At the Full Council meeting today, the Surrey County Council Conservative Group reaffirmed just a few of the measures we are taking to help our residents with the cost of living pressures:

• Dedicated more money for Surrey Crisis Fund - with grants for people at points of real crisis – helping them pay for things many of us rely on, fridges to keep food fresh, energy bills to keep their children warm, urgent repairs or goods

• Providing grants of up to £10,000 each to help households improve home energy efficiency
• Increased our match funding grants to the Community Foundation for Surrey who do brilliant work supporting charities on the frontline providing positive solutions to the many challenges within our communities
• Always taken the issue of poverty seriously, as reflected in the Council’s Poverty strategy. The Council already has mitigations in place to help support families in financial need.  Examples of support such as support through Family Centres, Funded Early Education, Binti period poverty campaign, and direct funding for community-based poverty projects and needs through the Surrey Crisis Fund, Covid Local Grant Scheme, Household Support Fund, Changing Futures Fund, and the Contain Outbreak Management Fund.
• Launched our new online Health & Welfare Hub providing residents with financial, health and general welfare information
• Offered food vouchers to families whose children are entitled to benefits-related Free School Meals during every school holiday throughout the pandemic
• Awarded over £1m of the £100m Your Fund Surrey fund to communities across Surrey since its launch in November 2020, to help whole communities
• Agreed a successful pay offer agreed between unions and council officers - our offer rightly gives staff at the lowest pay grade a 7.85% increase and will exceed the UK Living Wage Foundations National Living Wage