"Huge and ongoing effort" to tackle poverty set to go before County Durham councillors

Food and fuel vouchers, council tax reductions, and the offer of warm and welcome spaces are among a raft of measures in place to help those who are struggling the most.

They're all part of the County Durham Poverty Strategy and Action Plan, which we agreed in April 2022.

Members of our Cabinet will be updated on the actions being taken, as well as the soaring demand for support, when they meet on Wednesday (14 February).

"We remain absolutely committed to supporting the most vulnerable"

Cllr Alan Shield, our Cabinet member for equality and inclusion, said: "Although many of the drivers of poverty, such as the strength of the economy, employment, wages, welfare provision and inflation are national issues beyond the direct control of local authorities such as ours, we remain absolutely committed to supporting our most vulnerable residents.

"These factors, along with the cost of living crisis, have seen the risk of poverty and hardship increase across the county. We are seeing rising demand for food banks - with more people in work using them - more families struggling to get by and afford essential basics, and rising debt problems.

"We're doing all we can to provide people with a safety net and a huge and ongoing local effort is going into this, not just from ourselves but from our public and voluntary sector partners too. Together, we are providing food banks, running free 'fun and food' activities in school holidays, working to maximise awareness of free childcare, and more.

"We're providing welfare advice to help people claim the financial support they're entitled to. Last financial year we helped 5,900 new service users claim around £15.5million in income, and in the second and third quarters of this financial year we've helped 3,282 new service users claim £7.7million.

"We've also introduced financial inclusion support officers in some of our secondary schools to offer families money and debt management advice and help them claim their full benefits entitlements. Any extra income we can find for people can be a massive help to them."

Food and fuel vouchers, Welcome Spaces, and council tax support

The report estimates that just over 112,000 County Durham residents live in absolute poverty after housing costs - that's around one in five people.

Though on a par with the rate across the North East, that figure is higher than the UK average and the gap between County Durham and England has widened in recent years.

The report also details the vast range of measures being taken to support people affected by poverty, with soaring demand in some areas.

The 12 months up to 31 October 2022 saw 17,000 food vouchers and 3,100 fuel vouchers issued to County Durham residents, a 65 per cent rise on the previous year in both cases.

The number of people in work who are claiming Universal Credit has more than doubled from 9,500 in March 2020 to 19,900 in September 2023.

'The Bread and Butter Thing' food hub network has been expanded to 15 hubs and is now supporting around 1,200 families each week with low cost food and advice services.

Around 17,000 used the county's network of Warm Spaces last year, with the offer being broadened to include advice services and relaunched as Welcome Spaces.

And just over 53,500 are benefiting from our Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme, with more than 25,000 people receiving the maximum 100 percent discount.

Situation "not helped" by budget uncertainty

"It's an incredibly challenging and fast-changing picture," said Cllr Shield. "But it's not helped by the uncertainty around funding for councils and the future of the national Household Support Fund which, as things stand, is due to come to an end on 31 March.

"To put that concern into perspective, we're currently supporting 52,000 individuals and their families through the Household Support Fund and have received £25million from this fund since October 2020.

"It's funding that enables us to provide an essential lifeline for our most vulnerable residents - we use it to provide everything from food and fuel vouchers to additional homelessness support - and we eagerly await an update from government on its future."