in order to ‘help sustain the scheme until March 2025’.

But it was ratified by the council’s executive member for finance, Cllr Katie Lomas, on Thursday – despite appeals by opposition Lib Dem councillors for her to have a change of heart.

In their ‘alternative budget’ earlier this year – which failed to get enough support to be adopted – York Lib Dems proposed earmarking an extra £400,000 of council cash to ensure struggling families could continue to receive up to three of each of the vouchers.

Lib Dem opposition leader in York Cllr Nigel Ayre said: “The Household Support Fund is a vital lifeline for so many families that are being hard hit by the Conservatives’ continuing cost of living crisis.

“The Labour council’s decision to scale back the support available to families in need shows exactly where their priorities lie, and it isn’t with those households that are struggling to heat their homes and put food on the table.”

But Cllr Lomas today laid the blame squarely on the Conservative government.

And she accused the Lib Dems of a ‘reckless and irresponsible’ approach to the use of council finances for seeking to siphon of scarce council cash to compensate for the ending of the government scheme.

She insisted that under Labour, struggling families in York who were most in need would still be supported.

Cllr Lomas said: “The Government’s Household Support Fund ending in a few months is the decision of the current Conservative Government, which has chosen to ignore the continuing cost of living crisis deeply affecting many York residents.

“The plan to end the Fund around the General Election shows it was a political-driven decision and not one reflecting the level of need that still exists in York and across the country.

“For their part, Liberal Democrats produced an alternative council budget that was not recommended by the council’s Chief Finance Officer, because it adopted the irregular approach of funding permanent services with one-off funding.

“After eight years of Liberal Democrats in power, their reckless and irresponsible approach shows no signs of changing and explains why the council’s finances Labour inherited last year were in such a mess.

“We’re cleaning up that mess and ensuring residents in most need are supported, including through increasing the council’s own York Financial Assistance Scheme by £50k in our budget and topping it up further from underspends in other budgets”.

But Cllr Ayre was unimpressed.

“The truth is this administration has choices and these constantly penalise those who need support the most," he said.

“After being elected last May, Councillor Claire Douglas promised York’s residents an emergency cost-of-living action plan within the first 100 days. No such plan has been forthcoming.

“Instead, we see a regressive Green Bin Tax which takes no account of ability to pay, cuts to libraries and now a reduction in food and fuel vouchers. Labour’s decisions since being elected have hurt those struggling the most rather than help them.”