Our Work

Household Support Fund Evaluation – Citywide Cost-of-Living Review

Loconomy worked with the University of Birmingham’s City-REDI team on a Birmingham City Council–commissioned evaluation of the Household Support Fund (HSF) and wider Cost-of-Living programme. Together we assessed how targeted, trust-based funding supported over 100,000 households and identified ways to build long-term financial resilience.

Programme Overview

This evaluation focused on five key objectives: addressing financial crises; preventing future crises through employment support; enabling services to work together; ensuring inclusion for those most in need; and building long-term community resilience.

Loconomy contributed fieldwork and best-practice insights drawn from our community programmes, working alongside the City-REDI team (George Bramley, Ian Dudfield, Alex Ross, Archie Rose, Tom Burton, Daniel Jin, Annum Rafique, Ifor Jones and Anne Green).

The findings highlighted Birmingham’s trust-based, low-bureaucracy governance model and strong third-sector partnerships as key to rapid, targeted support. The evaluation recommends multi-year funding and deeper integration with wider services to sustain preventive action and reduce inequality.

This project reflects Loconomy’s commitment to evidence-based policy and practice, ensuring that what works on the ground informs citywide strategies to tackle poverty and economic vulnerability.

Our Role & Expected Impact

Loconomy will focus on the employment and skills strand of the programme, complementing the housing and wellbeing support already provided by St Basil’s. By offering tailored careers advice, skills development and confidence-building opportunities, we aim to improve life chances and create sustainable pathways into work and independent living for young women in Birmingham.

We’ll share updates and outcomes here as the programme develops.