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Councillors today approved a plan to continue providing support for residents struggling to make ends meet this winter, topping up an already approved £4.3m support package.
Following last year’s coordinated winter support programme, councillors have agreed to a total of £1.84m extra funding, to help people with issues such as fuel top ups, mould and damp and obtaining winter warmer packs.
Council Leader Cllr David Ross said: “The cost of living crisis has impacted on so many people, some of whom have always managed before but can no longer make ends meet.
"We made it our mission in Fife to try to protect people as much as we can with a variety of help and support to help those most in need."
Thousands supported last year
Cllr Ross added: “Last year we gave fuel support to 5,000 struggling households, provided over 42,000 meals at Café Inc in October and December alone and helped support 72 community warm spaces. It’s clear that people are still struggling and support will be needed again this year.
“The programme of support uses a mixture of temporary funding available to the Council, alongside our Community Recovery Fund and Area Committee anti-poverty provision.
"We have looked at what was most effective last year and will be targeting our support on these measures. One of our key goals is to also make sure that everyone is applying for all the benefits they are entitled to, and we have staff available to help anyone through the process."
Benefit checker helps boost incomes
The Fife Benefit Checker, ‘Entitled To’, helps people increase their monthly income. From the end of October 2022 – June 2023 there were 7,359 benefit checks completed. This resulted in an average gain of £104 per month for those who used it.
New software being used in the council, the Low-Income Family Tracker (LIFT), helps target low-income households who could increase their income from benefits.
The system was used to quickly identify 96 households, which would be affected by the benefit cap, giving them an average £40 more per week.
Advice and support on the cost of living can still be found at https://our.fife.scot/gethelp
For those with no online access, or who need a little more help to access services, there’s the Community Support Line on 0800 952 0330 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm)