The Department for Communities contacted Council’s across the North to advise that a Hardship Fund was available to provide non-recurrent financial support to the most vulnerable.
Derry and Strabane Council received an allocation of £316,724 based on the Department’s population template.
Council officers have held meetings with with local food banks, social supermarkets, advice service providers, charities and others to identify priorities for the hardship scheme.
People Before Profit Foyleside Councillor Shaun Harkin said: “The DfC Hardship Fund is a step forward – but given the scale of hardship across all communities in our District the level of funding isn’t good enough.
“Instead of patting the DfC on the back, People Before Profit proposed that the Council call on the DfC to double the amount of funding – and this was supported by all parties at the July full Council meeting.
“The amount presently being provided by the DfC is basically the same as the amount the Council put into a Hardship Fund last year.
“The Council Hardship Fund helped those who received it but we know it was inadequate.
“Stormont has much deeper pockets than Derry and Strabane Council and should be able to provide a lot more.
“Secondly, the DfC allocated the funding based on population. They have given no consideration to levels of deprivation or regional inequality.
“And, this is the same department that has slashed funding for the Rates Support Grant. This cut will pile pressure on the Council in the coming year.
“From the onset of the cost of living crisis government has been criminally slow to respond.
“While corporations racked up record profits, households struggle to pay bills, keep their homes warm and feed their children.
“With criminal inaction the only thing on offer from Westminster and Stormont, People Before Profit proposed our Council do something instead of nothing.
“The proposal for a Council hardship fund succeeded but had to overcome the opposition of mainstream nationalist and unionist parties.
“The cost of living crisis has deepened inequality. And it is far from over. Mortgage hikes, pay disparity, inadequate benefit payments and a brutal Tory budget are putting massive pressure on households and organisations.
“Amid all this political dysfunction and hardship, banks, corporations and billionaires are seeing their bank accounts bloated beyond belief.
“Capitalism is fundamentally corrupt,” added Cllr Harkin.
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