Agenda item

Question

Can you ensure that all families in need will be catered for by the support provided by the Covid Winter Grant Scheme?

Answer

The Covid Winter Grant Scheme provides £208,703 to Wokingham Borough Council to support families and individuals who are struggling to meet the cost of food and energy bills between 1^st December 2020 and 31^st March 2021. 

It is proposed that the grant is used in three ways as I have already commented:

1. Food vouchers to be provided to the families of the 2,166 children and young people in Wokingham in receipt of means-tested Free School Meals to cover the Christmas holidays 2020 and February half term 2021 (£15 per child per holiday week).  The total cost of this will be approximately £100,000.

2. Support to be provided to up to 100 Care Leavers with the costs of food and energy bills.  Total cost £5,000.

3. Support to be provided to families and individuals in need who do not fall into the above two categories.  Front-line services who are already in contact with families and individuals in need will be able to refer them for support via the existing Covid Community Response One Front Door operated by Wokingham Citizens’ Advice Bureau.  The Citizens’ Advice Bureau will assess families and individuals for this and other support and forward details of families in need to the Council who will provide support from the grant funds.  We will monitor carefully the demand from families and individuals for support, and should need exceed the funds available, a further paper detailing need and proposed response will be considered by the Executive.

All of that I have already said. In answer to your specific question we do have our ways of determining the families who are in need with the information we have currently got.  However, if we should have missed any then Councillors or well-meaning people should refer them to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and at the end of the day should that fail refer them to me or another Councillor or Executive Member who will then ensure that nobody falls through the cracks.  I think that is very important for us to summon everybody, which we can, to make sure that nobody falls through the cracks.

Supplementary Question

It is known that fraudsters have been targeting Covid-19 support funds.  How will the risk of fraud be mitigated so that the funds are received by those that genuinely need them?

Supplementary Answer

Checks are being put in place to verify the identity of those eligible for the scheme.  Cash will only be used in exceptional circumstances to avoid use of the funds for items or services outside the scope and intent of the grant.  If fraud is suspected, the Department for Work and Pensions will be notified so that any emerging threats can be identified and shared with other authorities.

We are very conscious of the possibilities and we are doing everything we can to ensure that we are validating applications whilst not using that as an excuse for letting people down.