Wirral Foodbank, CAB, WIRED, and Energy Projects Plus have formed part of a review panel set up to look at the impact of government cuts to crisis support for the poor and vulnerable.
Their findings reveal there are now 14 food banks across Wirral, serving 12,503 people with emergency food – of which 4,498 were children.
Their report will be presented to Wirral’s next Cabinet meeting on June 29th.
Councillor Janette Williamson, Chair of the Review Panel, said: ‘The withdrawal of government funding to help families in financial trouble has left a growing number of people in Wirral in desperate need. We are seeing Food Banks opening in West Kirby and Hoylake as well as Wallasey and Birkenhead. Vulnerable old people and young families are being hit hardest.’
Councillor Chris Jones, Wirral’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: ‘Like many hard-pressed authorities, we now find ourselves having to be responsible for setting up a local fund to support people who have to resort to a crisis loan. The Government’s actions are directly targeted at the most needy and desperate in our community. We are immensely grateful to the charities, churches and kind-hearted public of Wirral who are stepping up to help their neighbours.’
‘In response we are proposing to Wirral’s Cabinet to set aside £900,000 to help residents in dire need and give them an alternative to ‘pay-day borrowing’ and loan sharks.’
Meanwhile, government figures suggest that the North West has been targeted in it’s austerity programme far more than London and the South East.
In response to this, Wirral Council leader, Councillor Phil Davies, claimed ‘The Government has a deliberate policy of targeting northern areas for the deepest cuts while their political heartlands around London and the South East remain virtually untouched’.
In forming the new government, the Conservatives pledged to eliminate the national deficit by cutting spending by 1% each year in 2016-17 and 2017-18, then freezing it in 2018-19. This will amount to cuts of £13 billion from departmental spending, £12 billion of welfare cuts and £5 billion raised from tackling tax-dodgers.
For more information on the report to be presented to Cabinet, please visit the Council website.
