Woking Council announce 15-point plan to support locals through cost-of-living crisis
The council has set up more 'warm hubs' than any other borough in Surrey
Woking council have released a 15-point-plan to help locals through the cost-of-living crisis.
The action plan focuses on signposting those in need to local services ensuring no one goes hungry, keeping residents warm this winter and providing access to direct financial support.
One of the most notable things the borough has done is introduce 'warm hubs'- which are community spaces open for residents to put their feet up and get cosy in free of charge, as well as socialise with other locals.
Woking Council have recently announced that they have more 'warm hubs' than any other borough in the county.
The team is also focused on making sure residents have enough to eat and are raising awareness of the charity FoodWise - based in Sherewater village.
FoodWise works like a foodbank in the sense that it provides nutritious food to people in need.
However, unlike a foodbank, attendees will need to pay a small amount of money, but for this they will get more of a selection of food to choose from, and no referral is required to access the service.
The leader of Woking Council - Ann-Marie Barker - told us that this initiative was born out of a cost-of-living summit that took place earlier this year.
During this, various charities, community groups and councillors put their heads together and came up with ways to best support residents.
Councillor Ann-Marie told us about the moment in the summit that stood out for her: "The citizen's advice service told us that they had a huge increase of people that are contacting them.
"What was particularly notable about this however was that they've heard from so many people that have never needed to get in touch before.
"These people had always managed before but suddenly now they can't afford to pay their bills at the end of the month as they have gone up so much.
"After the summit we were all very aware everyone's costs were going up across the board and we knew we really needed to be doing something to help and support people.
"We've now implemented the 15-point-plan on the back of this."
Details of the cost of living support available locally was included in the council’s Woking Magazine, which was distributed to all households in October 2022.
This information is also available on the council’s website and continually updated.
You can visit the site for advice and help on:
. Financial payments
. Preventing homelessness
. Help available for families
. Foodbanks and ways to reduce food costs
. Bill saving advice
. Managing debt and mental health
. Local helpful organisations