Friday, November 15, 2024
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Proposed Investments to Help Lift People Out of Poverty

Siobhan Dale

South Tyneside Council is proposing to target investment to help lift people out of poverty.

The draft Medium Term Financial Plan, which will go before councillors on 23 February, is closely aligned to the Council’s Vision and ambitions, one of which is to help residents become financially secure.

Following on from the work of the Poverty Commission and the efforts to help people through the cost-of-living crisis, investment will boost capacity in teams tasked with combatting poverty.

Much work is already ongoing in South Tyneside to tackle poverty. More than 60 Warm Spaces have now been established across the Borough while the Welfare Support Team has helped to recover more than £4.6 million in unclaimed benefits.  

The budget includes plans to support residents in fuel poverty. This includes improving accessibility to energy support schemes to enable private homeowners in fuel poverty to access funding to make their homes warmer.

The draft plan also recommends extending the additional Council Tax relief for a further year. The Council Tax support scheme already supports 18,400 households with an additional £100 Council Tax rebate proposed for households on a low income.

Since the Covid pandemic significantly increased contributions have been made to the Borough’s  five major food banks and this is recommended to continue.

Councillor Joanne Bell, Lead Member for Governance, Finance and Corporate Services said: “The budget has been prepared based on evidence, insights and the views of thousands of people across the Borough. It aligns closely to our Vision and its five ambitions.

“Our Vision is about making South Tyneside a place where people live happy, healthy, and fulfilled lives. Making people financially secure is a key ambition and by improving accessibility to support schemes we can help to lift them out of poverty.

“We know how difficult times are at the moment for so many of our residents and this budget is about continuing to do everything we can to support them.”