Cost of Living Crisis Winter Appeal (Derbyshire)

Aim

Cost of Living Crisis Winter Appeal (Derbyshire). Please help our frontline services be there for people struggling to make ends meet.

Please help families struggling to survive the cost-of-living crisis*

Demand for our foodbank, debt and benefit & housing support has increased by over 30% - please support us to help others take control of their wellbeing by giving them the tools to be more financially independent and ready for anything.  We'll do this through financial life skills training, address debt, fuel and food poverty and help to maximise income.

Due to the cost of living crisis we’re sadly hearing the above statement virtually every day – many of the people that we support are:

• Working parents, often working 50+ hours per week and they’re still unable to make ends meet.
• Pensioners who can’t afford to put their heating on who are unable to use the internet so can’t take advantage of competitive deals.
• Victims of loan sharks – some have borrowed money to pay for fuel and food. 
• Homeless or rough sleeping and once we find them accommodation, they would benefit from lifeskills coaching so that they can manage their finances and homes better.
• Single parents – who want to work but can’t afford expensive childcare.  Many employers want workers who can commit more than two or three days a week - what do they then do during school holidays?

Can you help them to survive and thrive beyond the cost of living crisis?  With your donation we can help people maximise their income, manage any debt, teach every individual basic financial life skills so that they can manage their money better and become more resilient to future financial life shocks.  

Who are Freedom Community Project?

At the core of our belief is that within every community, no matter the level of disadvantage, there is the solution to the problems people face. Freedom Community Project’s work began in 2008 in Bolsover, Derbyshire responding to the sense of hopelessness in the area. People were encouraged to identify what was needed to change their lives and challenged to help design and deliver the solutions. This person-centred participatory approach is the way Freedom still operates. The charity was registered in 2012 and ten years on we have 7 face to face and 5 online centres in small pockets of high deprivation (some ranking in the top 10% most deprived nationally, according to the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2019).  Our face to face centres are located across North East Derbyshire and our online clinics are nationwide, each new centre opening as a result of local demand. They are the hubs of the charity where the people who use our services come to alleviate their social isolation at the free drop-in café, to seek help and to commence their journey to recovery.

We offer practical and emotional support with complex social issues including addictions and dependencies, debt and financial crisis, benefits claims, food poverty, gaps in essential life skills, poor mental health, abuse and domestic violence, underemployment and unemployment, insecure housing and homelessness.  

 The Cost of Living Crisis is disproportionally high across our deprived communities where the impact of increased hardship is more likely.  Around 14.5 million people are living in poverty in the UK, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s UK Poverty Profile 2022[1]. That’s more than one in every five people. Of these, 8.1 million are working-age adults, 4.3 million are children and 2.1 million are pensioners.  Analysis by the Resolution Foundation predicts that 1.3 million[2] more people will be plunged into absolute poverty by 2023, including 500,000 children. The Legatum Institute has recently gone further, estimating that even if the energy price cap was held at its summer rate of £1,971, another 1.3 million people would slide below the poverty line this winter.

Freedom is well-placed to provide the help that people need as they navigate their circumstances. We are well-known, have a good reputation and a proven track record for the holistic package of support that is available to everyone who needs it. This range of services available from a single organisation is unique in the area. To ensure recognition of and referral to Freedom’s services we work with many local and regional agencies including social care services, children’s centres, multi-agency teams, town, district and county councils, health centres, schools and colleges, and CAB. These relationships also ensure that they are kept aware of the needs and situations of the people we serve. An example is our partnership with Bolsover District Council supporting homeless people in private rental accommodation, where the Council provides the bond and Freedom provides a year’s support. We have a 98% success rate of keeping people housed.

Within our team of 180 volunteers are 15 client support workers and a BCAP counsellor. They are augmented by five frontline members of staff: an FCA registered debt advisor and 4 regional client support workers. During the first lockdown Freedom quickly transferred to a 7-day a week digital service providing client support by telephone and video call. We delivered food parcels to people’s homes and provided a shopping service for groceries and prescriptions for those who were shielding. We continue to provide client support by telephone and digitally, and have reopened centres where social distancing can be assured, providing food banks and face-to-face support. 

THE NEED FOR OUR WORK

Last year we succeeded in:

•            Resolving 2,168 separate cases

•            Reclaiming £1,081,600 in benefits for 562 people who were entitled to them

•            Supporting 52 people struggling with accumulated debts of £549,334

•            Helping 155 people in housing crisis  

•            Running essential life skills activities

•            Supporting 61 homeless individuals over winter across Derbyshire county in partnership with central government, county and district councils and community & voluntary sector organisations.

Our ethos is to be responsive to need and to facilitate local people to support others in their communities; we believe that every community has within it the capacity to transform its environment. We recruit local volunteers, including service users, who are familiar with the area, the people and the issues. They are trained to welcome everybody, put them at ease and to chat over a cup of tea. It is through these regular informal conversations that we consult with the people who use our services; our volunteers are the conduit through which they express need. The activities and services we run have been shaped to resolve them, providing practical help to support service users and empower them to make positive life choices and develop resilience so they can move forward and improve their future. These are delivered by our volunteer team who continue the conversations with our clients to ensure their feedback is incorporated into the operation of our work.

CASE STUDY: Mark’s Story “my mum and dad had passed on, I felt so alone and I was struggling hugely with my mental health and I was unable to work.  My savings were quickly running out. I stopped paying for prescriptions (for heart disease and high blood pressure) so I could buy food. I finally reached crisis point one day in March 2022, I received 3 bills, Council Tax, British Gas, British Telecom, I couldn’t afford to pay any, and I couldn’t afford to buy food. My bank balance was 0.03p.”  Staff at Freedom were amazing they helped me apply for Universal Credit, Council Tax Support, contacted creditors requesting a period of grace, made referrals to external agencies (Re-enablement Team & Adult Social Care, provided food parcels, made referrals to exceptional pressure & discretionary funding, I had 2 out of 3 debts written off, a PIP award made.  Freedom’s Support Worker said ‘the impact of support so far has been great to see.  A gentleman who was teary, felt useless and abandoned is now reconnected with his community, is no longer displaying outward signs of distress, re-engaged in essential health care, shopping for himself, telling jokes and feeling more confident. ‘

IMPACT: ‘YOU have made me cry and smile today.  I don't know how to thank you for your help with this letter. I cried because it really feels great that someone finally gets how I feel. I smile because it made me feel great to be understood.’

*Excludes Derby City.

Photo by NATHAN MULLET on Unsplash

[1] UK Poverty Statistics | JRF

[2] Inflation-nation.pdf (resolutionfoundation.org)

This project successfully funded on 25th January 2023