DCC have announced a new £5 million pot of funding to help residents who are struggling to afford to pay for their gas, electricity or water usage, or buy food or other essential items.

The government has set conditions on how the money can be used, but we're prioritising £200,000 specifically to support Devon residents who have prepayment, or 'pay-as-you-go' meters to pay rising energy bills.

Funding will also be targeted towards families with children, and people of pensionable age who are struggling financially.

Working with Citizens Advice Devon, we intend to provide further support to prepayment meter customers, who are struggling to pay for their new higher energy costs.

"We are extremely worried that the cost of living crisis means that more and more people are struggling to make ends meet," said Janie Moor, Chief Officer for Citizens Advice South Hams.

The additional funding also means that we will be able to provide free school meal holiday vouchers for the seven week May half-term and summer holidays to ensure that children and young people who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals don't go hungry during the holidays.

And we are working with our district council colleagues to identify people of pensionable age, that we know from local data are struggling financially, to offer some additional one-off assistance.

Further details on the above funded initiatives will be made available, as their development is finalised.

You can read the full story on the news page of our website.

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