Lewisham and Greenwich Councils are sitting on funds which could be spent on the most vulnerable people in society, it has been claimed.

A Freedom of Information request made on behalf of Liberal Democrat London Assembly member Stephen Knight revealed both Greenwich and Lewisham Councils have failed to allocate more than £1m of funds designed to protect the most deprived residents in their boroughs.

Local Welfare Assistance, introduced in April 2013, was designed as a social safety net to provide vital support to the poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

Both councils were granted over £1m, with Lewisham given £1.5m and Greenwich granted over £1.09m in funding.

However, both council have failed to allocate the majority of funding, with Lewisham Council only spending 13 per cent of their budget.

London Assembly member Stephen Knight said: "All the evidence shows that London boroughs have not been successful in adminstering the scheme.

"The poor record of Greenwich and especially Lewisham Council in administering the Local Welfare Assistance powerfully demonstrates why the scheme needs to change.

"The most deprived residents in these boroughs deserve to have a far better scheme in place."

Only 26 per cent of applicants for funding in Lewisham were successful and just 31 per cent in Greenwich, suggesting there is a problem with the fund itself.

A spokesman for Greenwich Council said that community grants are provided as physical items and that the council secured goods at prices far below high street costs which enables them to stretch funding much further.

The spokesman added: "The Local Emergency Support Scheme provides an invaluable service to some of the most vulnerable residents in the borough.

"The council has agreed that any unspent grant in this financial year will be made available to enable the Local Emergency Support Scheme to continue for a further year and therefore to ensure that the most vulnerable residents in the comunity continue to receive support."

A Lewisham Council spokeswoman said: "A review into the effectiveness of the scheme identified a lower than expected demand for funding and several factors have contributed to this, including more effective targeting of support to those most in need.

"Although the Government has withdrawn funding, our underspend means we can continue to run the local support scheme for the next few years and provide much needed assistance to our most vulnerable residents."