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Welcome to the LGA's cost of living bulletin – featuring news and updates from across the sector on a wide range of topics related to the cost of living, including what the LGA is doing to support councils and communities.
Cost of living webinars
Our cost of living webinar series gives councils the opportunity to come together and explore what is being done on a local and national level to address the rising cost of living.
Our first webinar of the year will take place on 16 March from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. We will be joined by Newham, Kirklees, Buckinghamshire and Kent councils, who will share local action and strategies aimed at reducing socio-economic inequalities.
Sign up to our cost of living network mailing list to receive an invitation.
These webinars offer councils the opportunity to share what they are working on with the sector – if you would like to present, please email charlotte.maguire@local.gov.uk
Fair and effective debt management
We are currently planning a stream of work to support the sector with debt management. As 'problem debt' grows, we know councils will want to be doing all they can to support their most vulnerable households. This new project will bring together the tools needed to recover debt fairly and effectively. More information and details on how you can get involved will follow in the next bulletin.
Public health grant funding allocations
A lack of certainty around councils’ public health funding this year is exacerbating the growing crisis of demand for support services, such as for health visiting, school nursing services and drug and addiction support. This comes at a time when public health funding grants to councils have been reduced by more than £1 billion in real terms from 2015/16 to 2021/22.
Early years nutrition landscape
The early years nutrition landscape is complex and diverse, with many different stakeholders involved in many different interventions. We have commissioned an insight report into how this looks at a local authority level. The report will offer insights and observations into how councils can best ensure that their early years nutrition policy and practice is delivering the best outcomes for babies and young children.
Leeds City Council has added a new breakthrough priority on cost of living to its ‘Best City Ambition’, recognising that partners need to work together to harness the capacity and capability in the city, its communities and those with lived experience to develop a city-wide solution to welfare provision and address the cost of living pressures.
East Devon District Council’s financial resilience team has used various local data sets to internally build a social resilience dashboard. One of the key motivations for creating the dashboard was to understand and better address the root causes of poverty. Now the dashboard is active, the council will draw on the data to monitor the effectiveness of the current support being offered to residents.
Bristol City Council’s cost of living response is framed by the ‘Bristol one city’ approach, which brings together a broad range of partners from the public, private and voluntary and community sectors that share a long-term ambition to reduce inequality. This partnership has been integral for the council when delivering support offers such as welcoming spaces.
Stockton-on-Tees have been using their FSOT strategic framework to inform a network of warm spaces across the town. The council have been working closely with local businesses and VCS organisations to provide free family activities aimed at all children from struggling families, who might not necessarily be entitled to means-tested benefits, such as free school meals.
Blackpool is now in the top four local areas with the highest levels of NHS Healthy Start voucher uptake, having previously been below the national average. A strong partnership working group, including colleagues from Blackpool Council, has undertaken a number of measures and strategies aimed to ensure that more people receive the benefit they are entitled to.
Key changes include:
- eligible spend has been broadened to include advice services
- councils will now be required to receive political sign-off before submitting delivery plans, which in turn gives councils longer to submit this document
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councils must ensure application-based support is available throughout the year.
We would like to thank all councils that fed into this work and sent their key asks either to us, or to the DWP directly. This input has been invaluable and was drawn upon when shaping the new guidance.
The LGA continues to call for local welfare funding to be made permanent.
NHS Healthy Start data published
Data showing uptake of the Government’s Healthy Start scheme has now been released for December 2022 – the first new data released since March 2022, when the scheme was digitised. The latest figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show that uptake of the scheme is at 62 per cent. This falls below the Government and NHS Business Services Authority target of 75 per cent.
House of Lords Local Housing Allowance debate
On 22 February the freeze in Local Housing Allowance rates was debated in the House of Lords. Baroness Lister of Burtersett asked the Government if they had assessed what impact the freeze would have. The full transcript of the debate on Local Housing Allowance Rates, including the Governments’ response is available to view online.
Communications and Digital Committee
The Government's Communications and Digital Committee has launched an inquiry into digital exclusion and the cost of living.
DWP Universal Credit programme
As part of the Department’s ongoing discovery work, Universal Credit is being expanded to Cornwall. Migration Notices have been sent to tax credit claimants in the area and this will continue in the coming months.
DWP Pension Credit team
The DWP are encouraging those who are over State Pension age and on a low income to check if they are entitled to Pension Credit. This benefit is worth, on average, £3,500 a year and it is estimated that hundreds and thousands of eligible pensioners are missing out.
Pension Credit claimants are also currently eligible for the Government’s 2023/24 Cost of Living Payments, worth up to £900. Residents can check eligibility directly on the Pension Credit section of the GOV.UK website. Alternatively, the Pension Credit claim line number is 0800 99 1234.
Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) partnership team
New research from the MaPS team suggests that more than 12 million people are now borrowing money for food or essential bills, including rent, energy and Council Tax. The MaPS team has created some new cost of living resources, including a newsletter, intranet content, social media posts and posters for you to use across your local authority area to promote the support that’s available for residents from the free MoneyHelper service.
Money and Pensions Service (MaPS)
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) has commissioned independent research agency Revealing Reality to conduct some work to understand the current landscape of the debt advice sector and the impact of the pandemic on debt advice seeking, cross-sector relationships and customer journeys.
Revealing Reality are hoping to schedule 40-minute telephone or video interviews with senior staff to understand how they identify and support customers in need of debt advice and their relationships with debt advice agencies. If your council or organisation would like to support this work, please email hannah.estcourt@revealingreality.co.uk
It is estimated that this emergency funding, raised through higher than expected business rates, will reach around 270,000 primary school children and save families in London around £440 per child across the year.
For more information visit our Cost of living hub
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