Many Wokingham residents are facing severe and increasing financial hardship. By September 2022:
· The cost of living was rising by 9.9% with some forecasts as high as 18.6% in the new year, while rises in pay and benefits fell far short of this.
· Typical household energy bills were expected to be over £2,500 a year.
· Interest rates had reached a 20 year high, putting added pressure on rents and mortgages.
· The removal of the temporary £20 a week uplift in universal credit had substantially reduced the income of those living on the lowest incomes.
For many Wokingham residents, price increases will be a real concern. For residents on the lowest incomes who were already struggling to heat their homes and feed their families, they’re a disaster. Many of these residents cannot increase their income through work, for example because they have full time caring responsibilities or are incapacitated.
Use of foodbanks was soaring even before the latest financial turmoil. Wokingham Foodbank distributed 4,811 crisis food parcels between April 2021 and March 2022, which was a 78% increase on the previous financial year.
Voluntary and community organisations are seeing a steep increase in residents approaching them for help over the course of this year, and they are already deeply concerned. They are seeing increased numbers of people who were previously coping financially but are now struggling.
Responding to this crisis adequately will take community-wide action and central government backing of the kind that we saw during the Covid crisis, at a time that council finances are also under enormous pressure because of inflation.
Wokingham Borough Council therefore declares a Cost of Living Crisis in the borough and commits to doing all that we can to support our residents during this very difficult time. We commit that this will be one of the council’s main priorities during the coming winter and will work with the Hardship Alliance and the Hardship Alliance Action Group to support our residents.’
Minutes:
Council considered the following Motion, proposed by Rachel Bishop-Firth and seconded by Stephen Conway.
‘Many Wokingham residents are facing severe and increasing financial hardship.
By September 2022:
· The cost of living was rising by 9.9% with some forecasts as high as 18.6% in the new year, while rises in pay and benefits fell far short of this.
· Typical household energy bills were expected to be over £2,500 a year.
· Interest rates had reached a 20 year high, putting added pressure on rents and mortgages.
· The removal of the temporary £20 a week uplift in universal credit had substantially reduced the income of those living on the lowest incomes.
· For many Wokingham residents, price increases will be a real concern. For residents on the lowest incomes who were already struggling to heat their homes and feed their families, they’re a disaster. Many of these residents cannot increase their income through work, for example because they have full time caring responsibilities or are incapacitated.
Use of foodbanks was soaring even before the latest financial turmoil. Wokingham Foodbank distributed 4,811 crisis food parcels between April 2021 and March 2022, which was a 78% increase on the previous financial year.
Voluntary and community organisations are seeing a steep increase in residents approaching them for help over the course of this year, and they are already deeply concerned. They are seeing increased numbers of people who were previously coping financially but are now struggling.
Responding to this crisis adequately will take community-wide action and central government backing of the kind that we saw during the Covid crisis, at a time that council finances are also under enormous pressure because of inflation.
Wokingham Borough Council therefore declares a Cost of Living Crisis in the borough, and commits to doing all that we can to support our residents during this very difficult time. We commit that this will be one of the council’s main priorities during the coming winter, and will work with the Hardship Alliance and the Hardship Alliance Action Group to support our residents.’
RESOLVED: That
Many Wokingham residents are facing severe and increasing financial hardship.
By September 2022:
· The cost of living was rising by 9.9% with some forecasts as high as 18.6% in the new year, while rises in pay and benefits fell far short of this.
· Typical household energy bills were expected to be over £2,500 a year.
· Interest rates had reached a 20 year high, putting added pressure on rents and mortgages.
· The removal of the temporary £20 a week uplift in universal credit had substantially reduced the income of those living on the lowest incomes.
· For many Wokingham residents, price increases will be a real concern. For residents on the lowest incomes who were already struggling to heat their homes and feed their families, they’re a disaster. Many of these residents cannot increase their income through work, for example because they have full time caring responsibilities or are incapacitated.
Use of foodbanks was soaring even before the latest financial turmoil. Wokingham Foodbank distributed 4,811 crisis food parcels between April 2021 and March 2022, which was a 78% increase on the previous financial year.
Voluntary and community organisations are seeing a steep increase in residents approaching them for help over the course of this year, and they are already deeply concerned. They are seeing increased numbers of people who were previously coping financially but are now struggling.
Responding to this crisis adequately will take community-wide action and central government backing of the kind that we saw during the Covid crisis, at a time that council finances are also under enormous pressure because of inflation.
Wokingham Borough Council therefore declares a Cost of Living Crisis in the borough, and commits to doing all that we can to support our residents during this very difficult time. We commit that this will be one of the council’s main priorities during the coming winter, and will work with the Hardship Alliance and the Hardship Alliance Action Group to support our residents.