- Nearly £5 million invested in local authorities across Wales
to tackle poverty
- Funding will support emergency food aid and long-term poverty
prevention
- Extra money allocated to rural areas facing distinct
challenges
People struggling with the cost of living will benefit from
nearly £5 million in Welsh Government funding to local
authorities this year.
The £4.8m investment will fund emergency food aid for people in
crisis, alongside support to prevent poverty.
Local authorities can use the funding to strengthen
community-based support networks like lunch clubs, social
supermarkets and community cafes. They can also give direct
grants to food banks facing increased demand.
The funding will also help tackle the root causes of poverty,
enabling organisations to strengthen cost of living advice
to families, helping people build lasting resilience, not just
cope in a crisis.
Capital funding will help organisations buy fridges, freezers and
cooking equipment, so they can store and distribute more food,
including surplus supplies that would otherwise go to
waste.
Additional money will also go to rural local authorities,
recognising the added challenges of delivering support in rural
areas.
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social
Justice and Equality, Sioned said:
"Nobody in Wales should have to go without food or struggle to
make ends meet. This funding will help local authorities respond
quickly to people in crisis right now, while also building the
long-term support that helps families avoid hardship in
future.
"We know the cost of living continues to put pressure on
households across the country, and that's why we're targeting
support where it's needed most. We want every part of Wales
to have the resources they need to support people through
difficult times and build lasting resilience for the
future."
Previous funding has helped projects like Down to Zero
support people experiencing food poverty in Rhondda Cynon Taf
(RCT).
Down to Zero provide affordable, locally grown and
pesticide-free produce straight to people's doorsteps in RCT
delivering over 230 boxes of fresh, low-cost vegetables in RCT
last year.
One of the site managers at Down to Zero, Llantrisant,
Kevin Edwards said:
"As the Llysiau lead at Down to Zero, my role is to help with the
general running of the site, and to run the Llysh bocs
deliveries. At the moment I am delivering vegetable boxes to
40 families through RCT.
The scheme is to help families who are struggling with food
poverty with deliveries every three days. It's heartbreaking
to hear that families are struggling to feed their children, so
I'm really proud to be involved in a scheme that is trying to
reduce food poverty.
The funding forms part of a wider package of the Welsh
Government's cost of living support, which helps households
manage financial pressures, maximise their incomes and reduce
everyday costs.
Support includes; the Single Advice Fund, the Discretionary
Assistance Fund, the Warm Homes Programme, fuel bank vouchers,
free school meals and the Bwyd a Hwyl Food and Fun school holiday
food and enrichment provision.
Notes to editors
- The funding will be distributed to local authorities via the
WLGA. Local authorities can then allocate funding in different
ways and will be issued with guidance on how to use the funding
but will have some discretion to utilise this funding for
activity in areas of greatest need.
- Rural local authorities will be provided with an
enhanced allocation to be utilised specifically for those rural
areas within their locality.
- This additional funding should support approaches that seek
to improve access to services, improve service delivery in a
rural context, strengthen community resilience and ensure that
residents in rural areas can access support that is equivalent to
that available in more urban locations.
Welsh Government support:
