Initially established from the Helping Hands Scheme created in 2021 by KCC’s Leader, the team’s initiatives have provided comprehensive assistance to individuals and families in need.
And the scheme is now set to continue beyond its original conclusion date of March 2025, focusing on a long-term legacy of strengthening residents’ resilience to financial shocks.
Key achievements over the past three years include issuing more than 180,000 awards of support through the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) funded Household Support Fund, writing off more that £57,000 of resident debt, assisting people in securing employment and upskilling into higher-paying jobs, and establishing one of the country’s largest Digital Champions networks.
This work has resulted in being shortlisted for seven awards and has been strongly commended by the DWP.
Debt is a major issue for many people trying to sustain basic living costs. To address this, the Kent Money Advice Hub project, delivered through Citizens Advice North and West Kent (CANWK), offers a central hub for specialist debt advice, reducing triage times and providing high-quality, standardised support.
Initially a pilot project funded by the Helping Hands Scheme with the establishment of five hubs, the project has now expanded with further Helping Hands and partner funding and is currently operating with 37 hub locations across the county.
Digital Inclusion has been another area of focus for the programme. The Digital Kent team was established to improve digital inclusion and skills in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has positively impacted over 15,600 residents through a range of collaborative projects, ensuring individuals have the skills, access, and confidence to utilise digital tools in a meaningful way.
Partnership working has been key in ensuring effective and tailored support for individuals across the programme. An example of this is the ReferKent platform, which was established using the Helping Hands scheme to facilitate effective referrals to organisations that can provide support. The system now has 289 organisations onboard with 1,382 users actively able to use the system.
“I am extremely proud of the work of KCC’s Financial Hardship team, and how they are working collaboratively with all our partners across Kent to help people find a practical way forward.”
Leader of KCC Roger Gough said: “The ongoing financial pressures on our residents require innovative solutions to help people in the long term. This programme of activity embodies that ethos and will benefit people into the future, from helping them to write off debt and manage their finances, through improving our digital capabilities across the county to ensuring that people get the help they need, and no one is left to fall through the cracks between different agencies.
“I am extremely proud of the work of KCC’s Financial Hardship team, and how they are working collaboratively with all our partners across Kent to help people find a practical way forward.”
The work of the programme was scheduled to complete at the end of March 2025. As a result of efficient financial management and a focus on attracting additional funding, the initial investment from the Helping Hands Scheme has been able to operate beyond the initial timeline and is now able to continue into next year without further investment required by KCC.
Further Information:
- KCC’s Helping Hands scheme was first started in 2021 for families and businesses adversely affected by the pandemic and has evolved with cost-of-living support.
- The Household Support Fund is provided by the UK government’s Department for Work and Pensions to support residents in need of help with rising living costs and is administered by KCC.
- Access support and advice around debt through the Citizens Advice Kent Money Advice Hub.
- Find out more about the projects and schemes to support digital inclusion through Digital Kent.
- Find out more about ReferKent and utilising the system as an organisation.
- More information on cost of living support can be found at Kent Together
