Agenda item

To include updates from local organisations whose work covers, or is affected by the rising cost of living, such as:

 

·       Wiltshire Council

·       Devizes and District Foodbank

·       Warm Spaces – Sustainable Devizes

·       Energy – Sustainable Devizes

·       Housing – Opendoors (Devizes Town Cllr Richard Oliver, Trustee)

·       Business – Cllr Simon Jacobs

 

Followed by:

 

·       Group discussions with an emphasis on what the local priorities are and what can be done to help

·       Feedback

·       Open general discussion

 

Information to support you through the rising cost of living can be found online here: https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/article/6665/Council-tax-benefits-and-financial-support. 

The Chairman explained how the agenda item would run, with updates from organisations first, followed by group discussions, feedback from groups and then general discussion.

 

·       Wiltshire Council

Andy Brown, Corporate Director Resources & Deputy Chief Executive (S.151 Officer) gave an update to the meeting highlighting the report in the agenda pack at pages 49-51 which sign posted to various sources of help available, these could also be seen online here. Wiltshire Council itself was also suffering from the cost of living with inflation having been estimated at 4% but now running in double digits. The Council had been coordinating support from government such as the £150 council tax rebates. £2.7 million would be going to those most vulnerable and in need. The household support fund would continue into next year. The Council were looking at using some of its estates such as the libraries as warm spaces and were looking to support businesses, staff and residents.

 

·       Devizes and District Foodbank

Alex Montegriffo of the Devizes and District Foodbank gave an update to the meeting and highlighted the report at pages 53-56 of the agenda. The foodbank had supported over 1200 people between April and October 2022. The report included details on their support for a cash first approach, such as that used in the household support fund. Many people were really struggling and needed more money. Further details on the cash first approach used by other authorities were given and an indpendent evaluation had stated that this was very successful, people did spend the money on the right things. The hope was that Wiltshire Council would consider adopting this approach more in the future. The Autumn statement which included uprating benefits in line with inflation was welcomed. Warm spaces alone were not felt to be a long-term solution to the issues faced.

 

·       Warm Spaces Devizes

Graham Martin gave an update to the meeting. In the past community groups had come together to create warm spaces, there were multiple groups, some of which were siloed. No one organisation had the capability or capacity to solve the problem. The scale of the problem was also unknown.

 

In the present the vision was the community provision of safe, welcoming warm spaces that are open to all. The spaces would provide a warm location, refreshments, companionship and information on how to weather the cost of living crisis. The goals were to:

 

o   Establish a list of warm spaces that could be communicated to all.

o   Develop and deliver communications about the warm spaces and, collate and deliver information that will assist in weathering the cost of living crisis.

o   Establish the need for volunteers and prepare to recruit if required.

o   A list of warm spaces could be found online here: Warm Spaces Devizes | Devizes Town Council (devizes-tc.gov.uk).

o   There was a need for some form of coordination regarding:

§  Information management

§  Feedback from venues

§  Anticipating demand

 

The future would be challenging, how would community resilience be increased? Adaptable and repeatable frameworks were required within which to work. Sharing mechanisms regarding who needed help needed to be improved. It was hoped that Wiltshire Council may be able to help or lead on some of this work. 

 

·       Think Energy Devizes

Lorna Dixon of Think Energy Devizes gave an update. Fuel poverty was a big issue at the moment. The group had engaged with Citizens Advice, who had seen a big increase in people accessing support and an increased complexity of issues. Volunteers gave advice or referred people on where appropriate. Citizens Advice themselves were facing challenges with a reduction in funding, increased staffing costs and increased bills. Warm and Safe Wiltshire provided free impartial advice and had recently launched a two year project the rural communities energy support network which delivered training. The Think Energy group were holding a community event on 28 January between 10.00am and 2.00pm, where organisations such as Age UK, Citizen’s Advice and Warm and Safe Wiltshire could reach out to people and provide support. The Think Energy group had a grant application in to help fund this which it was hoped the Board would approve.

 

·       Citizens Advice

A representative of Citizens advice gave an update to the meeting, over the last year they had helped over 14,000 people in Wiltshire, with over 42,000 issues. Drop-in centres had been closed due to COVID, however help could be found on their website or advice sought via telephone and web chat. 8 in 10 people stated that their problem was resolved after the advice given, and 9 in 10 people stated that they service had helped them to find a way forward. The service was having to give a lot more advice and were working in partnership with the Trussell Trust to offer advice at Foodbanks in some locations. The biggest challenge they faced over the coming years was funding.

 

·       Housing – Opendoors

Devizes Town Councillor Richard Oliver as a trustee of Opendoors gave an update to the meeting. There was also a report in supplement 1 on their work. Opendoors was largely volunteer run. Salary costs equated to about 50% of their running costs and energy costs were about 10%, inflation was having an effect. They had responded by fundraising and the Area Board had helped them previously with grants. They were part of the warm spaces scheme. They also did not always know who the vulnerable people that required help were.

 

·       Business

Councillor Simon Jacobs stated that the cost of electricity, staff wages and rent had gone up for all businesses in Devizes, whether large or small. Business owners were rather forgotten, and many were struggling. He encouraged businesses to talk to Citizens Advice or the Federation of Small Businesses who may be able to help. He encouraged everyone to shop locally in order to support businesses.

 

·       Health and Wellbeing

Richard Rogers, Strategic Engagement and Partnerships Manager (SEPM), explained that as the Health and Wellbeing Group had not met for a while but he had met with Cliff Evans and Keith Brindle to discuss the way forward. Points discussed included:

 

o   Was a better model required that would ensure the older and vulnerable people in our community are supported?

o   Was it about doing more or doing things better?

o   Did we need a part time paid coordinator (SPOC) to link providers, volunteers and customers?

o   Could they also manage local responses to emergencies?

o   Were there similar models? - Melksham Town Council and Melksham Without were funding, with support from their Area Board, a 0.5 person employed by AGE UK to do a similar role. Love Devizes had also put a proposal together.

o   It would need a partnership approach. Should it be pursued?

 

·       Age UK

A representative of Age UK stated that older people were being impacted by fuel costs in particular and data suggested 1 in 7 were skipping meals as a result. Enquiries received regarding benefits had gone up. Their website had been revamped and could be seen here Welcome to Age UK Wiltshire. Getting information to people could be difficult. There was £10 million in unpaid pension credit and it would be good to promote pension credit, so people could claim.

 

The Chairman thanked all presenters.

 

Meeting attendees then split into groups to discuss the following:

 

·       What locally should we focus on to support people through the cost of living situation?

·       What can we do to help address this and would you support any of the ideas raised so far?

 

Feedback from the group discussions included:

 

·       Support for the cash first approach as that meant money in people’s pockets that could be spent on what was needed.

·       The difficulties getting information to people on where to go for help.

·       The difficulties knowing who to get help to, could information be shared and what that would look like?

·       What lessons were learnt form COIVD that could be applied?

·       Connecting smaller help groups.

·       Identifying a resident in streets / areas who were willing to help identify those locally that may be in need of help.

·       Support for warm spaces as that bought people together and could help to identify those in need of help.

·       Support for the bottom-up approach of community groups providing help.

·       Support for the community coordinator role.

·       Using the already existing systems of town and parish councillors to identify those in need and signpost them to help.

·       Difficulties with organisations seeing reduction in funding whilst demand was rising.

·       Whether the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) could play a role.

·       Whether money provided by government for grants to certain groups of people be used in a better way providing more long term benefit?

·       Further support for the street-by-street approach, for example auditing a street to determine its needs, delivering what was required and then empowering those people to support the next street and so on. Coordinators and specialist knowledge and resources were required. 

 

A general open discussion then took place. Points raised included:

 

·       That there was need in the villages and rural areas too and these should not be forgotten, they may also have different needs.

·       The need to create infrastructure to support communities to help themselves.

·       The urgency of the situation, action was required quickly.

·       Elected councillors of all authorities should take the lead.

·       Using a top down and bottom-up approach would cover all angles, Wiltshire Council or government may have data to identify who would need help.

 

The Board thanked everyone for taking part and for their ideas and comments. They would take on everything that was said and discuss ways forward.