By Cllr Rachel Bishop-Firth
It’s a grim time for a lot of people in Wokingham. As the cost of food and fuel has skyrocketed, so have demands on the council and on local charities.
Many working people who have always been able to manage are now needing to ask for help, and the council and our Hardship Alliance partners have been working hard to support them.
Central government funding has allowed us to make emergency grants to residents who can’t afford the basics. We’ve made vouchers available to feed children in the holidays if they get free school meals in term-time, and we’ve given other grants to residents who were struggling to feed themselves and keep themselves warm. hese have already benefited more than 3,000 people.
We’ve also distributed energy saving devices to residents in need. With many people unable to afford to cook in a conventional oven, the energy saving slow cookers and air fryers which we’ve distributed have meant that local residents have been able to make hot meals.
We have also given out blankets, draught excluders and dehumidifiers to those in need to keep homes as warm and dry as possible.
With energy prices frighteningly high, these will save people twice what they cost within just a year and over their lifetimes will save a staggering £1.2 million for Wokingham residents – as well as helping us to fight the climate crisis by reducing energy used.
Secondly, we have taken steps to support our residents in the longer term. We have looked at the root causes of poverty in the Borough and at what we can do to support our residents in addressing these. We’ve lobbied the government and energy providers on the scandalous misuse of prepayment meters, which can push people further into debt or leave them without heating altogether. We’ve worked with many residents to make their homes more energy efficient. We’ve invested in improvements in debt advice to stop short-term pressures from spiraling into an unmanageable financial situation, and taken steps to prevent our residents from becoming homeless.
The latest funding from central government to continue this support was recently released. We were very relieved that Wokingham Borough was awarded £1.05million under Household Support Fund for the year from April. While this is in line with previous funding, it doesn’t account for inflation at more than 10 per cent which means that in real terms, our funding has been cut. The amount also doesn’t take account of the very high cost of living in Wokingham Borough, which makes the lives of those living on low incomes especially hard.
In fact, the latest round of Household Support Fund grants see Wokingham Borough as the fourth lowest funded out of 333 local authorities in England. The Lib Dem council administration is calling on the government to recognise the particular challenges of those living on low incomes in an expensive area and to fund us accordingly.
Wokingham already gets a staggering £30 million less than the average unitary council in England to fund its services each year, so it’s extraordinary that the government is choosing not to recognise the needs of those living in low incomes in this area. We’ll continue to do all we can as a borough to support these people where the Government funding continues to fall short, and to work creatively with our Hardship Alliance partners to make the most of the money we get.
We are also looking at how we can make the most of the council’s budget. Fighting poverty is a priority for the Lib Dems and to demonstrate this, last month our administration made the choice to ringfence £250,000 for those facing financial hardship in Wokingham. This money will make an enormous difference to those living on the lowest incomes, but costs each household in the Borough less than 30p a month.
And we’ll make sure that the money reaches those in need. Under the Conservatives, most of the council’s Local Welfare Provision Fund went unspent. The Lib Dems have worked with officers and Wokingham United Charities to ensure that we are getting the money to those who desperately need it.
If you need help in these difficult times, please visit the Council’s web page at Wokingham.gov.uk/costofliving, or call One Front Door on 0808 278 7958 to find out more.
Cllr Rachel Bishop-Firth is the executive member for equalities, inclusion and fighting poverty, and ward member for Emmbrook
