Harrow Council is to review the hardship support available to residents living with a terminal illness, after councillors unanimously backed a motion calling for the review.
The motion was brought forward by Cllr Yusuf Yusuf, who represents Wealdstone South, and debated at the council’s Full Council meeting on 1 October. It was unanimously supported by councillors.
The review will examine whether terminal illness should be expressly recognised within the council’s discretionary hardship assistance and Crisis and Resilience Fund arrangements. Those are the pots of money the council can use at its discretion to help residents in acute financial difficulty — but terminal illness is not currently named within them as a distinct qualifying circumstance.
A terminal diagnosis can bring a sudden loss of household income alongside rising costs for energy, care, transport and home adaptations. Families may face those pressures at the same time, and often at short notice. The motion recognises that combination as a specific form of hardship, rather than leaving it to be treated case by case under general criteria.
The review is intended to inform the council’s 2027/28 budget-setting process, so any changes to how support is structured would be considered as part of next year’s budget decisions.
For residents and families facing a terminal diagnosis, the practical question now is what the review finds: whether naming terminal illness expressly in the hardship rules would open up faster, clearer help, and what form that help would take. The council has not yet set out a timetable for the review beyond its link to the budget process.
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