The ways Yorkshire families will feel cost of living crisis

It’s time to ask ourselves who we are and what we need to do over the next year and beyond to make sure this crisis doesn’t become a disaster.

Our charity, the St Giles Trust, works with people across Yorkshire facing disadvantages such as homelessness, long-term unemployment, an offending background, addiction, severe poverty and involvement in gangs.

We show people there is a way to build a better future – for themselves and those they care about – and help them create this through support, advice and training.

When we talk about the cost-of-living crisis what this means for many people is that they are experiencing a very real fall in their disposable income because inflation is outstripping wage and benefit increases.

This situation has been worsened by particularly high increases in the cost of our fuel and energy costs. Add to this the recent tax increases and cuts to benefit (as a result of post-Covid readjustments) and what we have right now are people having to make tough choices between paying bills, putting food on the table or keeping their homes heated.

For many of our clients, achieving positive, independent living is becoming more challenging and unaffordable, whether they are on benefits or in work.

So what are we doing to tackle the crisis? Our existing services are already in place as a powerful tool to tackle the issues.

Our Pantry in Bramley, Leeds, offers high quality, nutritious and healthy food to those struggling to feed themselves and their families who are being disproportionately affected by the crisis.

We couple healthy food with a healthy shopping experience. Expert advice and personal face-to-face support is on hand from our trained Peer Advisors.

People using the Pantry pay a weekly subscription of £3.50 and in return are able to access an abundance of affordable, nutritious food and added support to help them move towards independence. By coupling healthy food with expert advice, we can empower individuals and families to overcome the barriers they face.

We’re also particularly proud of our employment services across Yorkshire, where we focus on lived experience.

In Leeds we work hard to train people from their local communities who have experienced and overcome disadvantage to become qualified Peer Advisors who help others also make the same journey of positive change.

Our Peer Advisor model is the industry standard.

Crucially this means we can offer supported work experience in real ‘front line’ roles, developing employment confidence as part of the pathway to paid work.

Our approach means that we can actively include people who often face barriers accessing volunteering and employment opportunities.

Their first- hand experience of overcoming disadvantage means they are uniquely placed to really empathise and understand people who are often in incredibly vulnerable situations.