Thousands of Glasgow children will get a £400 winter payment to help with the cost of living crisis.
A health meeting today approved the money for 6,500 vulnerable families and kids including those in care and those on the child protection register. Bosses hope the cash, adding up to £2.6 million in total, will reach them by Christmas.
Foster carer fees will also increase by £15 per week from January.
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The winter payment for children is a repeat of cash sent out last year.
Although welcoming the payments, Councillor Lana Reid-McConnell, Greens, asked if there was potential for the amount of cash to be increased further to reflect inflation at today’s Glasgow Joint Integration Joint board meeting.
Susanne Millar, chief officer of Glasgow's Health and Social Care Partnership said the money for children “was very well received last year” and “the amount of money is “what we can afford to recommend.”
Chief officer, finance and resources, Sharon Wearing, said: “Both proposals will cost £2.7 million and we are showing a projecting underspend of £2.4 (million) which means we will look to use some of our general reserves of £200,000 to fund this. We are at the limit of what we can do in this area.”
Councillor Chris Cunningham, chair of Glasgow City Integration Joint Board, said: “The current cost of living crisis continues to have a detrimental impact on the city and especially the children and families who are supported by our services.
“We have a responsibility to do what we can with the resources we have to help alleviate the impacts of the cost of living crisis on those we know are extremely vulnerable.”
Explaining more about the foster carer rise, a paper presented to the meeting said: “Foster carer fees have not been increased for a number of years and it is proposed to increase all fees by £15 per week.”
The £400 winter payment will be made to the following groups according to a council statement “children on the child protection register and other vulnerable children, looked after children and people in continuing care or aftercare.”
The Glasgow Integration Joint Board approved the funding today.
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