Over £135,000 provided to those in need in the Forest of Dean via Household Support Fund
Residents in Forest of Dean have benefited from over £135,000 from the Household Support Fund, which the district council distributes on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. The fund supports residents who are most in need to make sure they have enough healthy food and other essential supplies as the cost of living continues to rise.
Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Adrian Birch, said:
“With many in the district having faced a tough winter and costs on essentials including food continuing to rise, we have used this Household Support Fund from Government to provide a helping hand to those who are most vulnerable.
“We understand that there will be many more people who will be concerned about living costs in the coming months, particularly as we move towards the autumn and the colder months to follow. If you are at all concerned, please head to our cost of living support webpage which provides information and links to other forms of support in the county that you may be eligible for.
“As a Council we have a small group of people working on a range of initiatives to help us all through this crisis and further information will be added to the webpage over the coming months. Further action will include advice for concerned residents, voluntary and community grants, working with Warm and Well; an initiative which can provide funding to make homes energy efficient.”
To find out more about available support if struggling with living costs, visit: https://www.fdean.gov.uk/council-tax-and-benefits/help-if-you-re-struggling-with-living-costs/
The Household Support Fund was used to mainly target households and those most vulnerable across the Forest of Dean. People in the first three bands of council tax support were eligible for a Tesco spend card and more than 300 unpaid carers were supported in the same way. The spend cards were used for food and other essentials. Alcohol, tobacco and lottery products were ineligible. The Council worked with partners and residents to identify those who were eligible and contacted them directly to assist.
Financial contributions have also been made to causes across the Forest, including £15,000 being provided to the Forest of Dean Baby Bank who helped over 150 families in the Forest with baby food, formula, milk and wider essentials such as nappies, clothing, blankets and bedding. Find out more about the Baby Bank here https://www.forestbabybank.org/
Due to rising costs of food, many people across the district looked for assistance from food banks and the Council provided over £18,000 to the Forest Foodbank and the Lord’s Larder Food Bank to help provide assistance to those who needed it most.
A spokesperson from the Forest Food Bank said:
“The funding has allowed us to reach out to people who we would not normally be able to, so we are very grateful indeed - it does make a real difference and being able to offer families an immediate fix by giving them Tesco vouchers is really good as it means that they do not have to wait for one of the Distribution Centres to be open.
I would just like to say a very big thank you to the Forest of Dean District Council for their assistance and funding and allowing us to reach out to the community to help where we have been able to. I know it has been very much appreciated by all.”
To find out more about the help we can provide, please visit the Council’s dedicated Cost of Living support page: https://www.fdean.gov.uk/council-tax-and-benefits/help-if-you-re-struggling-with-living-costs/support-available-in-your-community/