Council pledges to help residents facing cost of living crisis in North Yorkshire

As the cost of living continues to rise, North Yorkshire County Council’s leadership has responded by pledging to help as many people as possible with a fund it launched a decade ago, which has previously mainly been used to help people needing cash help due to issues such as marital breakdown or domestic abuse.

Between April and June the demand for help food and energy bills rose by nearly 100 per cent over the same period last year.

Highlighting the authority’s determination to assist vulnerable people and those facing crisis, council leader Councillor Carl Les has issued a statement saying while the council is facing difficult forthcoming budget decisions for vital services due to inflation, “the domestic crisis is now”.

He has emphasised the council will ensure its support services are ready and resourced to help those who need it, along with its network of partners in district and borough councils, and especially in the voluntary sector.

The pledge comes as the authority distributes shopping vouchers, paid for from the county’s second £3.5 million grant from the government’s Household Support Fund, to 25,000 households across North Yorkshire.

The authority has broadened the criteria to qualify for the vouchers so that pensioners and other households who receive means tested council tax support will get them as well as families with council tax support.

Hambleton Foodshare, which is one of 14 food schemes across the county, has reported the government funding had temporarily eased the escalating demand on the service, but that it expected pressures to rise again as cooler weather arrived.

Co-ordinator Alison Grainger said there had been a huge increase in demand over the past three months, with the charity providing 397 emergency food parcels in May, many of which were to working families.

She said: “The demand has been unprecedented. We used to think 150 was a busy month.”

Ms Grainger said while donors were continuing to be generous, demand for food parcels was outstripping the supply, so the charity was now having to use its funds to supplement its stocks.

She said: “We have got the funds to do it, but it’s how long it can be sustained for. When it comes to the winter we are concerned about the demand increasing as people are having to spend more money on their heating. Utility bills are already an issue for our clients, so it’s going to be even worse as time goes on.”

The council’s executive member for corporate services, Councillor David Chance said the authority had consistently put money into supporting food banks and had doubled the number of cash awards people in crisis could receive from its Local Assistance Fund.

He said: “If the fund is in need we will look at putting more money in. no upper limit. We recognise that we have a social responsibility when people are in crisis. We will help as many people as possible. If we need to find money we will find money.”

When asked if the government was providing sufficient money to cover the depth of the crisis in North Yorkshire, Coun Chance replied the authority was expecting another support grant from the government in the autumn, but it remained unclear who the funding would be available to.

He said: “We are just waiting to see what the rules around it are because the rules changes on the last grant as before it was families with children aged under 18 who were on benefits or in receipt of school meals.”