Almost £2,000,000 spent helping vulnerable residents across district

Almost £2,000,000 has been spent supporting vulnerable residents in West Berkshire through the Household Support Fund.

Since funding was first provided to West Berkshire Council by the Government in October 2021 the scheme has seen funding of £1.9m distributed locally - with more to come in April.

Nearly 4,300 individual claims for support have been administered with an average of £263 provided per claim to assist households with energy costs, food, clothing and essential household items. In addition to this it has also enabled West Berkshire Council to provide free school meals vouchers during school holidays to more than 23,000 children.

In addition to distributing funding directly, the Council has also provided funding to Age Concern and Age UK to support older residents and also provided funding to Greenham Trust to support their charitable activities.

Speaking about the support which has been provided Councillor Lynne Doherty, Leader of West Berkshire Council, said:

"It's been a difficult time for many of our residents and this funding has allowed us to do more to support them through the pandemic and the increase in the cost of living. Our commitment to protecting our most vulnerable residents is unwavering and I'm proud of the help we've been able to provide through this funding. As well as looking creatively at how we can distribute this fund ourselves, we have also recognised the expertise our partners bring and provided them with funding to strengthen the delivery of their own services. By working together we have been able to do the best by local residents and make this funding as effective as it can be."

A further allocation of £1.4m has been awarded to West Berkshire Council for 2023/24 and will allow services to be developed in order to ensure these funds are utilised to support the most needy and vulnerable in the district.