Councils must act to combat destitution | Letters

‘The Grenfell Tower disaster exposed failings in the local authority’s response to a large-scale emergency,’ write seven Church of England bishops.Local welfare assistance schemes are a vital lifeline for people who find themselves in a crisis and without basic essentials, such as food, electricity, or a working oven.It is therefore very worrying that most of these schemes have been cut back considerably in recent years and that 26 local councils have now closed them altogether