The Cost of Living Crisis – as experienced by a BBC Children in Need funded project

Written by Sarah Randall from the Children and Families Service at Bolton Lads and Girls Club

The cost of living crisis is devastating for some of the families we’re supporting through our Family Support project. Many are struggling to pay for everyday basic items, food and bills. If something in the home breaks, like a bed, or if their child grows out of clothing, they can’t afford to replace them. Activities for children are now unaffordable for lots of families so children are missing out on having fun and new experiences. Families that have babies are struggling because the cost of equipment and furniture is so expensive and they grow so quickly and need new items. Some families can’t afford to pay their bills or they are in a lot of debt and can’t see a way out. All of these things are adding immense pressure to people’s lives and adding to their stress and anxiety. People’s wellbeing and mental health is at stake.

In order to help, we’re sign posting those that we can  to the BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials programme which has been great because we’ve been able to help families  source furniture, beds, bedding, curtains etc for families at crisis point who are in urgent need of support.

Given how incredibly difficult families are finding things at the moment, we’re lucky that in addition to our funding from BBC Children in Need, we’ve been given a grant from our local CVS to help families pay for food and household essentials, and we have a good network of local organisations that we can signpost families to, to get them the extra help they need. We’ve been signposting families who are struggling financially, to the DWP and debt relief agencies or charities so they can check what they are entitled to and make sure they are claiming the correct benefits.

Locally, we’ve signposted families with newborns to a great local charity in Bolton called Baby Basics, where they give starter packs to families and source equipment and clothing for babies. There’s a local charity that provides free and low cost furniture which is helpful. We liaise with schools as well to see what’s available, for things like Breakfast Clubs and second hand uniform etc.

In addition, we have been signposting people to various national charities for mental health support, such as the Samaritans and MIND. And we signpost to the government’s website:

https://helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/

Fundamentally, we are a large youth club that provides wrapround support to those that need us, and we provide a massive range of activities for children in Bolton, where they can come and get a hot meal, join our free gym, hang out with their mates somewhere warm and safe, and it’s all free. We don’t charge anything for children to come in and they have access to all our facilities for free. We also have our own foodbank for the families we support.