VULNERABLE people have been handed a major boost - after the Government performed a u-turn on scrapping a valuable 'crisis fund' for Worcestershire.

The county council has been told it will be handed just over £500,000 from April so a project to give desperate people food vouchers, furniture, microwaves and beds can carry on.

The funding deal comes after scathing criticism that the £180 million Discretionary Welfare Assistance scheme, which launched two years ago nationwide, would end this spring.

The kitty was worth £912,000 to south Worcestershire over the two years and has helped more than 1,500 people in Worcester, Malvern and Wychavon, but was due to end within weeks.

Councillor Adrian Hardman, the county council leader, went to London twice to try and intervene and all the county's authorities have been lobbying hard behind the scenes for a reprieve, including Worcester MP Robin Walker.

Local government minister Kris Hopkins has now confirmed that just over £500,000 will be handed over under a 12-month deal.

The county council says it is prepared to top that fund up by £400,000, and wants districts to offer additional funding to launch a new £1.1 million scheme from the spring.

Mr Hopkins has handed councils a combined £74 million towards keeping the scheme going.

Cllr Hardman said he was "delighted" with the decision, adding: "I've been lobbying pretty substantially, writing to them and pointing out that a reduction to 'zero' would be a very bad step.

"With the help of central Government we are proposing to make an offer to the districts that will continue this 'crisis' funding people so desperately need."

He raised the reprieve during a county council cabinet meeting.

After the meeting Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader of Worcester City Council, said: "We wanted to see it continue so this is very good news - if it went to nothing we would have had another burden to deal with."

Since 2012 the city council has managed the scheme for south Worcestershire's authorities, and that arrangement is expected to continue.

Worcester MP Robin Walker said: "I've been doing an awful lot of lobbying and thankfully the Government have basically agreed to fund it based on what has been spent previously, which is great."