What the Mayor is doing on the cost of living
The cost of living crisis has had an impact on the price of energy, food and bills. This is continuing to put considerable pressure on Londoners
The Mayor is working to help Londoners struggling with the cost of living in a number of ways.
Universal Free School Meals for primary school children
In 2023, the Mayor introduced Universal Free School Meals for all state primary school children in London for the 2023-24 academic year.
The Mayor has announced he will extend universal free school meals for primary school children to include the 2024-25 academic year, and for the rest of the Mayoral term.
This means that all primary school children in London will continue to enjoy a free school lunch. It could provide families with a potential saving of up to £1000 per pupil over the two years.
The Mayor committed in his 2024 manifesto to work with London’s boroughs and other partners to make the provision of universal free school meals permanent.
The Mayor has also provided further funding for his Free Holiday Meals programme, partnering with the Felix project to provide nutritious meals and food supplies to those who need it most over the school holidays and at weekends.
The Free Holiday Meals programme has provided 12.3m holiday and weekend meals to low-income families in Year 1, and is expected to deliver more than 10m holiday and weekend meals in Year 2.
Advice and support
The Mayor is investing over £4m in the provision of financial and welfare advice, helping to support Londoners who are struggling financially, helping Londoners to increase their incomes, reduce costs, and avoid debt.
The Mayor is also providing funding to boroughs to help raise awareness of underclaimed benefits, such as Pension Credit.
This includes:
- Citizen's Advice and London Legal Support Trust advice programme
- Advice in Community Settings grant programme
- Benefit uptake campaigns.
From April 2022 to April 2024, the Mayor’s advice and support funding generated over £25m in extra income for Londoners who are struggling financially.
London Living Wage
The Mayor continues to encourage employers to pay their staff the London Living Wage through the Good Work Standard, and has joined with other partners calling for London to become a Living Wage City.
Since 2016 the number of Living Wage accredited employers has more than quadrupled to 2,500.
Affordable housing
Building more affordable housing is the Mayor’s top housing priority and will help low-income Londoners move into housing they can afford.
Since 2016 the GLA has started over 72,000 affordable homes since 2016 – including 17,256 in 2019-20, more than in any year since City Hall records began in 2002. Across London we are on track to deliver 10,000 council homes by the end of March 2023.
TfL fares frozen
The Mayor is committed to ensuring that London’s public transport system is as affordable as possible. That is why he allocated £123m to freeze fares for 2024/25 to support Londoners struggling with the cost of living, facing higher food and energy costs.
This decision will put an estimated £123m back into the pockets of Londoners, with a saving of up to £90 per year for each traveller. It will also help to get more people onto public transport and boost London’s culture, retail and hospitality sectors.
In his 2024 manifesto, the Mayor committed to freezing TfL fares for as long as economic conditions allow.
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