Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk are inviting organisations in Mid Suffolk to a Cost of Living Forum because we think you need to hear about changes to the crisis support available in the District.
The Household Support Fund is expected to end in March 2024. Suffolk has received £10m in Household Support Funding a year to help people in crisis. If people struggled to afford food or energy, then the Household Support Fund will have been available to for that. Over £4m went towards food vouchers for families on free school meals to cover the school holidays. The Suffolk Household Support Fund also funded Local Welfare Assistance grants to people in hardship, support for housing costs and food/non food items for food banks and pantries.
The bottom line is that there is going to be less crisis support available than before.
If you make referrals to a food bank or signpost people for charitable support then the frontline staff who do that may well find their work affected.
The Cost of Living forum will be held on Zoom on 16th February at 10am – 12 noon. Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk will give an update on the Household Support Fund and cost of living. We will hear from food banks and charitable support organisations, who will be invited to outline the potential impact of the end of the fund and their plans for what they will do if there is more demand than they can manage. Then we will break into smaller groups to talk about key themes. The groups will share what challenges their customers or people in their community might face in particular and to discuss what we might need to do differently. It’s an opportunity to build partnerships and to share thinking about how to tackle the issues we have identified through a next steps process.
If you would like to book a place then email [email protected].
For more information about the Household Support Fund and the impact of the Autumn Statement read Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk’s briefing.
