A scheme aimed at supporting the most vulnerable households will be extended for another six months, chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced in the Budget.

The Household Support Fund, which has provided £2.5bn in Government funding for local welfare support over the past two-and-a-half years, was due to end at the end of this month.

Hunt said: ‘With the battle against inflation still not over, now is not the time to stop the targeted help it offers.'

A cross-party open letter published on Monday, coordinated by the Local Government Association, had called on Hunt to announce an extension of the fund, which was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.