Sheffield’s Tackling Poverty Strategy 2015-18

8th April 2015Peter Bradley

Debbie Mathews

• Increasing levels of hardship in Sheffield and nationally • Child Poverty Act 2010 – statutory duty on SCC and

partners to develop a city-wide strategy• Need to refresh and review previous strategy (2012-14)• Responses to the Fairness Commission report to be

included• Scope– Decision to broaden to cover households with and

without children– City strategy (not just Council)

Background and context

• 20% of people in Sheffield in relative poverty– 23% of all children– Almost a third of children under 10

• Children in large or single parent families at greater risk of poverty

• Nationally, the poor are getting poorer, with income for the bottom fifth 5% less than it was 10 years ago in real terms

• Infant mortality is more than a third greater in the most deprived areas of Sheffield compared with the least deprived

• 11% of people in the city in fuel poverty• 7% of people without access to a current account• Number of food banks has increased rapidly• Asylum seekers and refugees often experience destitution

with benefits levels meeting only the most basic needs

Poverty in Sheffield

Governance and partnership

Tackling Poverty Strategy partnership reference group

New board set up on a time-limited basis and meeting as required.ROLE: - To oversee (and contribute to on an individual organisational basis)

the engagement with children, young people, families and individuals and support them to bring their views into the consultation and development process.

- To influence and inform the content of the Tackling Poverty Strategy.

- To bring contributions from each partner to the Strategy

• Desktop review of:– Current situation in the city (needs analysis)– Progress against the previous strategy and action plan– Evidence of what works in tackling poverty– All suggested we need to think about child poverty alongside other issues

• 4th July – 30th September public consultation • Asked partners to work with local people to hear experiences of

poverty• 16th October: public event to share understanding of need,

evidence and themes from consultation and work together to start to develop actions

• Guiding principles for the Tackling Poverty Strategy Partnership:– The needs of people in poverty in Sheffield– The evidence available about the most effective ways to meet these needs– The responses to the consultation which added to our understanding of

both of the above

Our process – understanding the evidence

Priorities and approach

Three programmes, with a number of objectives under each:• How we will do things• What we will do to make things better for people who are

struggling and in poverty now• What we will do to tackle some of the root causes of poverty and

give our children the best chance of a poverty free future

All backed up by clear and targeted action plan – a living document

A pledge signed by partners:

We’ve pledged to support those in Sheffield who are struggling to meet minimum needs – children, families, people and communities.

Every time we make a major decision, we will consider the impact of what we do on people in poverty.

Next steps – further work on action plan

Refining and adding to the action plan with partners, starting with consideration of what more we could do in relation to:• Maximising the income of struggling households by providing the advice to access

affordable credit, to claim the benefits to which they are entitled and to receive money advice.

• A welfare system that provides sufficient support for people when they need it. • An even sharper focus on the early years work to give our children a great start in life.• Supporting struggling households with high quality, accessible and affordable childcare and

transport. • Cultivating ‘Good growth’ – developing an inclusive economic growth strategy that delivers

more and better paid jobs with fair terms and conditions, including Living Wage. • Working with teenagers and young adults to make sure that they remain engaged with

education, employment and training. • Helping teenagers and adults to improve their skills levels so that they can move on to

better paid work and sustainable careers. • Better connecting those facing the greatest barriers to work with job opportunities,

including disabled jobseekers and those with health conditions.• Tackling stigmatisation and putting consideration of poverty at the heart of decision

making.

Next steps – requests of SEB

• SCC Cabinet has referred the strategy to SEB for consideration

• SEB may wish to consider an annual report on the Strategy, in order to assure itself that progress is being made and to challenge and support where necessary. This report should be written by the partner organisations and SEB might constitute a sub-group for this purpose.