Further support with food and fuel costs

Tuesday, 4 July 2023 15:45

By David Murphy

Bury Council has launched further support for those struggling with food and fuel costs.

Using funding from the Government’s Household Support Fund, the council is offering financial help to vulnerable households through direct bank payments or food and fuel vouchers.

Awards will be based on income and expenditure, with payments ranging from £100 to £300 depending on a resident’s financial circumstances. You do not need to be on benefits to qualify.

Residents and partners can now get the support through our simple online Welfare form: Bury food and fuel support - Bury Council.

Once you have opened the form, select the ‘Help with food and fuel’ option in the first dropdown menu, and then complete the form.

Bury Council has worked with colleagues across the public and voluntary sector, including the latest Cost of Living Summit in May, to determine how best to ensure that cost of living measures address specific local need. Bury’s allocation of Household Support Funding will be used to:

Extend the holiday food provision for households eligible for Free School Meals up to and including Easter 2024 (6,900 young people received support during the recent half-term holiday);

Deliver a local scheme of energy efficiency measures, in particular to support minimum energy efficiency measures;
extend Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Bury’s Neighbourhood Engagement Officer to be a link into CAB provision across the borough;
Provide food bank to food pantry transition support;
Provide a further iteration of Cost-of-Living Community Funds being launched in summer 2023;
Fund Skills and Employability awareness sessions including local jobs and skills fairs with ‘live’ job vacancies.

Councillor Richard Gold, cabinet member for finance and communities, said: “The borough has been allocated just over £3m from the Government’s Household Support Fund up to March 2024 to provide emergency support and to tackle longer term issues.

“The cost of living crisis is still affecting people and this support is still needed.

“Through our local partnership Cost of Living and Anti-Poverty Steering Group, a comprehensive programme of support is available. The council has also committed more than £350,0000 from its budget to support households who are financially struggling but are not eligible for current council tax support, and also to help children in care and care leavers with the cost of living.”

In the past year the council and its partners, through Household Support Fund and council funding, have:

Supported 6,943 young people with holiday food provision and support with school uniforms;
Supported 2,421 people of working age who are on Council Tax support and Employment and Support Allowance but not on Universal Credit;
Helped 4,700 pensioners in receipt of Council Tax Support;
Supported 119 foster carers and 94 carer leavers with direct help;
Provided help to 1,242 households known to have essential health and care equipment which requires electricity.

A range of support, irrespective of whether people are on benefits, can be found at: Cost of Living Support - Bury Council and Let's manage tough times - Bury Council