Council leader's column: Reassurance to residents about the ongoing help and support as national cost-of-living crisis continues to bite

Neil Emmott is the leader of Rochdale Council and a councillor for West Middleton.

This month he dedicates his column to reassuring residents about ongoing help and support in the face of the national cost-of-living crisis, including the Helping Hand campaign, warm spaces and food vouchers, and looking to ease next year's council tax bills.

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As the national cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, I want to provide some reassurance to residents about the ongoing help and support we will have in place.

Our Helping Hand campaign has already ensured thousands of people have been provided with help to pay their energy bills, food vouchers, warm spaces, council tax discounts, shopping vouchers and much more. This autumn and winter we will continue to have that vital support in place, particularly for older people, vulnerable residents and young families.

I know from speaking with people in my West Middleton ward and communities across the borough how much they value and appreciate our Helping Hand support.

I am pleased to confirm we will continue to provide food vouchers during the school holidays for the rest of this year and the 2024 spring half-term and easter holidays. This will benefit around 13,000 young families, helping to offset the cost of their living during school breaks.

In addition, we will once again be providing warm spaces at scores of venues in the borough, such as libraries, leisure centres and community buildings.

This popular initiative welcomed hundreds of people through the doors last year, providing them with a warm friendly space, free brews and biscuits, hot showers and the opportunity to socialise, helping reduce social isolation and boost people’s wellbeing.

I visited a number of our warm space venues, including Alkrington Library and Middleton Library and I was really pleased to see people taking up the offer of a warm space and our staff providing them a friendly welcome.

Our popular digitech library, which provides free data and the loan of digital devices will also continue. This service ensures hundreds of digitally excluded residents have free access to laptops, internet data and support to get online. This pioneering initiative is a partnership between the council, voluntary sector and grassroots organisations to help tackle digital exclusion and poverty.

Another vital helping hand for our residents, the scheme offers a three-month loan service of reconditioned laptops and tablets to help residents and community groups in the borough with digital training. Over 10,000 devices have now been donated or loaned to local schools and residents through the initiative, which began in 2020 to provide digital support for people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Another Rochdale success story to be proud of.

These are just a few of the many initiatives from our wide-ranging menu of support to help residents with their cost of living. Information on all our Helping Hand support, including how you can apply for the various initiatives, can be found at rochdale.gov.uk/costofliving

I can also confirm that I am, once again, looking at plans to ease the council tax burden on our residents in next year’s budget. Last year, I pioneered a discount on your bills and I am exploring ideas to protect residents locally from national tax increases. There will be further announcements on our plans to protect households over the coming weeks and months.

I have said from day one of becoming leader that I will provide high-quality value for money services for our residents. I am delivering on that promise and I will go into next year’s budget-setting process with that vision as my number one priority.

I was proud to mark Ukrainian Independence Day on 24 August, where I stressed our continued support with the people of Ukraine at this difficult time.

In March 2022, I promised, as leader of the council, that we would stand shoulder to shoulder with our Ukrainian friends: we have and we always will. The Russian invasion simply cannot, and will not, succeed and we must remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine. It was 32 years ago that Ukraine’s independence was re-established.

On the important day for the people of Ukraine, I reflected on that historic moment back in 1991 as we stand in solidarity with our Ukrainian friends, as they continue their fight to maintain their independence, liberty and freedom.

World Suicide Prevention Day was on Sunday 10 September and we marked the day by encouraging everyone to help raise awareness and consider the impact of suicide in our communities. It is a sobering thought that one in five people have thought about suicide at some stage. A simple ‘how are you’? really can go a long way, so please continue to look out for each other and help to shine a light on this important issue.

There is a range of support and advice and information in place locally and at a Greater Manchester level, and we will be signposting people to these useful resources on the day.

Finally, the latest Covid vaccine booster and winter flu vaccine will be available shortly. From 18 September, the NHS will start to invite people in priority order of risk and those eligible will be able to book an appointment on the National Booking Service. This includes residents in care homes for older adults, all adults aged 65 years and over, people aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group, frontline health and social care workers.

I would encourage you to take up the vaccine offer to protect yourself, your family and friends and the wider community. Further information can be found at www.rochdale.gov.uk/covid-19/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccines