‘I am a single mum and every month I struggle with my bills’: Council boosts warm spaces with £43K investment

A council has boosted its network of warm spaces with a £43,000 investment as residents struggle with energy prices and the cost of heating their homes.

Southwark council has brought back its Warm Spaces initiative for a second year, running to support venues across the borough. All council libraries and children’s centres, as well as a range of voluntary and community sector sites, are now operating warm spaces.

One warm space in Bermondsey Street, Bermondsey – operated by grassroots organisation South London Mission – provides food and essentials to people in need with pantry hampers. The group also supports vulnerable mothers through it’s Mummies Republic community group.

Blanca, 47, who asked not to give her full name, lives near Peckham. She was first introduced to the Mummies Republic support group in 2016, when she was pregnant with her daughter. 

She said: “I am a single mum and every month I struggle with my bills, especially as everything in my house is electric. 

“Things are even harder now that I have lost my job where I was working very long hours. 

“I don’t know where my daughter and I would be without the South London Mission. 

“Winnie [who works at the South London Mission] is so kind and makes sure we get fresh, good food. I am always very happy with the food they give me.”

As part of its support, the South London Mission provides weekly Building Resilience In Today’s Environment (BRITE) meal kits to schools.

Winnie Baffoe, director of engagement and influence at the South London Mission, said: “The giving of food is not worthy of accolade, but evidence of a broken social system. 

“Poverty takes away choice. The choice of where you can live, whether to heat your home, what food to cook and even how to cook it. Poverty eats away at childhood. 

“By offering a warm space, we are able to connect and support people through the network of new friends, charity partners and the statutory and private sectors.”

Energy bills began to rise sharply across the country in 2021, before the fallout from the start of the conflict in Ukraine the following year pushed up wholesale gas prices further.

Last year as part of the council’s Here to Help cost of living campaign, the scheme supported more than 1,000 people across more than 40 spaces where they could go to keep warm, have a hot meal or drink, and meet others.

Energy bills are now expected to fall by the equivalent of more than £300 a year this spring after a drop in wholesale gas prices, according to industry consultant Cornwall Insight.

Find a warm space on Southwark council’s website at www.southwark.gov.uk/warm-spaces

Pictured top: Winnie Baffoe with Southwark residents at the South London Mission’s Bermondsey warm space (Picture: Southwark council)