Cost of living - Community Information Champions

Wokingham Borough Council sent this bulletin at 07-11-2022 02:40 PM GMT

Community Information Champions - Cost of Living

Help for families and setting up warm spaces

Dear resident,

This week's cost of living advice and help we are asking you to share can be found below.

We're focusing on helping families with their costs and appealing for people to come forward if they plan on running warm hubs in their areas this winter.

There's more information on setting up warm hubs on our website.

Share this information in your local WhatsApp groups, Facebook groups and other ways the community come together. Every share helps people access vital support they are entitled to.

Thank you,

Cost of living response team

Email this to families to help them with cost of living

Visit the cost of living help hub to get the latest advice to help you and your family through the winter. This week we’re looking at help for families and at home.

Check if you’re eligible for the Help to Heat Scheme to make your home more energy efficient with a grant through us
Use Childcare Choices to see if you could save up to £2,000 on childcare costs like holiday clubs, after school clubs, childminders and more (available to families with children up to the age of 11, or 17 if their child has a disability)
If you are pregnant, have children aged five, have a disability or rely on electrical medical equipment, register for priority services with your water or gas suppliers in case services are interrupted this winter. It means you'll get extra help or priority if there are disruptions such as power cuts
Ensure you’re claiming your free childcare allowance if you have a three or four year old

Email this to help with setting up warm hubs

Wokingham Borough Council and its Hardship Alliance partners are looking for community groups and organisations to come forward to run warm spaces to help people through the winter.

You can offer a building or a be a group who are happy to run one, or both. They’ll be a place people can get a warm welcome, keep warm, get together to do activities and get help if they need it.

With your help we can set up a network across the borough, which we’ll help promote to those who need them.

We’re asking the borough to come together as a Wokingham Borough Community Response. You’ll need to meet health and safety and other requirements before you open, but most organisations and buildings will have this in place already.

You may already be planning this for your area with a group you work with. Reach out and the warm spaces team will support you through this.

Read the running a warm space webpages for full details.