Data tool to spot families due financial support

A new data-led system will help identify low-income families in Cambridgeshire entitled to more money.

Cambridgeshire county and district councils will collaborate on the system which will identify those not claiming benefits they are entitled to and notify eligible families not receiving free school meals.

It follows a 2025 report by the Cambridgeshire Poverty Strategy Commission that recommended helping low-income households to receive all the help they should.

Alison Whelan, of Cambridgeshire County Council, said: "Families across Cambridgeshire will feel a real benefit in their pockets as a direct result of this work."

The council said the new platform meant the authority would need to make fewer costly crisis interventions by reducing the vulnerability of residents.

According to the authority, there is an annual cost of at least £200,000 to procure the system, but the Department for Work and Pensions confirmed the full cost could be covered by the government's new Crisis and Resilience Fund.

A similar system is already being used by South Cambridgeshire District Council which in the last 12 months has identified 1,000 additional claims for residents.

Whelan continued: "These insights will enable us to provide targeted support that helps low-income households in the present and empowers them to build financial resilience for the future."

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