A total of 3,454 people on Universal Credit (UC) in North Tyneside are in rent arrears with more people seeing financial help, a new welfare report has revealed.
Rent arrears have increased across all council tenants, however those on UC have the highest average with £805, almost £400 more than other tenants not claiming.
The council attributes the pandemic as a major cause for financial hardship among tenants. The report claims 1,428 council tenants said Covid-19 adversely affected their ability to manage financially at least once, and nearly a tenth (9.8%) or tenants claimed Covid-19 caused them to struggle on more than one occasion.
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The council has also referred people to organisations such as The Bay Foodbank and Citizens Advice.
North Tyneside Council statistics also show 3,699 applications were made from April 2021 to February 2022 for local welfare support.
A total of 2,329 of these requests were crisis applications, needing more practical support including help with receiving food, utility bills, baby items, travel costs, and clothes.
A report to the council states the cost of living crisis, cuts to universal credit, central government withdrawal from furlough, and the end to debt relief means more people previously not in need of local welfare support are now coming forward.
To date the council has spent £43,593 in immediate practical support for applicants. This is separate from the £40,500 given to the Whitley Bay Foodbank last quarter.
Chief Executive Paul Hanson said: “North Tyneside Council is committed to helping those seeking welfare support and has a long history of doing so.
“In addition to the support mentioned at Finance Sub Committee, families in the borough are also benefiting from a significant amount of financial support through initiatives designed to help those on the lowest incomes, including the Council’s Holiday Activities and Food Programme, Household Support Fund and Poverty Intervention Fund.
“Anyone who finds themselves needing our assistance is encouraged to contact us via our website, emailing contact.us@northtyneside.gov.uk, calling 0345 2000 101 or visiting one of our Customer First Centres.”
Reverend Alan Dickinson, chair of the Bay Foodbank, said: "The Bay Foodbank has been operating since 2012 and covers the whole of North Tyneside. We have seen a growth in referrals year on year over the last 10 years.
"We work alongside other agencies and North Tyneside Council to support people who are in food poverty. This would not be possible without the support of the community, volunteers and staff at the Bay Foodbank who have worked tirelessly over the last 10 years, and more so over the last two years during Covid.
"All of us at the Foodbank would love to get to a place where there was no food poverty in North Tyneside and we did not have to exist; the harsh reality is quite the opposite.
"Our aim and focus at the Foodbank is to provide emergency food care with the hope that the agencies who refer into us are helping and dealing with some of the root cause issues that has put people into food poverty.
"I know as we go through this year we will see many more people in food poverty and others who will not be able to afford utilities with the increase in price and the cost of living increase that we have seen in the last few months.
"It is so difficult to see families struggling to put food on the table; I know that the root issues, which are vast and various, cannot be met directly by the Foodbank but there needs to be some political intervention on a national scale to help those who are most vulnerable in our communities.
Mr Dickinson stated the foodbank had seen a 10% year on year growth for the past ten years in the number of parcels, projected 15% growth for 2022.
In the previous previous 6 months the bank has seen a doubling in the percentage of clients coming to us without utilities.
The organisation has also seen a noticeable reduction in food donations. Where donors were once able to give a couple of items a week in their weekly shop, they are no longer able either due to cost or availability.
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