THAT'S how little has been paid out from a council fund to help some of the poorest in our community.

A £200,000 exceptional hardship fund set up to help the poorest and most vulnerable people in the district has paid out just £1,577 in the last year, The Citizen can reveal.

The council has been given a £79,364 Government grant and is permitted to spend up to £119,000 to help local people who face homelessness as a result of housing benefit difficulties.

But so far this year the little-known fund has paid out a meagre £1,577 to help just three local people.

One Lancaster woman who asked the city council how much they had given in Exceptional Hardship Payments (EHPs) was told that the information was available only on a "need to know basis."

Diane Garner wrote to the council expressing concern after she was unable to find any information about EHPs at the housing benefit enquiry desk in March. Her questions were eventually addressed in a council report which was discussed at a sub-committee last week, but Ms Garner felt they had failed to answer pertinent questions and is appalled that councillors didn't seem to understand the report at all. "There was not one iota of concern expressed for the correct administering of this fund or that the fund was not reaching the people it may have helped," she complained.

"The whole emphasis of the meeting was to stop people taking advantage of the system and no questions or interests were shown in the details of the report. I feel the councillors could not possibly have read the report properly because there was so much important stuff in there. There was a DHSS circular expressing concern that the EHP payments were not being taken up. Also, importantly, it says that there is in fact no need for a special application as it can be processed at the same time as the normal housing benefit application."

She added: "Morecambe's Victoria Street Project says it no longer encourages its very needy young people to apply because it falsely raises their expectations and they know they will not be successful.

"At the meeting one councillor even said it was a job well done if no one applied. I'm disgusted at the council's attitude and will be taking this further."

Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith has promised to take action on the issue after meeting with Diane Garner last week.

"I think this is disgraceful. This money is for the poorest and most vulnerable people in the country," said the MP.

"Manchester Council actually puts in double the Government allocation."

Ms Smith has now written to the council's acting chief executive and also plans to raise the issue with the Local Government Minister, Hilary Armstrong.