The “frightening” cost of living crisis is being treated like another pandemic in Sefton, according to a senior cabinet member.
Cllr Ian Moncur, who is Sefton Council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, made the comments during a discussion about the impacts of the crisis on residents in the borough.
Executive director Andrea Watts presented a series of reports into the situation for Sefton to a meeting of the council’s health and wellbeing board, held at Bootle Town Hall this afternoon (September 28.)
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Included were papers previously discussed by Sefton Council’s cabinet, examining the impact of the cost of living on local residents in the light of existing inequalities across the borough.
Ms Watts said the council was seeing a demand for support “really starting to spread across our borough as opposed to in those areas of most deprivation we might traditionally expect to see increased demand.”
She added that in response the council had produced an information sheet, detailing food banks and other sources of support in both paper and digital format to signpost people quickly to places including newly set up “warm hubs” as the crisis is expected to unfold this winter.
Responding, Cllr Moncur said the report made “very sobering reading.” He said: “We can see already for some assistance schemes demand is running at twice the level of last year. It’s an indication of where we are now and clearly things are going to get worse from this point rather than better.”
He said that a special cabinet reference group will be meeting fortnightly to deal with the crisis, adding: “It is in many respects comparable to the crisis we faced with covid and so we will be treating it in that manner.”
Cll Moncur said that the council “doesn’t have the solution” to the crisis adding “neither are we suggesting the council can do this on its own. We will surely be looking for partnership work, it is particularly critical in situations like this.”
Director of Sefton Pensioners Advocacy centre Andrew Booth said he “never thought” he’d be seeing warm hubs being set up.
Responding, Cllr Paul Cummins said: “It’s a frightening thought, isn’t it? Who’d have thought we’d be in that situation?”
He added that there was some opportunity to create wider areas of support around the hubs, including for example for mental health or other services. He said: “Out of the problems there could be an opportunity to create something to improve lives as well and make the most of it.”
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