Food bank have become normalised, says Worcester councillor

Worcester City Council donated £40,000 to Worcester Foodbank earlier this year, which was used to support 1,052 households.

This came from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Household Support Fund.

It will provide a further £10,000 to the food bank between October and March thanks to county council funds specifically allocated for food.

At a health and wellbeing committee meeting on Monday (October 21), Cllr Neil Laurenson pointed out: “We’ve normalised foodbanks.

WORRY: Neil Laurenson says food banks have become normalised (Image: Submitted)

“We’re trying our best to plug all these financial gaps and help people stay afloat but - the last 14 years man - what damage has been done? And yet here we are, normalising part of that narrative.”

The city council has been given a total of £188,543 for its Household Support Fund, councillors were told.

£42,000 will help fund the council’s Discretionary Welfare Assistance Scheme, while £20,000 will be used to extend the Spend to Save programme, for homelessness prevention.

A scheme that gives pre-school children and college students food vouchers in school holidays will get £65,000 worth of funding.

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Eligible children will get £15 of vouchers per week during the October and February half-terms, and the Christmas holidays.

The city council scheme expands on Worcestershire County Council’s free school meals offering, which applies to school-aged children.

Citizen’s Advice Worcester will get £11,000 to run its drop-in service for an additional day and community groups will be given a share of £30,000 to offer warm spaces, provide hot meals and give support during the winter.

Tom Mountford, the city council’s head of service for homes and communities, said it was a challenge to make people aware of the help they can get from the city council but that officers were getting out and knocking on doors, as well as working with Age UK.

Cllr Ed Kimberley said: “Young people and working people are bearing the brunt of the cost of living.”

Cllr Lynn Denham said: “If there are Worcester residents struggling to pay their bills - help is available. We can help people.”