Covid-19 lockdown support extended for North Yorkshire residents
North Yorkshire residents who need support during Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are being reassured that help will be available right through to next autumn if required.
North Yorkshire residents who need support during Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are being reassured that help will be available right through to next autumn if required.
North Yorkshire County Council says support put in place at the start of the first lockdown last March and which has continued ever since, will carry on for months ahead, even after the current national lockdown is lifted.
Since the first lockdown in March last year, the authority has invested in 23 community support organisations (CSOs) across North Yorkshire and worked alongside district councils to coordinate volunteer and community help for people who need assistance and do not have friends, family or neighbours to call upon.
These community support hubs are a single point of contact, pulling together other organisations to provide a safety net for people. More than 1,500 volunteers have helped thousands of people each week with shopping, hot meals and prescriptions, as well as checking on people’s health and wellbeing. That work continues apace, especially as the clinically vulnerable – 26,000 people in North Yorkshire - have once more been asked to shield.
The County Council says while people are shielding they must stay at home as much as possible, get help with shopping and limit their contact with others. They are also advised not to attend work if they cannot work from home.
The County Council has now agreed to extend funding for the community support organisations for a further six months after the current agreements end in March. This will ensure people can access support through current restrictions and beyond.
Gary Fielding, the County Council’s Corporate Director for Strategic Resources, said:
“During this most difficult phase of the pandemic we want to reassure people that the safety net of support we have put in place will carry on in the months ahead.
“We are very grateful for the work of the community support organisations and all our volunteers in past months and their efforts are redoubled presently as people are required to stay at home and refrain from social mixing and the clinically vulnerable have to shield once again.
“We are proud of the culture of kindness and neighbourliness and volunteering that is at the heart of North Yorkshire’s identity, a culture which has seen us through the darkest months and which I know will continue in the time ahead. We are all looking out for each other and the extension of these contracts will ensure nobody slips through the net.”
From April to December last year the CSOs delivered help in the following ways:
• 81,878 volunteer hours
• 14,897 prescriptions delivered
• 23,172 befriending calls made
• 21,223 shopping delivered
• 4,516 food parcels delivered
• 1,614 pets cared for
• 2,984 transportation provided
• 3,148 books, jigsaws and craft materials supplied
• 17,900 phone check-ins
• 17,196 advice and guidance provided
• 25,989 meals delivered
In response to the current national restrictions, the North Yorkshire Local Assistance Fund (NYLAF) Covid19 Self-Isolation Grant that is administered by the CSOs has been amended to ensure that those who are required to self-isolate due to being unwell, being contacted by track and trace, or shielding are able to access support for food, utility, and other household essentials.
In addition to the work of the CSOs the County Council’s Stronger Communities Programme is also able to offer small grants for groups who are operating in order to ensure they can offer support in Covid secure ways and in line with whatever government restrictions are in place.
A second round of funding from Defra’s Local Authority Emergency Assistance Fund for Food and Essential Supplies was also made available last December for food banks and other food supply schemes (for example community kitchens and fridges, or meals on wheels) to support voluntary and community sector efforts over the winter months. A further 24 grants totalling £100,000 were awarded and distributed before Christmas.
Marie-Ann Jackson, North Yorkshire’s head of the Stronger Communities Programme said:
“We are trying to cover every base to make sure anybody who needs help continues to get it through the course of this pandemic. The vast majority of our residents are pulling together to bring down the Covid-19 infection rate, to look out for neighbours and friends and to support our local business. We carry on this good work, stronger together.”