Birmingham City Council will utilise the full £6.1m Discretionary Social Fund grant from the Government to support vulnerable people in crisis.

Roger Godsiff has welcomed the news today that Birmingham City Council will utilise the full £6.1m grant from the Government to support vulnerable people in crisis even though this money will not be ring fenced when local councils take over its administration from 1^st April 2013 under the new welfare reforms.

Speaking from Westminster Mr Godsiff said: “With the Conservatives promising even more raids on the wallets of the poor and vulnerable at their party conference and a further £10billion in welfare cuts, it is good news indeed that Birmingham City Council will use all of this money for the purposes that it was originally intended when it’s administration falls under their control.”

“This money is not ‘ring-fenced’ so in theory local councils can spend in anything to plug a hole in any budget that is under pressure politically or otherwise” continued Mr Godsiff.

The provisions of the Welfare Reform Act will mean that from April 2013 that Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans will be replaced by locally based provision delivered by Councils through local schemes.

The news came in a response to a letter that Mr Godsiff had sent to Stephen Hughes, Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, on this matter which also asked about the impact on council employment levels of the introduction of the Universal Credit.

The administration of a number of benefits including housing benefit would cease to be administered by the council when Universal Credit is introduced but Mr Hughes was not able to offer any clarification on this particular issue.