SHROPSHIRE council's spending on local welfare schemes for vulnerable households has fallen over the last few years, figures suggest.

Charity the Children's Society said the government's failure to support such initiatives in the latest budget means councils across England will struggle to help families in need.

The schemes offer one-off cash grants, food, electricity or shopping vouchers to families and individuals who cannot cover their bills due to an emergency.

Freedom of information requests by the charity show £68,098 was spent by Shropshire council on its local welfare assistance scheme – called Local Support and Prevention Fund – in 2018-19.

This was down from £102,763 in 2015-16.

The Children's Society said the number of successful awards from welfare schemes across England fell steadily from 740,000 in 2012-13 to just 180,000 in 2018-19.

In Shropshire, the number of awards dropped from 522 in 2015-16 to 428 in 2018-19.

Over this time, the number of applications also decreased from 1,183 to 846.

Research by the Children's Society found spending across England on this type of support had fallen from £291 million in 2010-11 to just £41 million in 2018-19 – a drop of £250 million pounds.

The Government provided an additional £233 million for councils to help people struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic through two emergency investments last year, with Shropshire receiving around £1.15 million.

However, as this money needs to be spent by March 31, the charity said it was 'hugely disappointed' that the budget did not provide any further cash to top up local welfare schemes.

Toby North, senior public affairs officer for the Children's Society, said is was 'disappointing' that the government was not doing more.

"During the Covid crisis the additional grants from central government enabled councils to strengthen these schemes and provide a lifeline for so many struggling families, allowing them to keep heating on, to pay bills and feed their children," he said.

"For the Government to not recognise their importance and ensure that councils can keep them going is a huge blow to the people who are likely to now miss out on vital support."