Welsh councils will receive £4.8 million to provide “emergency food aid” and other support for people struggling due to cost of living pressures. The cash from the Welsh government will be split between the 22 local authorities, with those in rural areas getting a premium due to “the added challenges” of delivering support to more sparsely populated regions. Deputy First Minister Sioned Williams said rising fuel and energy costs meant many families faced another “tough winter” and she was “targeting support where it’s needed most”. Reform UK Wales said it welcomed the support, but said the government could do more to help people in need.
The ongoing US-Iran war and pressures on oil supply in Saudi Arabia have caused fuel prices to spike in recent days. With inflation increasing and energy bills going up next month, many people could feel more of a squeeze on their household budgets. Local authorities will be able to give the emergency money to community organisations like food banks, lunch clubs and advice providers. Down To Zero, a project which has received funding previously, grows vegetables on allotments near Llantrisant in Rhondda Cynon Taf, and provides free vegetable boxes to low income families as well as lower cost subscriptions to other households within the county.
Gareth Banks has volunteered with the organisation for two years and “absolutely loves it”. “We can offer really good value, organically grown, fruit and vegetables to local people who might not always be able to afford that kind of thing,” he said. The project is run by Cynon Taf, a social housing provider. Angharad Rogers, Cynon Taf’s director of housing and communities, said food poverty was a growing problem for tenants.
“We’ve seen quite a shift lately in the people… who are most in need and accessing food banks,” she said. “Families with incomes coming into the household are still not able pay for food and things like that, so we’re seeing a lot families coming to us and asking for help.” Contact advicelink Cymru, external for free, impartial advice on debt and benefits Contact your local council to see if you are eligible for emergency help from the Discretionary Assistance Fund, external If you are on a prepayment meter and cannot afford fuel you can contact the Fuel Bank Foundation, external for help If you are on a low income, you may be able to get your council tax reduced via the council tax reduction scheme, external. UK inflation hit its highest level in five months in the year to August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Overall, motor fuel prices rose by 23% compared to August last year.
In Ystradowen, Vale of Glamorgan, drivers filling up their cars said they feared prices would increase further. Ron Jones, from Cowbridge, said he was driving less but higher prices were “to be expected, given the world as it is”. Joy Thomas said prices were “extraordinarily high” and she had searched for the cheapest petrol station she could find. Lewis Wall, 28, from Ystradowen, said prices were “ridiculous”.
“But what can we do about it? You can’t control the price and everyone needs fuel.” Sioned Williams said the government would “do all we can to support families who are going to be finding it tough this winter”. “But we need to see wider measures and many of those leavers reside in Westminster,” she added. Williams called on the UK government to bring in a system of cheaper energy prices for low income households, known as social tariffs.
“Social tariffs on energy is one of the main things I think that could really make a difference to people,” she said. The UK government said: “We have cut VAT on electricity bills from October, on top of the £150 we removed from bills earlier this year, and we will keep looking at what more we can do to protect families from unaffordable bills.” Reform said support to help ease the pressures of the cost of living “should be welcomed if delivered in the right way”. But it also said the Plaid Cymru government “could be doing more” if it did not “waste money” on projects like “spending taxpayer cash on planting trees in Uganda”, referencing the long-running climate resilience program funded by it. Tributes paid to ‘deeply caring’ dad killed in Swiss Alps plane crash Mum’s Facebook kidney plea prompts ‘mind-blowing’ gift from total stranger Metal detectorist finds 3,000-year-old gold bracelet ‘worth up to £20k’
