If you need information or assistance:

• Please come and see us at the Barking Learning Centre (BLC), 2 Town Square, Barking, IG11 7ND, where we have opened an assistance point for families affected by the fire.
• Here you can get information and assistance with accessing other services.
• This is open Monday to Saturday, 10am - 5pm, and Sundays 10am - 4pm  
• If you need to call the BLC please contact 020 8724 8725 / 8722

If you need items or supplies:

• Donated items and supplies previously stored at London East have now been moved to Leys Children’s Centre, 215 Wellington Drive, Dagenham, RM10 9XW.
• If you need items, you can pop in Monday to Thursday, 10am to 5pm
• If you need to call Leys Children’s Centre please contact 020 8724 1983

If you need to access items in storage at London East:

• Access can be arranged with security at London East
• Assistance on this can be given at the BLC

If you need financial support  

Emergency assistance payments to help with things like clothing and toiletries have now been paid. We know this is a challenging time for you and understand you may need further financial support.

The Go Fund Me fundraising appeal we set up to give the local community a way of helping you during this difficult time has now raised over a staggering £55,000 and counting. While we are keeping the appeal open so that donations can still be made, but you would have now received an initial payment, with more to come once the appeal is closed.

At midnight on 28 July, the fund had raised £38,624 which has been distributed to the families most affected by the fire. 

80 per cent of that money raised (£30,899.20) went to people whose homes were totally destroyed by the fire. This means 17 families each received £1,817.60 (one payment per household). 

20 per cent of that money raised so far (£7,724.80) went to people who had to leave their homes for 24 hours or more, because of the fire. This means 15 families received £514.99 (one payment per household).

More money is being added to the appeal, for example from cash donations collected, so if you are one of the people who sadly lost their home, or you had to leave your home for 24 hours or more, you will receive a further payment when we close the fundraising appeal in the coming weeks.

If you have building and/or contents insurance, please contact your insurance provider as financial support should be covered by your policy.

If you don’t have insurance or you still need financial help, we’ve listed other support schemes available below. If you apply for one of these, you’ll automatically be considered for others you might be eligible for (this means you only have to apply once, and we’ll do the rest.). You can access the links below to claim or alternatively speak to your housing officer to arrange an appointment to help you make a claim.

Discretionary Housing Payment: You must receive either Housing Benefits or Universal Credit Housing Element to be considered for this. This fund can be used towards rent, rent deposits and rent in advance payments.

Household Support Fund: This can be put towards things like energy, water, essentials (cookers, fridges, pans, clothes, blankets, energy saving bulbs, draught excluders etc), food and wider essentials linked to food. This scheme also provides the Free School Meal holiday voucher program.

Individual Assistance Payment: This scheme works alongside the above schemes to pick any gaps where support can’t be paid and can help cover things like food, energy, debt, travel, clothes, furniture etc.

Discretionary Energy Rebate Scheme: a one-off energy rebate payment in response to recently hiked energy prices. This can be used to support you with increased energy bills and energy debts.

Donations from the London Fire Brigade

The London Fire Brigade, including some officers who were involved in putting the fire out, have kindly provided a number of donations for families that have been affected by the fire.

View the items that have been donated.

If you would like to have any of the items that have been donated, please email universalpreventionservices@lbbd.gov.uk  - you just need to note down the table number that’s displayed in the photo and a description of the item(s) that you would like to receive.

A big thank you to the London Fire Brigade for their donations.

If you need to re-direct your post

If you’re not currently able to return home, Royal Mail can arrange for your post to be redirected to another address for 3, 6 or 12 months from £33.99 (they offer concession prices for people on Universal Credit or Pension Credit).

To arrange for your post to be re-directed, you need to provide:

• the names and dates of birth of everyone in your household that needs their mail redirected
• the address and postcode of where the post is being directed from (your address) and to (where you would like it to go)

If you’re currently in temporary accommodation, you can set up a PO box where Royal Mail will keep your post until you can collect it from a local delivery office.

For more information, please visit the Royal Mail website.

If you need medication or emotional support

• If you need medication please contact your GP in the first instance
• If you are struggling emotionally or finding it difficult to cope after what has happened, please do reach out to Talking Therapies.  They can also be reached on 0300 300 1554 (option 3).  They’re our NHS colleagues who can offer a range of support.

If your home is managed by Southern Housing

Southern Housing have set up an email address you can contact if you live in a Southern Housing property and have any queries related to the fire. Please email RookeryFarm@shgroup.org.uk

If you need a workspace

Barking Enterprise Centre have kindly offered free workspace if you normally work from home and now can’t because of the fire.

If you need a free workspace in either Barking or Romford, please email wendy.akinnawo@barkingenterprisecentre.co.uk or email gemma.gillingham@barkingenterprisecentre.co.uk

British Red Cross support

British Red Cross have been working with us to support people affected by the fire. Their national support line is open from 10am to 6pm daily on 0808 196 3651 if you need support.

They have also provided their fire support pack which contains the contact information for services that can offer practical support, to help you recover from the property damage to your home, as-well-as emotional support to help you and your family recover, plus wider information.

We want to hear from you

As a council which places its residents at the heart of what we do, working alongside our partners and residents, responded to this major incident and are now looking to review our performance and the support provided to those involved with a view to ensuring that any assistance is prompt, practical and effective for our residents.

With that in mind we were hoping you could complete the following questionnaire, which will be used as part of a wider review to identify any lessons learned to improve what we do in the future, with similar incidents.