Thousands of Nottinghamshire households will be recieving additional support to help them cover the costs of food and energy bills this winter. A one-off payment of around £100 is being given to families with children who attend county schools and are eligible for Free School Meals.
Thanks to the Government's £5.6m Household Support Fund, eligible families across the county will receive the payment either as a voucher or sent to their bank accounts in time for Christmas as Nottinghamshire County Council works to ease financial worries of residents. Of the fund granted, up to £2m will be used to help families that qualify for free school meals.
On average individual families will receive £100, which will be proportionately adjusted to help with extra food costs depending on the number of children eligible for free school meals in the household. Councillor John Cottee, the County Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “We have already written to nearly 18,000 households with children entitled to free school meals and offered them a winter support payment.
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“I’m delighted to confirm that £1.2m of support is already on its way, to be shared among 11,120 households and due to arrive before Christmas. We are working hard to get the rest of the funds out as soon as applications come in. We have offered families a choice of having cash put into their bank accounts or being sent vouchers to spend in a way which best helps their immediate needs, such as helping pay an energy bill or with food shopping."
He continued: “For those who have had a letter from us and not had chance to apply, then you have until 31 January to do so as we don’t want anyone to miss out. If you do have any concerns or doubts about the letter you receive from us and suspect it might be fraudsters unscrupulously posing as Nottinghamshire County Council, I would encourage you to check this letter with family, friends, or someone you trust.
“Alternatively, please do not hesitate to telephone our Customer Service Team or visit our website to check the letter is genuine. We won’t be contacting anyone about the winter support payment via text message.” Councillor Tracey Taylor, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, explained that this payment builds on the County Council’s work to support thousands of households across the county.
She said: “We are proud of our record in delivering support to families struggling with cost-of-living challenges and the roll out of the winter support payment since early December reaffirms our commitment to helping those households and ultimately making sure thousands of Nottinghamshire schoolchildren won’t go hungry. This is in addition to our continuing schemes to support the wellbeing of children in the county, including our Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) which focuses on supporting youngsters to improve their knowledge of health and nutrition and encouraging them to eat more healthily and be more active during school holidays.”
The remaining money from the fund will be used to support 50,000 households across the county who are in immediate need, with some at risk of becoming homeless, some households having pensioners eligible for pension credit and other households that struggle to make ends meet. Further details will be announced in the New Year on how this support will be given, and £210,000 has already been sent to district and borough councils to make discretionary housing payments to help those who otherwise might face homelessness.
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