The ‘cost-of-living crisis’ refers to the fall in disposable incomes which is the amount of money that individuals and families have available for spending or saving after they have paid their direct taxes and received any state welfare benefits. This crisis is having an impact on people and communities across West Yorkshire.
We know that financial hardship affects people’s mental and physical wellbeing so we’ve been working closely with our partners to get those most affected by this crisis, the support they urgently need.
What we did
At its September 2022 meeting, our Partnership Board considered a paper setting out the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on people, communities and staff across West Yorkshire. We agreed, as the West Yorkshire Integrated Care System (ICS) and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), a set of collective actions to support people during this challenging time. These actions are in place now and include:
Supporting the health and wellbeing of people who work and volunteer across West Yorkshire, including voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) staff, volunteers and unpaid carers (all health and care staff and volunteers can access help and support from our mental health and wellbeing hub)- Helping the VCSE sector to provide ongoing support to those people and communities most impacted by poverty and the increased cost of living whilst reducing the risk of losing services
- Supporting the mental health and increased risk of suicide of people because of the crisis (you can view helpful resources on our suicide prevention website)
- Ensuring that services are taking a proactive approach to identifying and providing support to those who are most at risk.
The collective actions are being publicised via social media through a series of infographics. In addition, information about the support people can access has been made available on the Partnership’s website, and on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority website.
Text from the above infographic
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, the Mayor of West Yorkshire and West Yorkshire Combined Authority set out their commitment to support people through the cost-of-living crisis. This is as follows: The cost-of-living crisis facing our country and area is more than an economic issue. It will have far reaching implications for health and care services across West Yorkshire and will directly impact people, communities, including the staff we employ. We know that financial hardship directly impacts on the mental and physical wellbeing of people. As more people are pushed into poverty this will increase the number of those who need our support. We also know that a significant proportion of staff in our organisations, as well as carers and volunteers will / are experiencing the impact of the crisis. We have shared collective actions we are implementing immediately to support people during this challenging time. This will build on work taking place locally; Reducing costs to households and providing support to staff in financial hardship; Supporting voluntary and community sector organisations to help people and communities; Ensuring mental health and suicide prevention services are providing the appropriate support; Working together to proactively respond to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
What happens next?
We propose that going forward, the oversight of joint work is managed through the Improving Population Health Function of the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). This would be supported by a steering group comprising of the ICB, WYCA, local authorities (councils) and our VCSE partners.
The Mayor’s Cost of Living Emergency Fund is a £3 million package to support those frontline services to continue to support people with their basic needs such as food, heating, mental health support and emergency advice. It will be delivered through established networks of VCSE organisations. More information on this scheme will be available soon.
Further information
You can read the action plan and find out more at this link.