THOUSANDS of struggling children, families, and individuals across Reading will receive support for heating and eating costs this autumn and winter.
Up to 5,200 children in Reading who need help accessing regular meals will be eligible for support from the council during next week’s half term break.
And around 8,000 individuals and families will receive vouchers worth either £49 or £98 to help with heating costs.
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Reading Borough Council (RBC) leader Jason Brock said: “The removal of the £20 uplift in Universal credit at a time of significant increases in living costs and energy costs and an increase in National Insurance contributions mean families will struggle more than ever to afford the basics, like eating and heating costs, which is of course particularly alarming where young children are involved.
“The council has designed a local scheme which makes the best use of the funding provided to support the thousands of children who may struggle to access regular meals during the autumn and winter school holiday periods, and vouchers to help with the spiralling cost of heating for people eligible for the Council Tax support scheme.”
School meal vouchers
RBC will provide vouchers worth £20 per week to families with school age children eligible for free school meals, vulnerable two-year-olds and care leavers.
Councillor Liz Terry, lead member for Children’s Services at RBC, said: “The families eligible for this support were those who were already struggling before everyday living costs began to spiral.
“For many of us that means less disposable income, but for people living in poverty it can mean children going hungry when they outside of the school environment. We hope for those families the voucher schemes will make a difference over the difficult months ahead.”
The vouchers will also be on offer during the two-week Christmas holidays, where the same group of children will receive two £20 vouchers, and during the February half term break next year.
RBC holds a list of residents eligible for support and will contact them directly.
Help with heating
At the same time, the council is also providing support with heating through the cold winter months with an energy voucher scheme due to be launched in late November or early December.
Vouchers worth £49 will be given to all individuals that are part of the council tax reduction scheme, with approximately 5,975 people in Reading eligible.
Families with children that are part of the council tax reduction scheme, approximately 1,965 families in Reading, will receive two £49 energy vouchers.
All eligible residents will be written to directly with details of how to claim their voucher.
The voucher scheme is targeted at users with prepayment energy metres. Where an individual or family qualifies for the scheme but does not have a prepayment meter, they will need to contact the council following receipt of their letter to make a claim.
How the scheme is funded
Funding for the scheme is through the new Household Support Funding scheme, previously known as the Covid Local Support Grant and the Covid Winter Grant Scheme.
The £1.1 million funding from the Department for Work and Pensions must be spent between October 6 and March 31.
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The two schemes will cost around £900,000, with the council now considering how the remaining £200,000 will be spent.
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