Councils could deliver welfare better than the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), leaders have claimed.
Sector representatives were brought before the Work and Pensions Committee to tell their experiences of delivering the Household Support Fund.
The fund was launched in 2021 during the pandemic and subsequently extended several times amid the cost of living crisis - to at least March next year.
Leader of Milton Keynes Council, Peter Marland, told MPs councils could deliver all of the department’s functions more efficiently if handed over its budget and powers.
Cllr Marland, who is also chair of the Local Government Association’s resources board, added: ‘If you think the central system has worked we wouldn’t have to have this money in the first place.'
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