Cost of Living Crisis

A blog by Eddie Baines - August 2022

In June, we witnessed councillors from all parties at the Council’s Policy and Resource Committee agreeing a motion put forward from Daniel Coleman (LibDem). This motion highlighted and declared Dundee to be a city in a cost-of-living crisis. People across the country would go further and say it borders an emergency for many people already living in deep poverty, however, at least our leaders are recognising the issues and willing to work to tackle what they can with the limited resources available. Since the pandemic, Dundee has delivered some great resources: the vaccination roll out, the weekly food allocation given to the Community Food Network, and twice delivered a Fuel Well scheme that aimed at delivering financial assistance for fuel to those in most need including those affected by the growing issue of “in work poverty”.

Dundee Fighting for Fairness (DFFF) has been working alongside key partners to help with a lot of the work listed above. DFFF members have used their valuable lived experience and personal networks to help shape the delivery of some of these schemes. We have worked with council leaders and staff to ensure language used is accessible to the public. As Councillor Lynne Short so empathetically put it at the June Committee meeting: “the heart of all decisions need to have Dignity, Fairness, and Respect”. All organisations, and all departments within, should enshrine these principles and values.

DFFF has welcomed the motion that was made in June and are delighted to see the cross-party commitment to tackling issues. We are proud to be in a city that has a great community food network that is run by local projects, a council that is committed to helping the 3rd sector support the communities in ways that work best for locals, and a money advice team delivering support to so many in fuel poverty.

Finally, we are immensely proud to live in a city leading the way in ensuring people with lived experience are co-designing and being part of major decisions with the city’s Fairness Leadership Panel. The Panel ensures that community members have a say and are heard. So many times, engagement feels tokenistic and is done wrong, whereas the Panel is committed to ensuring voices are heard and respected no matter who or where the person is from. Dundee seems to be delivering on the issues mentioned above and on so much more. We at Dundee Fighting for Fairness stand by the leaders and we will do our part to help communities engage so that even in crisis we’re a city striving for fairness.