AS THE nation enters its third lockdown, Oxford City Council is providing several services to support the public.

First of all, Winter Support Grants are available by referral for families and households in hardship.

The grant can help with food, utility bills and other basic essentials.

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To get a referral, residents should contact their local advice centre, Citizens Advice or Agnes Smith Advice Centre.

The council is also contacting those who are clinically 'extremely vulnerable' and following new shielding guidelines to let them know what support is available.

Local support includes help with shopping and collecting prescriptions, support in accessing food if needed, and a 'phone links' service to help combat loneliness.

The council will continue to provide Covid-safe shelter for people at risk of rough sleeping.

This support includes self-contained interim housing for people who used to live in shared hostels or who have become homeless since the original lockdown in March.

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Due to the freezing weather, St Mungo’s homelessness charity is providing an outreach programme to offer emergency accommodation to those who previously refused support.

Parks and playgrounds will remain open for people to exercise and enjoy time in green spaces, to help with physical and mental health.

The council’s Covid-secure team will continue working with the police in the daytime and, in the evenings, will continue checking public spaces and parks to deter any kind of group gatherings.

Free parking for NHS staff in the city council’s car parks will continue.

The council's Labour leader, Susan Brown, said: “I know 2020 was a really tough year, and it has tested our resolve in so many different ways.

“But with numbers rising so fast, once again we need to come together as a city, to bring the rates of transmissions back under control.”

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