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Oldham Council has quietly rolled out a single web page that bundles every winter hardship service in one place. Residents can now check if schools are shut, see which roads were gritted overnight, and apply for help with heating bills without hunting across separate sites.

The same page folds in housing support: a one-click route to join the social-housing register, request rent relief, or alert the town hall if you are facing eviction. It is the first time these strands have been grouped under one winter heading rather than scattered through the main council menu.

Behind the scenes, the change is meant to speed up how fast families get aid when cold weather bites. By listing school closures next to gritting updates, the council hopes parents will spot both the travel risk and the childcare gap in a single glance.

No new money is attached, but officers say placing the cost-of-living tab directly under the winter banner has already pushed a 20 percent rise in clicks to the emergency heating fund since mid-January. They will watch whether that translates into more grant applications once the next cold snap arrives.

If take-up rises as predicted, the same format could be reused to bundle services ahead of summer holidays, when free-meal demand spikes again.