In late 2022, with the prospect of the full invasion of Ukraine, gas supply to Western Europe was dramatically reduced, prices quadrupled and the “Cost of Living Crisis” began. At the time, we were already observing that an increasing proportion of our service users were being pushed into an even more untenable position financially with what we call “broken budgets”. A broken budget for a client is one in which the minimum necessary expenditure required in their household circumstances exceeds the maximum possible income they can earn from a combination of work and benefits.
Despite Government support, faced with this crisis, we launched our Relief Fund to provide emergency financial assistance to our most disadvantaged service users. The initial funding for this came from generous supporters in receipt of the Government energy bill support who donated that to us. The same was true of some of those receiving Winter Fuel payments to those in receipt of a state pension.
Over time, both these underlying sources of funding have been severely curtailed but generous supporters are still digging deep to help those in desperate need. We are incredibly grateful and so are those who receive our Relief Fund payments. East Suffolk Council and the Suffolk Community Foundation’s Surviving Winter Fund have both contributed significantly to this cause in more recent times.
Since we set up the Relief Fund, we have used the money to:
- Provide emergency funding to our service users who have unforeseen costs arising: instances include new domestic appliances for those whose old ones have broken, new shoes for school children, a bed and bedding for a family and so on;
- Support Debt Help users with their monthly bills by providing a supermarket gift card of between £20 and £40 per month, depending on the season*;
- Pay Debt Help users the cost of their Debt Relief Order to get out of indebtedness*;
- Complement our Christmas hampers to those in need by providing a small supermarket gift card to help with their discretionary costs at an expensive time of the year for families and
- Make direct payments into clients’ energy provider accounts.
* We no longer routinely make these distributions.
Although the original crisis has abated somewhat, the Relief Fund continues to support many clients struggling to pay for the essentials in life and for whom the worry of even more demands on their budgets may well have driven them to breaking point.
If you would like to make a donation specifically to this fund, rather than to the general work of SCPA, please follow this link