King's Lynn foodbank welcomes creation of 'Norfolk Cost of Living Support Scheme'

The creation of the Norfolk Cost of Living Support Scheme by local authorities has been welcomed by The King's Lynn Foodbank.

The fund will last until October and has nearly £8m to it's name, after the council topped up the Government's 'Household Support Fund', with a million pounds.

It comes as a think tank is warning 1.5 million households in the UK could soon struggle to pay for food and fuel.

The report estimates 20 million families will face bills which exceed their disposable income in the near future.

"I was quite shocked when they scrapped those vouchers"

Helen Gilbert is the charity's project manger and told us they've rightly gone back on prior cuts they made over Easter: "Support for families is great and I'm really pleased that the council's has done a complete U-turn on their policy on free school meal vouchers.

"I was quite shocked when they scrapped those vouchers and at such a late hour as well, which meant that many families couldn't budget and therefore struggled a lot."

But Andrew Proctor who, leads Norfolk County Council says they're two separate issues: "Free school meals is just one element of this package. But the way we've done is to give a £15 per month voucher from April until October.

"People can use these for food, household essentials and even clothes, if they want. But, in addition to this they'll also be given another £15 in August therefore making it £30 that month when there's more pressure on parents with children being off school for longer.

"The backdated payments from April and May will be making there way over to households over the next few weeks, I understand."

"We need to look at this in the round of, what support we can give to everyone"

Ms Gilbert also went on to tell us the scheme fails to tackle the bigger issues, like energy prices: "I would like a little bit more detail about the Anglian Water scheme and why that is such an important thing for the council.

"I have not been made aware of particular problems with water bills, but when people run out of energy- they are cut off.

"When there's no money for food, there's no food in the cupboard. But, people can't have their water supply cut off."

But Mr Proctor says this help will go a long way: "If we can help them pay off their arrears and get them onto a lighter and lower tariff.

"That is very much something that is all about helping them with all their household bills. Water does come in under general utilities but I think we need to look at this in the round of, what support we can give to everyone."

What does the Norfolk Support Scheme involve?

• £1m allocated to the council’s Norfolk Assistance Scheme (NAS) to support families in hardship, where there isn’t eligibility for free school meals. This support is available to families with very young children, young carers, and families caring for children with disabilities, many of whom may be facing significantly higher energy bills.

• £2.2m, a third of the Government funding, to support those aged 65 or over by providing cash and voucher awards through the voluntary sector and other partners, including a specific collaboration with Anglian Water, as well as support through NAS. £700,000 of this funding will be distributed to district, borough and city councils to support vulnerable communities.

• £840,000 to support others in need, including funding for district, borough and city councils to meet immediate housing related concerns.

Further to this, the council is also investing a further £225,000 into its partnership with the Norfolk Community Foundation Nourishing Norfolk food hub offer, bringing the total investment over the last year to £500,000.

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• norfolk
• cost of living