A number of cost-of-living support measures continue to be on offer in North Tyneside to support those who need it most.
Thanks to the Government’s announcement of additional funding through the Household Support Fund, we are planning further support for vulnerable residents.
In recent years, support has been tailored to target specific issues impacting residents including food and energy costs. In the last year, funding has been used to:
- Provide school uniform vouchers for around 1,000 children
- Support more than 40 Warm Welcome venues to open in communities
- Fund £15 supermarket vouchers for children on free school meals during school holidays
- Offer immediate crisis support payments
- Support more than 1,000 applications from residents experiencing hardship with essentials such as food and utilities
With each round of funding, we look at which issues are impacting residents most.
During the summer, alongside addressing the pressure of school holidays through supermarket vouchers and applications for funding for new school uniform, we turned our attention to changes to Winter Fuel Payment eligibility.
We quickly targeted our focus towards ensuring that pensioners in North Tyneside who were eligible for pension credit and winter payments were claiming it.
A joint approach was created with Age UK North Tyneside and Citizens Advice North Tyneside to offer free benefit entitlement checks. Around 400 residents accessed support and applied for benefits or other support. If all of these claims are successful, that could be around £880,000 in the pockets of residents thanks to the campaign.
In September the Government announced that North Tyneside would receive a further £1.6 million in Household Support Fund to spend by April 2025.
We recognised that further support will be required for pensioners who are on a low income and claiming Council Tax Support and or Housing Benefit but are not eligible for Pension Credit.
In December and January, PayPoint vouchers worth between £150 and £200 will be targeted to help those residents with their winter fuel costs.
Existing support will continue, with additional funding allocated to boosting crisis funding, supporting vulnerable families to access winter clothing for children and continuing supermarket voucher provision to those on means tested free school meals.
The popular Warm Welcome scheme will return during Winter, with £20,000 allocated to support community and voluntary sector organisations to open and run the hubs.
Cllr Karen Clark, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing at North Tyneside Council, said: “The increased cost of living continues to impact our residents every day It isn’t something that has gone away and we know that for many, the extra support we offer is often a vital lifeline.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s winter or summer, we know that households need support all year round and that’s why we tailor our support to make sure it’s impactful.
“We know that hundreds of residents have benefited from support this year, whether that be monetary vouchers or accessing support in the community. With this latest round of funding from the Government, we are able to extend that further.”
More information about The Household Support Fund is available here.