This Winter the council will be contacting eligible households to distribute more than £800,000 to help pay for food, energy bills and housing costs through the winter. Lambeth Council is also putting £1.7million into providing support to households with children in receipt of free school meals over the Christmas break, February half term and Easter Holiday funded by the same government grant.
In Lambeth 41,000 residents have been impacted by the reduction of £20 per week in Universal Credit cut, of which 15,000 are out of work. 21,000 households in the borough are known to already be in fuel poverty, a situation made more acute by rising prices.
“In the face of these very real challenges we are working hard to put in extra support where we are able to. We have designed a winter support package to help families through what are going to be the very tough months ahead…”
Counsellor Andy Wilson.
To support the work, additional support is being provided to the borough’s existing surplus food distribution scheme (operated by Healthy Living Platform out of Brixton Rec) and to the Trussell Trust foodbanks in the borough to ensure they are able to meet demand over the winter period. The Trussell Trust operate four foodbanks in Lambeth, distributing food parcels to our most vulnerable residents.
Lambeth Council is also running a Winter of Food and Fun programme at more than 45 locations across the borough during the upcoming school holidays. More than 2,000 young people are expected to participate in the sessions which feature various activities during the day and a hot lunch for all participants.
The Winter of Food and Fun programme is aimed at helping local families who are in need of support during the school holidays to access free, healthy food and fun activities.
The programme is for children and young people aged between 4 and 16 years who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals.
Each club will provide:
- Free healthy meals
- Fun physical activities to suit different tastes and ages
- Guidance on food and nutrition for the whole family
The programme will run from Monday 20 December to Friday 31 December 2021.