Cost-of-living support for businesses and households from West Yorkshire Mayor
Households and businesses hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis will benefit from additional support from West Yorkshire Mayor
Households and businesses hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis will benefit from additional support from West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin, as a package of measures were agreed today (21 October).
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority this afternoon approved a multimillion-pound plan to support businesses and our most vulnerable households.
The package of measures is designed to provide immediate relief for people and businesses in crisis, prevent more people from falling further into economic hardship and increase the region’s resilience to future economic shocks such as energy price hikes.
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said: “We are taking urgent, direct action to help people and businesses across West Yorkshire with the cost-of-living crisis.
“In addition, we will support small and medium sized businesses that have been hit hard by the energy crisis to keep their costs down so that they can protect jobs and stay afloat during this difficult time.”
The Mayor’s Cost of Living Emergency Fund will provide £3 million over the next 18 months to help the most vulnerable by addressing issues like food insecurity, fuel poverty and mental health.
The support it funds will be delivered through local charities and voluntary organisations that are providing important services on the frontline, such as food banks, warm places and debt advice.
This will be delivered in partnership with local authorities and the funding will keep these important services afloat during the forthcoming winter and up until 2024.
Further action to support businesses will see an Emergency Grant scheme rolled out to provide short-term, high-impact interventions to help businesses with their energy costs.
Further details will be published shortly, but this could include providing 50% discounts towards new boilers, better insulation or more energy efficient lighting.
To help people in rented social housing, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority is doubling its investment in a retrofit project to improve energy efficiency targeting 1,700 additional households, on top of the 1,300 already benefitting.
This will help those in social housing to reduce bills and help manage strained budgets.
In addition, an advisory scheme to help small and medium sized business to reduce their bills by being more energy efficient and sustainable will be extended later this year, with a further ÂŁ10.6 million investment to support hundreds of businesses including those in the retail and hospitality sectors.
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