A COST-OF-LIVING support officer role is to be created for two years in West Devon and the South Hams to help residents struggling to pay their bills.

The post will be paid for with cash allocated for administration costs as part of the Household Support Fund (HSF) scheme.

West Devon Borough Council has received £125,000 in the latest HSF round from the government to give in grants, together with £16,000 for administration costs.

The HSF launched in 2021 and has been extended several times following campaigning from borough and district councils.

The money has helped people meet essential living costs such as food, energy and housing.

Some £5 million has been given to Devon for a six-month extension of the HSF from April to September.

Five per cent of West Devon’s 22,000 residents were helped last year, each receiving about £200.

The council says that because of the continuing impact of the crisis, it intends to create a two-year fixed-term post for a cost of-living support officer, which it will share with South Hams District Council,

The officer will work with Citizens Advice, West Devon Council for Voluntary Service, and the Department for Work and Pensions to provide “targeted support and assistance” to residents, including those who want to engage with the council in person.

The authority says it will be “a joined-up approach to support vulnerable residents”.

Unused money from the administration pot from previous years will also help fund the new role, members of the council’s hub committee heard this week.

West Devon Borough Council and South Hams District Council generate ongoing savings of £6.2 million a year by sharing a workforce and political structures, a process which began in 2007.

In 2017, however, they decide not to merge, meaning decision-making processes remain completely separate.

By Alison Stephenson