Posted on Tuesday 9th January 2024
Cabinet member for Communities and Culture, Councillor Victoria Wilson.
Thousands of Staffordshire residents have benefited from help, advice and guidance from the county council’s dedicated cost-of-living campaign.
The ‘Here To Help' website, first launched by Staffordshire County Council in 2022, collates help available to those struggling with cost-of-living pressures in one place.
The website offers information on eligibility for benefits, help with energy bills, business support, wellness, food and other essentials and accessing help in the community.
Over 21,000 people have visited the website since its launch with a total of more than 71,000 total page views.
Here To Help has also signposted residents to pre-existing county council initiatives that provide further cost-of-living support.
This includes the Holiday Activity and Food programme (HAF), which provides free activities and hot meals to children from disadvantaged families during the school holidays. It has given over 199,000 places to children in total since its launch in 2021.
The Staffordshire Warmer Homes Scheme has installed more than 1,300 greener and energy efficient heating solutions into over 1,000 homes for free. Over 92% of these homes increased their energy efficiency, saving residents money on their heating bills and reducing carbon emissions.
Front line community-facing services continue to provide significant support to residents managing cost-of-living pressures.
These include county council and community managed libraries, providing warm welcoming spaces to residents and saving families an estimated £60,000 since 2020 with pre-loved school uniform markets.
All 26 community help points stationed across Staffordshire have been on hand to signpost residents to local support, activities and resources to make everyday life easier.
The county council’s 11 family hubs collected hundreds of toys to gift to children they support over the Christmas period.
Councillor Victoria Wilson, Cabinet member for Communities and Culture said:
“As a county council, we want to do everything we can to support people to lead happy and independent lives, but also recognise that some residents may need a little extra hand to help with increasing costs over the colder months.
“Our Holiday Activity & Food programme has for example has already supported more than 199,000 free sessions for eligible children and our Here to Help campaign has signposted people to the wider financial and community support they may benefit from.
“We have worked collaboratively with our partners across all the district and borough councils to ensure we can work together to make sure we target people who may need the help and will continue to do so over the winter and spring months.”
For more information about Staffordshire County Council’s Here To Help cost-of-living campaign, visit Here to help - cost of living support - Staffordshire County Council.