By Shantelle Gondo
Leicester City Council is doing all it can to help those vulnerable and struggling to make ends meet during the lockdown and has added £1m to its Covid hardship handouts fund.
The city council has invested the additional £1m of it own resources to the COVID Winter Grant, which began on December, 1, 2020, with £1.4m from the Government funding, ending on March 31, 2021.
Since Leicester has been in lockdown the longest in the UK, the scheme still continues to want to help those vulnerable in every single way possible, especially financially including meeting food costs, water and electricity.
City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: “People in Leicester have suffered huge disruption to their family lives for nearly 12 months now, longer than anywhere else in the UK, and many are facing real financial uncertainty.
“Last year Marcus Rashford’s fantastic campaign work forced the Government to offer this support, and our additional investment will ensure that help can reach all eligible people who apply.”
The scheme provided food vouchers to all children who usually get free school meals during Christmas and February school breaks and managed to support nearly 15,000 children in Leicester.
So far 2,000 claims have now been paid and yet another 1,000 are still being assessed.
Sir Peter said:”We’ve been working closely with schools, the voluntary sector and other partners who can help us identify vulnerable households which need help.”
Applications must be completed for further assessment for the COVID Winter Grant, and to be eligible you must have:
- been furloughed and your income has been reduced
- been made redundant
- had working hours cut
- had to self-isolate and had a test and trace support payment declined.
To find out more information about the COVID Winter Grant scheme visit :https://news.leicester.gov.uk/news-articles/2021/march/extra-1million-added-to-covid-winter-grant-to-help-struggling-families and to find out if you’re eligible visit: https://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council/coronavirus/coronavirus-support-for-residents/covid-winter-grant/
