Struggling Families to Get Discounts to Services
Price cuts include event entry, sports memberships and weddings
Over 2,000 free tickets to Tooting Lido were given out this summer
November 29, 2024
Low-income families in Wandsworth Borough are to get discounts on sports memberships, library fees, allotment rents and even weddings. The council is expanding its Access for All scheme to help struggling residents benefit from more opportunities.
It will offer more discounts on its services from January, in a bid to provide ‘Britain’s best concessionary scheme’. It is also rolling out preventative services to further support residents in difficulty.
The authority launched Access for All with free gym and swim sessions for low-income residents in 2023. This offer has been accessed 55,442 times to date, according to a new report by council officers. A total of 2,181 free tickets to Tooting Lido were also given out over the summer, along with 5,000 discounted tickets for the Battersea Park Fireworks.
The council’s Environment Committee agreed to expand Access for All with 50 per cent discounts on standard rates across its services on November 26. Fifty per cent discounts will be introduced for eligible residents on fees for parks and allotments, annual memberships for tennis and padel courts and course fees at Putney School of Art and Design.
Eligible residents will receive birth and death certificates for free, along with 50 per cent discounts on town hall ceremonies, including weddings, ceremony certificates and notice fees. They will also benefit from waived or reduced charges for late returns, photocopying, printing, computing qualifications, making reservations and hiring rooms at library and heritage venues.
The council will continue to offer free off-peak gym and swim memberships for eligible residents, which can be extended to peak times for a small charge. Students in years two to seven unable to swim 25 metres will be able to access free swimming lessons during school holidays from February, replacing the current scheme open to those in years five to seven.
The committee agreed to increase charges across its services for other residents by 2.2 per cent. Services exclusively provided to businesses in a commercial market environment will increase in line with cost and market expectations.
The report said the council is ‘committed to limiting fee increases to support continued and expanded access’ to services. But Conservative councillor Jonathan Cook claimed the plans would ‘clobber businesses’ at the meeting, as he raised concerns over whether they could cope with increased charges.
Labour councillor Rex Osborn said the administration’s top priority when revising charges was low-income residents. He said: “Priority number two is the bulk of our residents who come to pay charges and we are making sure that those residents are faced with charges which are less than inflation… and profit-making organisations come after those.
“Those are the three categories. We have no shame whatsoever in arguing for that ranking in order of priority as an administration.”
Labour councillor Judi Gasser, Cabinet Member for Environment, added: “We’re looking into how we can really make sure that all our residents can access everything that Wandsworth has got to offer.”
The committee agreed the revised charges, with six councillors voting in favour and four against, at the meeting. The executive is set to formally approve the charges on 9 December.
Charlotte Lillywhite - Local Democracy Reporter