Central Bedfordshire Council: More plans to support residents this winter as the cost of living continues to rise
Date Added: 18/11/2022
Supporting residents with food, energy and water bills and other wider essentials
We are outlining how we will use £1.4m of funding to support residents this winter and up to March 2023 with food, energy and water bills and other wider essentials.?
The funding will be used to provide direct support to the most vulnerable in our communities, including children, those in receipt of state pensions, disabled people and those on low incomes.
Who is eligible for support?
Those eligible for direct?support include any household in Central Bedfordshire that meets one or more of the following criteria:
• eligible?and claiming?for?free school meals (including 2-year-old funding or Early Years Pupil Premium)
• a care leaver (young adults aged between 18 and 25 years old that have previously spent time in care before they were 18 years old)
• working age claimants?in receipt of Local Council Tax Support?who have not previously received a supermarket voucher,?this includes disabled people
• Housing Benefit claimants who?are not eligible for Local Council Tax Support,?this includes disabled people
• households with an annual income less than £30,000 living in a permanent, residential park home or on a council-managed caravan site
We will contact anyone who is eligible for?direct?support in due course, but the full list of who is eligible for support and how to apply for a grant is available here:?www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/HSG
Community and voluntary organisations
Alongside this direct support, the funding will also be used to support a network of important community and voluntary organisations providing support on the ground in the local areas including:
• Advice Central/Disability Resource Centre
• Citizens Advice
• Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity Good Neighbour Scheme
• AGE UK
• NEED Foodbank, PREEN Foodbank and Dunstable Foodbank
• Carers in Bedfordshire
• three lunch clubs in Central Bedfordshire
Cost of living support
We have have set up a dedicated information hub on our website for anyone concerned about the cost of living. This includes information about funding for vulnerable residents to help with food, energy and water bills and other wider essentials and a network of warm spaces across Central Bedfordshire for people to use when the temperatures drop
For more information, visit www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/cost-of-living.
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