SALFORD HAS BEEN RANKED 18TH POOREST AREA IN THE COUNTRY – BUT THERE COULD BE LIGHT AHEAD

People living in the 18th poorest area in the country could benefit from a share of over £3million as the local authority promises to get a grip on the cost of living crisis.

The move by Salford city council comes as the number of people suffering poverty turning to its support services soared more than three-fold from 3,000 to 10,000 in the last two years.

The authority is using a windfall rate rebate from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to enhance the provision of school meal vouchers during the summer holiday period and a number of other additional measures to help people affected by soaring inflation, mortgage payments and a rising tide of debt.

A total of £750,000 is going to Salford Assist – the council’s scheme which offers short-term help to people in crisis – with £32,000 in financial support specifically going to residents of the Duchy Estate.

Meanwhile, the council’s Welfare Right and Debt Advice Service will receive £406,521 for the delivery of a Benefit Take Up Campaign for People of Pensionable Age as it was revealed  £6m goes unclaimed in benefits across the city by people entitled to help.

A further £332,000 is being invested into the Salford Leaving Care Service and £23,100 to support care leavers living in semi-independent accommodation with increasing gas and electricity costs.

Salford Credit Union, which focuses on providing ethical and secure alternatives to high-cost lenders, is to receive £450,000, while £164,932 is to be invested into Salford Community Leisure to support free intensive swimming lessons to children from low-income households and subsidised activities and programmes for young people, including dance and football sessions.

And there will be further in the Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme, supporting residents, families and young people who may find themselves at risk of homeless, in temporary accommodation or tragically sleeping rough on the city’s streets.

The city council will also plough in £75,000 to create a ‘tackling poverty’ fund to support the authority’s equality priorities.

Eccles Councillor Sharmina August, lead member of inclusive economy, anti-poverty and equalities, presenting her report to the city council cabinet meeting, said:

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“Many of the local authorities in Greater Manchester have had a rates levy rebate, but haven’t done this.”

Councillor August said cuts to the Housing Support Fund (HFS) from central Government – designed to alleviate poverty – were ‘a worry’. 

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“We would not have been able to meet the demand we’ve seen [from residents] without this money,” she said. 

“We’ve seen the number of people in crisis in Salford triple in the last two years. Without the HSF we would be turning away thousands of people.

“We need long-term sustainable funding for people in crisis.”

 

Salford city mayor Paul Dennett said he was worried about how the authority would continue ‘this great work’ once the windfall funding runs out as he called for a lobbying campaign to central Government to ensure the HSF keeps up with inflation.

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“We’ve only got certainty on it until 2024,” he said. “And we also know that when the Government announced this, they didn’t increase it by the level of inflation. So, in real cash terms the HSF, has in real terms been cut.”

He pointed out that the city of Salford is the 18th poorest local authority in the country.

On the report, Mr Dennett said:

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“I think this is an excellent piece of work. It speaks to the young, old and vulnerable people in our city and it certainly resonates with what I saw as a priority when I became mayor seven years ago, in terms of tackling poverty in Salford.

“There are financial risks [to the move] but this is the right thing to do. We could squirrel this [the rate rebate] away in reserves but that would be absolutely morally and ethically not the right thing to do when we’ve got residents, families, communities, children and young people struggling in the cost of living crisis, already having struggled through the Covid pandemic and as a consequence of austerity which has taken £240m out of our local authority budget since 2010.”