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The Council received £2,615,696 in the latest funding round, which is on top of the £4m it’s received in previous years.
Thousands will benefit from support from now until March 2024. The cash boost will be spent on supporting North Somerset’s most vulnerable residents including families with children, pensioners, care leavers, children eligible for free school meals as well as those ‘just about managing’.
The funding will be allocated as follows:
- A fixed automatic award of £120 food voucher (distributed in two £60 allocations in June and November) to all working age CTS claimants and all pensioner age CTS claimants. This is estimated to help 11,764 residents.
- An award of £120 food voucher to each child in receipt of free school meals and care leavers (distributed in two £60 allocations in June and November), helping to support 5,200 young people.
- Grant allocations of £130K will be made to the Handy Person Service (£20k), Salvation Army (£10k), Fuel Bank (£50k) and the CAB Surviving Winter grant (£50k), all of which have existing networks and processes to distribute support to those in need.
- £181k of funding is allocated to residents who are financially vulnerable but who do not meet one of the identified categories listed above. This will help ‘Just about Managing’ residents. The amount of help will depend on individual circumstances. Check out https://n-somerset.gov.uk/my-services/benefits-support/other-benefits-support/help-households-who-need-financial-support for more information.
Cllr Catherine Gibbons, North Somerset Council's Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Children’s Services, Families and Lifelong Learning said: "Millions of people are affected right now by high inflation and climbing interest rates. Sadly there is no end in sight to the cost of living crisis and we want to do all that we can to help. Over the next year, this fund will support North Somerset residents with energy, food, water, transport and housing bills. If you are struggling, please look on the council’s website at our cost of living pages, visit Citizens Advice or get in touch.”
This financial help is on top of other measures put in place by North Somerset Council to help support residents. These include setting up a Cost-of-Living taskforce to respond to the crisis locally in partnership with key organisations, enabling a network of public living rooms for residents to stay warm last winter, hosting a Cost-of-Living event and ensuring advice and guidance is easily available on the council’s website and social media channels.
For local cost of living help and support, visit www.n-somerset.gov.uk/col or follow #NorthSomersetTogether on social media.