Benefits of District Council’s cost-of-living support highlighted

The latest cost-of-living support that has benefited thousands of South Cambridgeshire residents has been outlined in a new District Council report. 

Cabinet members heard during their meeting today (Tuesday 24 September) how the second phase of the Council’s response has seen a raft of support measures in place during the past year.

This has included providing 500 more people with a free electric blanket during the winter – to add to the 400 South Cambridgeshire residents who received either a blanket or slow cooker the winter before. The electrical products were targeted at people claiming Attendance Allowance or a certain level of Personal Independence Payment who are also receiving Council Tax Support. 90% of recipients who responded to a Council survey said they had noticed at least some difference to their energy bills – with the Council estimating that every resident who received one saved more than £33 a week. Additionally, almost all respondents said they’d noticed a difference in how warm they felt at home.

Meanwhile Warm Hubs – established in late 2022 to provide warm community spaces in South Cambridgeshire – evolved into Community Hubs. Run by Cambridgeshire ACRE, they have been funded largely by a Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System grant. The 16 Community Hubs operate in communities across South Cambridgeshire – with three additional Hubs due to open this Autumn. They are a place where residents can receive debt advice, food aid, housing, and health services. Between February and July this year, more than 5,470 people visited these hubs.

Elsewhere a Mobile Food Hub – run in partnership with not-for-profit organisation Hope CIC – visits eight locations across the district on a rolling basis. The Mobile Food Hub is stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables, essential items such as canned foods, pasta, rice, cereal, and long-life milk. Personal hygiene, period, and infant products are also available, plus household cleaning items such as laundry detergent. All items are sold at below retail price, with some offered for free to help people with rising grocery prices. The initiative – which recently purchased an electric vehicle thanks to funding from the District Council’s Zero Carbon Communities grant scheme – has received more than 2,000 visits from residents since it launched last summer.

Elsewhere, three local groups covering Girton, Barton and Melbourn have successfully applied to the District Council’s Community Growing Grant scheme. The £500 grants support communities to grow their own food sustainably. A South Cambridgeshire Sustainable Food Network has also been established, linking together all the foodbanks in the district. The network is now working to share surplus food to reduce waste.

A marketing campaign to encourage residents to claim benefits they are entitled ran between November last year and the end of January this year – helping to treble the number of visits to the Council’s cost-of-living support website pages.

The report also covers other updates from recent months. This includes the supply of 263 emergency food parcels to residents as an emergency last resort and cost-of-living support sessions for community groups and professionals and volunteers working with vulnerable people.

Cabinet members also heard about the next steps as part of the response. This will include the purchase of innovative software to better target support and advice to residents on a low income in more of a preventative way, and the upcoming roll-out of free period products to those who may not be able to afford them.

South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Lead Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Henry Batchelor, said: “I am incredibly proud of our response to the cost-of-living crisis as we have looked to do all we can to support those most in need. Supporting people through a cost-of-living crisis is not just an act of kindness, but a responsibility. We’ve tried our utmost to ensure no one is left behind, and I’m convinced that it has helped to strengthen our communities.

“We have tried to make it as easy as possible for people to find out about the support that is available to them – and then take-up those offers of help. Cost-of-living issues continue to have an impact on so many people, across a range of household incomes. So, whatever your household’s circumstances, it is likely there is at least a little extra help or advice available.”

Hayley Neal, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire ACRE, said: “The network of Community Hubs operating across South Cambridgeshire is entering its third winter and is needed now more than ever. Led by local volunteers, the Hubs provide a safe place for residents to gather to support each other, both with cost-of-living challenges and with the other challenges associated with living in our more rural communities such as social isolation and a lack of local services. We’re so grateful to the army of volunteers who work, week in, week out, to ensure that everyone gets this opportunity for support.”

Visit the District Council’s cost-of-living advice pages for more details.  People can find their nearest Community Hub by visiting the Cambs ACRE website.