Gift cards worth £105 are set to be handed out to over 4,500 households in East Renfrewshire to help with the cost of living and boost businesses.
The cards, which must be spent in local shops, would be provided to low income households, with those receiving council tax reductions, in bands A to G, eligible.
They are one of a raft of measures, designed to support covid recovery, expected to be approved by East Renfrewshire Council’s Cabinet next Thursday. Around £1.5m has been provided by the Scottish Government for the projects.
READ MORE: Glasgow homes get details on £105 gift cards to be used in city shops
Other proposals include a community hardship fund for housing association tenants in Barrhead, winter clothing support for school pupils and a fuel poverty fund.
A report by council officials stated: “This funding will provide much needed support to our local businesses and residents who have been adversely impacted by Covid-19.”
However, it added: “The challenge facing all local authorities is that the funding, whilst welcome, is finite in nature and will not fully satisfy the potential demand for support.
“To address this challenge, this proposal delivers a range of different supports with the dual policy aim of supporting both low-income households to become more economically active and local businesses to grow.”
If Cabinet approval is secured, the council would set aside £533,891 for the ‘Scotland Loves Local’ gift card, with the money used to cover cards for 4,532 households as well as additional staff and associated costs. It is hoped the scheme would launch in autumn.
A similar project was recently launched in Glasgow with 85,000 households set to get cards, which can be used at more than 700 businesses in the city.
Measures planned to help East Renfrewshire residents include £107,000 for Barrhead Housing Association to identify “tenants that are in need of support at this unprecedented time of demand for services and cost of living increases”.
They could get access to a community hardship fund, with grants of up to £250 to pay for clubs, classes or memberships, education such as evening classes, skills development activities and clothing for a specific event or need, like a job interview or winter coat.
There would also be £65,000 for winter clothing support to low-income families, providing cash to school pupils who “do not quite meet the eligibility for family bridging payments provided by the Scottish Government. It is expected around 500 children would benefit.
The council plans to invest £250,000 to top up the Scottish Welfare Fund budget, extend a ‘humanitarian discretionary fund’ administered by the money, advice and rights team (MART) and offer a new fuel poverty fund.
Almost £55,000 would be spent on an adult learning project to “increase the wellbeing and skills of parents living in poverty to support their child’s learning at home and in nursery” and £10,000 is earmarked for discretionary school vouchers to help “school pupils who are in low-income households or who find themselves in short-term financial need”. Vouchers would be issued at the discretion of school leadership, with around 400 pupils expected to benefit.
Around £58,400 could be used on additional staff to carry out a “significant volume of work required to process hardship payments in tight timescales”. Nearly £25,000 each would be given to Dunterlie Foodshare and Thornliebank Foodshare to supply food vouchers alongside existing food provision, create greater awareness of the projects and develop the help available to those using the services.
There could be £25,000 for the development of green business initiatives and £35,000 to create a Black and Minority Ethnic Business Network, which would include finding firms “needing support and businesses able to offer peer support”. It would also “develop a suite of materials in required languages and appropriate business related topics”.
Funding has been provided from the Scottish Government’s £80m local authority covid economic recovery pot, which was announced in February.
Proposals would be funded until the end of 2023 but the council report added: “There may also be potential to extend some projects further into 2023/24 using additional unallocated covid reserves and proposals for this are being developed and will be brought to Cabinet later in the autumn.”
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