Cost of Living Help Information Days Planned for Carbrain, Kildrum and Abronhill This April

An open invitation is being extended to three special Cost of Living Help Information Days for citizens, families and organisations in Abronhill, Carbrain, Kildrum and surrounding areas this April across Cumbernauld.

The drop-in events are being organised by Kildrum Community Council, North Lanarkshire Council’s Community Partnership Team, Cumbernauld Community Board’s Food and Financial Insecurity Priority Sub-Group and Cornerstone House Centre with a view to helping people maximise income, support healthy choices, reduce inequalities, improve quality of life and develop confidence and skills.   

Carbrain Cost of Living Help Community Information Day will take place on Tuesday 9 April 2024 from 10.00am-2.00pm at Cornerstone House (1 Esk Walk, Cumbernauld, G67 1BZ), with Kildrum Cost of Living Help Community Information Day scheduled for Wednesday 10 April 2024 from 10.00am-2.00pm at The Salvation Army Building (Clouden Road, Cumbernauld, G67 2EP).

In a similar vein, Abronhill Cost of Living Community Information Day will take place on Tuesday 16 April 2024 from 12noon-4.00pm at Abronhill Community Centre (2 Larch Road, Cumbernauld, G67 3AZ). The planned events follow on from a similar trio of sessions hosted by partners in October 2023 as part of Challenge Poverty Week.

Each Information Day will incorporate a special market place at which a number of stall holders will be present and able to provide confidential and impartial support and advice in challenging the stigma of poverty. Agencies present will include North Lanarkshire Council, NHS Lanarkshire, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Citizens Advice Bureau and Cornerstone House Centre, amongst others.

All are welcome to drop-in to any of the free Information Days, with no prior booking required and tea, coffee and refreshments being provided at each venue. Local organisations providing services can also request an information stall at any of the events.

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THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS: WHY THE INFORMATION DAYS MATTER AND CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

These events are particularly significant given the fact that the cost of living crisis has resulted in a major increase in the number of people from Cumbernauld, Kilsyth, Northern Corridor and surrounding villages struggling to keep their home warm at a reasonable cost and purchase essential food items on a daily basis.

The recently published Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire Tackling Poverty Strategy 2023-26 outlines that while trends show stability in a number of key indicators relating to economic growth, investment, employment and educational attainment, there are still unacceptably high levels of deprivation and child poverty and clear areas of inequity and inequality remaining across the local area.

This means that not all of Cumbernauld’s people share equally and there is an element of social exclusion across some of our communities. As such, Cornerstone House Centre is an advocate of redesigning our economy to make sure people have incomes that are adequate enough to live a life with freedom and dignity.

Cumbernauld statistics in relation to the key deprivation indicators of income, employment, health, education, housing, access and crime compare less favourably than the Scottish average, and in some areas considerably less favourably. Indeed, The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2020 places the Cumbernauld data zone average deprivation rank amongst the worst third in Scotland.

Approximately 15% of the Cumbernauld population is classified as income deprived, with the average annual earnings of a local resident being 3% lower than the Scottish average. Notably, 61% of those experiencing income deprivation locally do not live in the 15% most deprived neighbourhoods.

Moreover, it is believed that more than one third of households in Cumbernauld are living in fuel poverty, including 35% of households in the social rented sector. Food poverty is another area which has risen markedly over the last decade in Cumbernauld.  

In Scotland, almost one in four children are currently growing up in poverty, with the numbers predicted to continue to rise in the years ahead.

Poverty has a distressing and life-changing effect on people’s lives and the most vulnerable in our society are often those who are worst affected. We need to act and help those who need it most by ensuring decision and policy makers at every level do so much more to help improve living standards.

Notably, poverty can leave a lasting and devastating impact on the health and wellbeing of children and young people, including significant adverse effects on the educational attainment and life chances of those that experience it.

Enquiries relating to the upcoming Information Day can be directed to Annette Warren of North Lanarkshire Council’s Community Partnership Team by emailing WarrenA@northlan.gov.uk.

For further information on the services which Cornerstone House Centre provide for people experiencing relative poverty, please contact 01236 739220 or email health@cornerstone-house.org.uk.