Helping the Poor

I have had some feedback about local assistance for people in immediate need, that I blogged on a few days ago.  These have included suggesting people join credit unions, funding to help with the bedroom tax, dealing with energy debt and so on.  These are all sound propositions, but the problem is not that the Council does not have a scheme in place; it is that the government is cutting the funding for this entirely.  Following the low take up so far this year, the Council could do a publicity campaign to help people know about what help is available.   A lot of this kind of work has been done in the past, with some success.  The problem is that if the money is cut by central government, there will no longer be assistance available unless the Council can find an alternative funding source.