We know that demand for help from those who are financially struggling has not decreased. It went from covid crisis to the cost of living crisis and we are still in its midst.
A success story in this area is one of collaboration between local charities and Wokingham Borough Council in creating One Front Door.
It brought a number of charities under one roof and, in March 2020, launched a phone service through Citizens Advice Wokingham. This meant all charities had somewhere to direct people to get signposted to the right support, freeing up charities’ precious time to focus on what they do best.
This has become embedded across local charities’ infrastructure and has meant that more people have their calls answered.
Demand is still strong but the Lib Dem-controlled Wokingham Borough Council is stopping its funding this summer.
One Front Door costs £90,000 a year to employ three full-time staff members and supervision and training.
Without it, fewer people will likely get the help they need.
All while the Council has a huge chunk left of the £250,000 set aside to support the Council’s Anti Poverty objectives.
And yet they still plan to wind down One Front Door.
Where will the vulnerable people go? Citizens Advice will remain taking calls but without the One Front Door funding fewer people are likely to get through.
Part of the £250,000 is used for schoolchildren’s art supplies and discounted football club membership. Lovely ideas but should this be the priority?
Shouldn’t taxpayers’ money go to a service which is working and that is effective in stopping vulnerable people from falling further behind?
They won’t be the only people to pay the price for this decision as charities and Council services are forced to step in to fill the gap and help people who have fallen into greater desperation.
Prevention is better than cure.
The Lib Dems have also scrapped subsidised bus travel for children from low-income families to get to school. This costs £12,000 a year. What could possibly be gained from this decision? I’ll remind you about the £250,000.
The short-termism doesn’t stop there. I have been asking for a year and a half about how the impact of the new Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy at Wokingham Borough Council will be measured.
I was told by the Lib Dem Executive Member that the action plan would have specific, measurable and timely objectives.
Six months ago the strategy came to Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny at Council. Councillors of different political parties highlighted the lack of timelines and measurements. We were assured it would be taken on board.
On Monday, January 22, the action plan came back to the scrutiny committee with no way to measure impact.
It’s all very well having a worthy named plan but if we don’t know whether it’s effective how will we know if a difference is being made to residents’ lives?
And why include no measurements when the Lib Dems said it would?
It all forms a pattern. Prioritise the headlines, the good intentions, the logos and the launches. And forget the nuts and bolts of holding things together.
It’ll be those who are struggling who will pay. But when it falls to Council services and local charities to pick up the pieces, we’ll all be paying for it.
Cllr Laura Blumenthal, Shadow Member for Levelling Up, Equalities and Social Housing and Conservative councillor for South Lake, Woodley
