Labour in Leeds

People’s Champion Councillor Andrea McKenna has once again issued a heartfelt plea to Leeds City Council to do all it can to find funding for the charity Relate after hearing that 250 families were unable to afford to use the service last year. Councillor McKenna, who is a trustee of Relate, met representatives from the charity who brought a deputation to today’s Council Meeting asking for financial help. Leeds City Council funded Relate for the past 50 years but last year the Conservative-led coalition took the decision to withdraw that funding. 

This decision has led to Relate having to withdraw concessionary rates for those on low incomes.  As a result Relate has seen a drop in the numbers of people accessing their services from the less affluent areas of the city. 

Councillor Andrea McKenna (Labour, People’s Champion) said: “We have heard the figures from Relate and seen how the lack of funding has affected the organisation and the numbers of people who are able to access the service. We owe it to all of the families in the city who are facing a break-up, no matter what their financial circumstances, to help them in any way we can.  The administration claim to care about all the people in Leeds and finding the money to continue to support Relate would be the ideal way of showing it.”

 Kathryn Ashworth, Relate Centre Manager added: “The biggest difference we have noticed since the funding stopped is the drop in the number of appointments from people in the less affluent areas of the city. We lost 250 clients the year the funding stopped, the biggest drops were in Crossgates and Whinmoor and Killingbeck and Seacroft.  Interestingly, the areas we did not see a drop in were Alwoodley, Wetherby and Weetwood, which are all more affluent.”

Photo above shows Councillor McKenna with the deputation from Relate