Councillor Paul Hezelgrave, Cabinet Member for Cost of Living, Inequalities and Customer Inclusion, looks back on the year and ahead to 2024.
I’m very proud to be Derby’s first Cabinet Member with a specific focus on the Cost of Living. And whilst the need for this only evidences further the desperate times we’re living in, it’s so important we put a focus on this for the people of Derby; a manifesto pledge which we delivered on immediately after coming into administration.
At the core of our manifesto is people and an understanding that when we invest in people, everything else follows. Our vision to create a more equal city with opportunities for all our citizens is ambitious, but also very much achievable and we’ve made some great progress this year.
Since May we’ve been busy working with our fantastic partners to deliver a huge amount of support for our city’s most vulnerable citizens and those who are struggling because of the Cost of Living crisis.
Providing practical, on the ground support to families our free school uniform and warm winter coat appeals have been a huge success, alleviating some of the financial burden which is typically placed on families during the autumn and winter.
We have also continued to provide financial support to thousands of households through free school meal and supermarket food voucher schemes. Since April, the equivalent of 724,640 individual meals have been provided to over 14,000 children to ensure that no child goes hungry during school holidays. This has been complemented by the re-opening of Derby’s online application process for supermarket food vouchers, through which another £500,000 of food vouchers are now available to those in need.
I was delighted that 49 Warm Welcome Hubs reopened their doors this autumn, providing our citizens with a warm welcome, hot meal and help to access the support which is on offer. From July to December, these hubs have supported more than 20,600 citizens, including over 2,240 children. Through the Warm Welcome Hubs, households can also access energy support vouchers which offer an additional element of financial support.
Looking ahead to 2024, as well as continuing to work on enhancing Cost of Living support, I’ll also be focusing on two of our other manifesto pledges: campaigning for a real Living Wage in Derby and working with existing food, youth, health, faith, poverty and disability alliances within the city to create new equality alliances which will tackle inequality in our city. Around March, we’ll be organising a Derby Child Poverty Summit to highlight and tackle child poverty in the city.
The rising Cost of Living has become a recurring theme for us in 2023, I’d like to finish by reassuring anyone concerned about making ends meet that you are not alone, and that help is available.
I encourage everyone, whether you think you are eligible or not, to have a look at the support which is available and find out if you could benefit from it.