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Social Fund/Social Fund Commissioner

The Secretary of State's annual report on the social fund for 2004–05 (Cm 6595) was published today and has been laid before Parliament. The report records that total gross expenditure in 2004–05, excluding winter fuel payments, was £867 million. This included more than 261,000 non-repayable grants and around 2.2 million interest free loans together worth almost £700 million, and funeral and cold weather payments totalling more than £48 million. In addition around 236,000 Sure Start maternity grants worth over £119 million were made, and over 8.2 million households benefited from a winter fuel payment at a cost of around £1.95 billion. The report also outlines reforms to the social fund loan scheme, some of which have already been announced in the pre-Budget report. Introduction of the reforms is planned for April 2006. The social fund commissioner's report has also been published today and placed in the Library.