31/03/2026
Such a privilege to be asked to Chair the Bank of England, in Gloucestershire, with Andrew Bailey Exec Director of the bank and Malindi Myers regional expert, who wanted to here directly from our community the impact of the rising cost of living, inflation and workforce challenges.
A cross section of community and sectors gathered to discuss two main important issues as well as an informative Q&A session.
1) how are the changes in prices of goods effecting you and your family
2) what are the experiences of the local labour market.
This all gets fed back into national policy making…. And keeps the BoE connected to what’s happening on the ground, enabling decision makers to lead with empathy and understanding within their remit.
💯 The challenge for Gloucestershire is the perception nationally, even locally is that we live in a wealthy county, however the reality is Gloucestershire is a place of inequality and real poverty, where across the county upto a third of children live in POVERTY. The CoLC continues to drive the divide wider, those that have and those who don’t.
As limited national data such as IoD that governments use to commission, do not accurately identify poverty and areas of need, therefore its organisations such as my organisation and the Community Foundation network that need to continuly advocate and influence the support our communities need at a local and national level.
Gloucestershire food banks are reporting two parent working families are coming in for the first time, not able to make ends meet. We calculated a family needs to earn £45k in order to make ends meet. So any rise in costs and this instantly pushes more working families into poverty, not being able to afford the basics, of food and energy bills.
THINK GLOBALLY ACT LOCALLY… Therefore community and relationships needs to be our strength, with all sectors working better together.
Thanks to everyone who attended your feedback is so important in representing our Gloucestershire voice nationally.
