£33,000 added to budget for Dunfermline families in poverty

The cash, which was approved by the City of Dunfermline area committee on Tuesday, will support the recruitment of a temporary welfare support assistant whose role will focus on tackling poverty and preventing crisis situations.

An allocation of £6080 has also been made from the Winter Crisis fund to part fund the role, and the new cash will be added to the extension of the post.

The post holder will work together with the Dunfermline Poverty Action Group to maximise people’s incomes from benefits, prevent homelessness and ensure early joined-up support to stop people getting into financial difficulties.

Committee convener Councillor Helen Law welcomed the funding allocation, which will come from the anti-poverty part of the budget.

“This will be a very welcome addition to the team because the team have been really, really under pressure in recent years,” she explained.

“We’ve already put extra resources into the team but having an extra officer, even temporary, will help greatly.”

In addition to the money for the temporary role, funding has also recently been secured to develop and expand food resilience project, obtain portable IT equipment for people in need, and for training and supporting volunteers.

A Tackling Poverty and Preventing Crisis action plan is also due to be established as part of the Dunfermline Community Learning and Development Plan and the Dunfermline Local Community Plan for 2022-2023.