Agenda item

To receive and consider the Impact of the Cost of Living Crisis report.

Viki Elliott-King presented the Impact of the Cost of Living Crisis report and highlighted the following points:

·           A cost of living crisis emergency was declared by the Council in 2022;

·           A group was set up called the Hardship Alliance, comprising representatives from the Council, Citizens Advice, Age UK Berkshire, First Days Children’s Charity and Wokingham United Charities;

·           At the time, it was quickly recognised that this crisis would affect people who had never had any contact with the Council before, therefore it was important to ensure that the communication was effective;

·           A lot of data was gathered, which enabled a focused response;

·           £25k was raised with crowdfunding, this was matched by WBC and Wokingham Charities United, totalling £75k;

·           There was a DfE funded holiday activities and food programme.  Demand for this provision doubled this year

·           The graphs in the report showed that there were more people living in poverty;

·           The number of pupils eligible for free school meals had increased from 5% in 2013 to 9% now;

·           Single parent families were struggling the most and seeking support from food banks;

·           The Household Support Fund was still available because it was still needed.

During the discussion of the item the following questions and comments were made:

·           The Chairman asked what was the likely impact on demand for services of the new financial stress caused by the increase in mortgage repayments?

·           Viki Elliott-King stated that Wokingham had a high number of people with heavy mortgages, so the current situation was likely to put a lot of stress on families who were not normally known to Children’s Services.  However, it was difficult to know if this would cause an increase in demand for services;

·           Ming Zhang believed that the current crisis could have an indirect negative impact, for example in the recruitment of teachers.  Newly qualified teachers wanting to buy a house may be discouraged from moving into Wokingham; the same could apply to the recruitment of social workers;

·           Adam Davis agreed that there could be an impact on the recruitment of social workers.  He added that it was difficult to make an analysis of the impact of the current crisis, this analysis may be possible in the future;

·           Councillor Gray wondered if there was over-reliance on charities, and asked what would happen if charities could not cope with the increase in demand?

·           Viki Elliott-King confirmed that charities were starting to struggle to keep up with the demand, the Council worked very closely with charities and was trying to help as much as possible;

·           The Chairman suggested inviting representatives from the Hardship Alliance to attend a meeting to review the progress made to date;

·           Councillor Pittock expressed concern about the difficulties in relation to the rental market;

·           Councillor Cunnington asked if there was any indication that there were children in the borough that were not eating properly?

·           Viki Elliott-King stated that the Council had a really good relationship with schools, and it was believed that schools would communicate any concerns to the Council (including about children who were not in receipt of free school meals).

RESOLVED That:

1)     Officers be thanked for the very comprehensive report;

2)     The CSO&S Committee notes the response to date to children’s, young people’s and families support needs during the ongoing cost of living crisis;

3)     The CSO&S Committee receives a brief update at the 6 September 2023 meeting.  At that meeting the Committee will decide how to proceed with further updates, including when to invite the Hardship Alliance representatives for a review of the progress being made since the last time they attended a meeting of the CSO&S Committee.