“Sticking plaster” support: The Household Support Fund and localised assistance in the UK welfare state

The Household Support Fund is a creature of crises. Initially conceived as a temporary palliative for struggling UK households in 2021 amid the devastating COVID-19 crisis, the Local Authority administered support is now in its fourth wave. Accounting for over £2.5 billion of funding since its introduction, it is a flagship component of the UK Government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis. Drawing on interviews with twelve Local Authorities, we argue this scheme is part of an ongoing shift towards dependency on localised discretionary funds to mitigate increasingly insufficient central social security support - a role the fund is unable to fulfil in its current form. The paper falls into three parts. The first provides an overview of the origins of the HSF scheme and situates it in the shifting role of localised support in the UK social security system. The second provides an overview of the method. The third draws four key themes from the interview data: a lack of funding leading to “sticking plaster” provision, problematic tensions between supporting those most at need and concerns about “dependency” on crisis funds, administrative capacity shaping scheme design, and third sector organisations' increased role in both mediating and providing support. We conclude that the HSF signifies a significant ongoing shift towards localised support in the UK welfare state. Rather than comprehensive centralised provision, funds like the HSF are increasingly being tasked with mitigating insufficient working-age social security

Renewing it Right:Wave 6 of the Household Support Fund

The Household Support Fund (HSF) is a discretionary fund introduced in 2021 for local authorities in England to support struggling households. After five waves of support, the Government has announced it will renew the HSF for a sixth instalment - extending the fund until the end of March 2025. This briefing draws from two studies into the HSF: a Research England funded analysis of the scheme drawing on work with twelve local authorities, and a new Nuffield Foundation funded project, exploring devolved welfare across the UK, which includes the collection of data on the HSF and other local welfare funds across 2024 and 2025

Genomic Designing for Climate-Smart Tomato

Tomato is the first vegetable consumed in the world. It is grown in very different conditions and areas, mainly in field for processing tomatoes while fresh-market tomatoes are often produced in greenhouses. Tomato faces many environmental stresses, both biotic and abiotic. Today many new genomic resources are available allowing an acceleration of the genetic progress. In this chapter, we will first present the main challenges to breed climate-smart tomatoes. The breeding objectives relative to productivity, fruit quality, and adaptation to environmental stresses will be presented with a special focus on how climate change is impacting these objectives. In the second part, the genetic and genomic resources available will be presented. Then, traditional and molecular breeding techniques will be discussed. A special focus will then be presented on ecophysiological modeling, which could constitute an important strategy to define new ideotypes adapted to breeding objectives. Finally, we will illustrate how new biotechnological tools are implemented and could be used to breed climate-smart tomatoes