Agenda Document Pack - Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee - 01/11/2024
North Lanarkshire Council · 1 November 2024
Back to Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee — 1 November 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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23 October 2024 Members of the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee Chief Executive’s Office Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk Notice is given that a Meeting of the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee is to be held in the Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell, ML1 1AB on Friday, 01 November 2024 at 10:00 AM which you are requested to attend. The agenda of business is attached. Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Members : Clerk Name: Karen Swan Clerk Telephone: 07919 730 272 Clerk Email: swank@northlan.gov.uk C Costello, K Harmon, D Ashraf, C Barclay, B Baudo, H Brannan-McVey, J Cairns, G Currie, P Di Mascio, F Fotheringham, W Goldie, J Jones, P Kelly, J Keltie, A Khan, J Leckie, H Loughran, B McCluskey, A McCrory, L Mitchell, P Patton, C Quigley, L Stubbs, S Watson, C Williams. Page 1 of 106
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Agenda Declarations of Interest In Terms of the Ethical Standards In Public Life Etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 Operational Elected Member Equality Champion – Update to Terms of Reference Submit report by Chief Officer (People Resources) seeking approval to update the terms of reference governing the role and remit of the Equalities Champion 5 - 10 Tackling Poverty Report Submit report by the Chief Social Work Officer (Education, Families, Justice & Integrated Practice) seeking approval of the updated Tackling Poverty Action Plan and the 2023-2024 Local Child Poverty Action Report 11 - 106 Page 3 of 106
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref FW/AC Date 01/11/24 Elected Member Equality Champion – update to Terms of Reference From Fiona Whittaker (Chief Officer, People Resources) E-mail WhittakerF@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07973 728628 Executive Summary This report provides for approval an update to the Terms of Reference governing the role and remit of the Council’s Elected Member Equality Champion. The Terms of Reference were developed in 2017 when the Council’s first Elected Member Equality Champion was appointed. They provide and ensure clarity about the role of the Equality Champion. Since that time there have been changes both in the Council’s administration, bringing about a new Elected Member Equality Champion, and in its approach to delivering on the Equality agenda through the establishment of the Equality Board. To reflect these changes, while also allowing for flexibility in the undertaking if the role to circumvent any future changes, it was deemed necessary to update the Terms of Reference. Recommendations It is recommended that the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee approves the updated terms of reference governing the role and remit of the Elected Member Equality Champion. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Page 5 of 106
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1. Background 1.1 In October 2017 the former Youth Communities and Equality sub-committee approved Terms of Reference for the role and remit of the Council’s first Elected Member Equality Champion. 1.2 The terms of reference were developed to provide and ensure clarity about the role of the Equality Champion and were developed through discussion between the former Equalities Champion and key Council Officers directly working on corporate equality matters. 1.3 In the years since developing the first Terms of Reference there have been changes both in the Council’s administration, bringing about a new Elected Member Equality Champion, and in its approach to delivering on the Equality agenda through the establishment of the Equality Board. 1.4 Whilst many aspects of the role and remit of the Equality Champion remain relevant and unchanged, it is important to reflect within the Terms of Reference the close relationship between the Equality Champion and the work of the Equality Board while also allowing for flexibility in the undertaking of the role to circumvent any future changes. 1.5 The current Terms of Reference are attached as an appendix to this report. 2. Report Elected Member Equality Champion – Updated Terms of Reference 2.1 The role of the Elected Member Equality Champion is to be a figurehead who demonstrates support for equality and diversity matters and initiatives both within the council and across North Lanarkshire's communities. The Elected Member Equality Champion will: • support the council’s Equality Board in the delivery of its Equality Strategy; • provide leadership - raise the profile of and promote equality within the Council and its communities in partnership with the Council’s Equality Board. For example, use opportunities associated with national and international commemoration and celebrations; • provide scrutiny - ensure that equality considerations are embedded in the decision making and governance of the council; • drive change – in partnership with key officers, request where appropriate for an examination on an aspect of equality to be carried out for the purpose of progress and call for action to be taken where disadvantage exists for people with particular protected characteristics; • provide representation - represent the Council at a political level on regional and national forums, if appropriate, where equality matters are concerned; • provide support - attend and endorse equality related employee and community events as appropriate; • meet on a quarterly basis with key Council officers via the Equality Board and other key internal and external stakeholders as necessary. Page 6 of 106
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3. Measures of success 3.1 Demonstrates a further advancement of the Public Sector Equality Duty (General) on the part of North Lanarkshire Council. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix: Elected Member Equality Champion Terms of Reference 2017. Fiona Whittaker Chief Officer People Resources Page 7 of 106
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The role and remit supports the advancement of the General Equality Duty If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 8 of 106
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 9 of 106
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Appendix 1 NLC Elected Member Equality Champion Terms of Reference 2017 The role of the Equality Champion is to be a senior politician who demonstrates support for equality and diversity matters and initiatives both within the council and across North Lanarkshire's communities. The elected member Equalities Champion will: • provide leadership − raise the profile of and promote equality within the Council and its communities. For example, use opportunities associated with national and international commemoration and celebrations. • provide scrutiny − ensure that equality considerations are embedded in the decision making and governance of the council. • drive change − request, where appropriate, for an examination on an aspect of equality to be carried out for the purpose of progress and call for action to be taken where disadvantage exists for people with particular protected characteristics. • provide representation − represent the Council at a political level on regional and national forums where equality matters are concerned. • provide support − attend and endorse equality related employee and community events as appropriate. • meet on a regular basis with key Council officers. Page 10 of 106
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref AG/JC Date 01/11/24 Tackling Poverty Strategy (Action Plan Update) 2023 to 2024/ Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 to 2024 From Alison Gordon, Chief Social Work Officer (Education, Families, Justice & Integrated Practice) E-mail gordonal@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 01698 332001 Executive Summary The Policy and Strategy Committee approved the Tackling Poverty Strategy/Action Plan 2023 to 2026, on 28th September 2023. In line with the Plan for North Lanarkshire Programme of Work, the purpose of this report is twofold, covering the following specific aspects of the Programme of Work (Resilient People) • Providing an update report on implementation of the Tackling Poverty Strategy (Action Plan) and improved outcomes achieved; and • Presenting our annual Local Child Poverty Action Report which covers previous year’s activities and outlines future plans, in line with statutory requirements and aligned to The Plan for North Lanarkshire. The Tackling Poverty Strategy (Action Plan) is a key component of the Plan for North Lanarkshire’s new Programme of Work priorities and ambitions, promoting the strengths and skills of individuals and families, increasing economic activity, and providing practical and holistic support intervening upstream wherever possible to prevent the longer-term harms associated with poverty. In addition, the Strategy encompasses the statutory requirement to prepare and publish a Local Child Poverty Action Report for North Lanarkshire for 2023/24. (Appendix 2) and reflects the ambition of the national Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26 Best Start Bright Futures published by the Scottish Government in April 2022 as the second of 3 delivery plans required by the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. Recommendations It is recommended that the Committee: (1) Approve the updated Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire – Tackling Poverty Action Plan as out lined in Appendix 1 of this report. (2) Approve the 2023 to 2024 Local Child Poverty Action report, as set out in Appendix 2 of this report. Page 11 of 106
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1. Background 1.1 The ‘Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire’ Tackling Poverty Strategy 2023 to 2026 and its associated Action Plan was approved at the Policy and Strategy Committee Meeting on 28th September 2023. 1.2 The intent behind the Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire’s Tackling Poverty Strategy, was to position the related outcome driven work as key to the successful delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire, reflecting the drive to secure and sustain inclusive growth and to reduce poverty and associated inequalities impacting on North Lanarkshire’s communities. 1.3 This holistic and integrated approach is fundamental to the Plan for North Lanarkshire and whilst maintaining strong links with other elements of the Council’s Programme of Work, Tackling Poverty is embedded as a core strand of the ‘Resilient People’ Programme, whose principal aim is to deliver whole family support locally, when families need it, in a way that is consistent with The Promise Principles and The Tackling Poverty Strategy. This will involve an integrated approach, working with partners, to provide an earlier and more effective response to need. More specifically this includes promoting the strengths and skills of individuals and families, increasing economic activity, and providing practical and emotional support, integrating this support with the roll out of town and community hubs to maximise opportunities for community-led and strengths-based approaches. 1.4 ‘Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire’ drives together work across the Council and community planning partners to ensure effective partnership co-ordination of planning and resources. In addition, the strategy’s action plan encompasses the statutory data gathering and reporting requirement to prepare and publish a Local Child Poverty Action Report for North Lanarkshire. 1.5 At the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee on 3rd November 2023, the Committee was advised that the Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group (TPOAG) had agreed new monitoring templates for the tackling poverty drivers to allow the group to track ’How we will know if are making a difference’. To support the effectiveness of this process each tackling poverty driver in rotation is the focus of TPAOG meetings, to allow TPOAG to analyse in detail each action, using national and local data (quantitative and qualitative) and to ensure that the Actions within the scope of each driver, and the outcomes set by Scottish Government and our Action Plan are being met and delivered. (3) Note that the Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 to 2024 in line with the statutory requirements has been submitted to and approved by the NHS Lanarkshire Health and Population Board on 10th September 2024. (4) Note that the report has also been remitted to the North Lanarkshire Partnership Strategic Leadership Board for consideration. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work Resilient People Page 12 of 106
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1.6 The TPOAG have also identified 20 new measures and approved by the Resilient People Board in January 2024 which will in turn form part of the Council’s wider Strategic Performance Framework. 1.7 From 2021/22, The Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group also operated a RAGG system that will continue to be applied to the Action Plan, for each poverty drivers and support management of the programme: the details of which are: • Red – Action remains outstanding. • Amber – work has started on this action but requires further work. • Green – action is completed and remains on-going. • Grey – action has been completed and requires no further action. 1.8 Using this approach, the Tackling Poverty Officer Action Group ensures a focus on areas of challenge with tasks that are completed (or ongoing), tasks that are amber or red which required to be taken to the Resilient People Board and the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee for further consideration and approval. 1.9 From September 2023, the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee has also received updated reports on each Tackling Poverty Driver (Action Plan) as follows: • Income from Employment - 2nd February 2024 • Holistic Supports – 26th April 2024 • Reduce the Cost of Living and Income from benefits – 16th August 2024 1.10 This report provides a summary and illustrations of progress against each of these Tackling Poverty Drivers and updates the Tackling Poverty Action Plan (Appendix 1) to reflect all of the actions taken through the last year. 2. Report Progress on Action Plan Income from Employment 2.1.1 There are eight Actions in the ‘Income from Employment’ section of the plan – (Appendix 1), four of the Actions (Numbers 1,2, 4, and 8) are reported annually from either internal or external sources and the other four Actions (3, 5, 6, and 7), where reported to the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee on 2nd February 2024. which only highlighted activity from April 2023 to December 2023. This report provides a summary of all activity for April 2023 to March 2024. 2.1.2 NLC Employability Service also funded the NHS Lanarkshire Demonstrator 2 Programme. This initiative focused on placing 26 unemployed or low-earning parents into paid work placements for six months, earning just above the living wage within NHS posts, with 16 out of the 26 individuals taking part moved into positive destinations. This was resource internally and with a real commitment from NHS Lanarkshire and proved a really effective route for securing good quality employment opportunities for parents and will be repeated in 2024/25. Page 13 of 106
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2.1.3 Nine projects were also funded through employability monies (cost £560,000) and delivered by the Third Sector in North Lanarkshire to work with parents on low incomes and focussed on engaging them in activities and removing barriers to make them more job ready. People Plus, One Parent Families Scotland, Enable and New College Lanarkshire were some of the organisations involved in these projects. 2.1.4 The Employability Service have renamed the Parental Employment Support Fund to ‘Working Families’ to reflect a more inclusive approach to assisting families into employment and to recognise the higher levels of support which will be delivered. locally by the ‘Working Families’ Programme. In 2023/24 North Lanarkshire’s Working and Routes to Work Ltd supported 85 parents into employment or into better paying jobs with 75% sustaining employment for at least 26 weeks. 2.1.5 All activities related to parents and increasing income from employment have access to advice and support from the Tackling Poverty team and there are close links with other services which supports parents both in the Council and among stakeholders. For 2024/25 an increased target of 192 low-income parents into employment is in place with a similar level of grant funded programmes within the third sector to support parents. 2.1.6 The name change referenced above will be reflected in the future Action Plans and Update reports. 2.1.7 Action 5 - (Supported Enterprise) – In 2022/2023 the Supported Employment Service supported 210 people on the different stages of the 5-stage employment model, with 129 people receiving various levels of work support and 41 people in the job finding phase. From April 2023, Supported Employment have worked with over 200 clients with 43 entering employment. The service has high levels of sustainable jobs, compared to other employability projects. 2.1.8 The Tackling Poverty Officer Action Group agreed that in the next review/update for ‘Income from Employment Driver’ Actions 6 and 7 will be merged into one named Action (Action 6) and to add new Actions to capture the work around Self Employment and activity on the work being done with those who are currently economically inactive, a cohort which is high within North Lanarkshire. 2.1.9 The Action Plan (Appendix 1) has been changed to reflect the outcomes and new Actions for 2024 to 2025. Holistic Supports 2.2.1 Holistic Supports are the wrap around supports delivered collaboratively to address the impacts of poverty, not only the financial impact but the wider health and wellbeing impacts on individuals and families. 2.2.2 There was eight actions in “Holistic Supports” section (appendix 1), however, further consideration by the TPOAG and the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee of the Action Plan, resulted in changes to some actions, this means that the eight actions have reduced to seven, with ‘Community Benefits’ moved from ‘Holistic Supports’ to the ‘Income from Employment’ driver. 2.2.3 All reference to MACA/MACA Plus’ has been removed from the Action Plan, and those actions referencing this or financial education under ‘Reduce the Cost of Living’ and ‘Supporting the Plan’ will be incorporated into two actions on Financial Education (one Page 14 of 106
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for adults, the other for children and young people) in Holistic Supports. This reflects the broader and more tailored approaches being taken to financial education across the partnership, as detailed in our report to the previous Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee. 2.2.4 Whole Family Support will concentrate on early intervention and prevention services at a universal level to children and families. The services delivered will be bespoke packages integrating into existing GIRFEC and GIRFE pathways. In line with the Tackling Poverty Strategy, Whole Family Support will adopt a cash first approach, the governance around this, together with ensuring work is targeted effectively and we are not duplicating but enhancing existing services, will be established and overseen by a Reference Group. 2.2.5 Bespoke Poverty Awareness Sessions have been created to meet the interests of a range of audiences and to promote the potential contribution a range of staff and community groups to this agenda. To date 328 people have attended these sessions; internally we have delivered the sessions to 254 staff from education, social work and Community Learning and Development as well as to 74 people from NHS Lanarkshire and third sector organisations. 2.2.6 The review of the Holistic Supports driver was submitted to the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee on 26th April 2024 and the Action Plan (Appendix 1) has been changed to reflect the outcomes and new Actions for 2024 to 2025. Reduce the Cost of Living 2.3.1 The ‘Reduce the Cost-of-Living’ driver brings together a diverse range of practical measures of help available locally to people, all contributing to reducing the amounts which Individuals and families must pay out to provide the basics required for everyday life. Provision of high-quality Debt Advice for those who are in Financial Difficulty also sits under this Driver. 2.3.2 There are 21 Actions for the Reduce the Cost-of-Living Driver and following the review of the driver. The Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group have made a small number of additional adjustments to this area of the plan to remove two actions where funding is no longer available to support and aligning another with a more appropriate area of the plan. Positively, however progress on all but one of the broad portfolios of actions under this theme has been assessed as ‘green’ indicating delivery is on course but ongoing. 2.3.3 An affordable credit web page has been devised by Tackling Poverty Team and went live in June 2024 on the Council Web site to educate and provide choice of local affordable credit sources for residents. 2.3.4 NLC Tackling Poverty Team received 1992 referrals for Debt Advice in 2023/24, an increase from 1744 the previous year. The total amount of debt dealt with by Tackling Poverty Team was £6,418,776. Cases continue to increase in complexity with as many as 55% of service users also reporting mental health problems (Tackling Poverty Team 1st November 2023 – 23rd May 2024). 2.3.5 The review of the Reduce the Cost-of-Living driver was submitted to the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee on 16th August 2024 and the Action Plan (Appendix 1) has been changed to reflect the outcomes and new Actions for 2024 to 2025. Page 15 of 106
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Income from Benefits 2.4.1 Whilst we are limited in our ability to lift people out of poverty through social security, it can provide people with a steady, sustainable income. The cost-of-living crisis has made it more important than ever to claim benefits to which individuals are entitled and to challenge unfavourable decisions to ensure people’s income is fully maximised. 2.4.2 Information relating to Income maximisation for individuals is recorded internally within the social work MySwis system and changes have been made to allow the source of the referral to be identified, thus providing more detail to the Action Plan. 2.4.3 Since establishing the ‘Cost of Living Helpline’ in early 2023, supported by additional funding provided through the Joint Integration Board, there had been an increase of 41.2% in the number of benefit checks completed for residents; rising from 18.521 benefit checks completed in 2022/23 to 26,158 benefit checks completed in 2023/24. 2.4.4 In parallel there has been a considerable increase in demand for the Tackling Poverty Team welfare rights service, with the average number of referrals per month received by the team rising from 945 in 2022/23 to 1180 referrals per month in 2023/24. A 25% increase. 2.4.5 The additional benefit income generated by the Tackling Poverty Team and other council services increased by 35.1%, with a total of £47,935,822 of additional benefit income generated via claims, mandatory reconsiderations and appeals for benefits. With the External Services commissioned by the Council generating £8,256,352 in additional benefit income for the residents of North Lanarkshire. 2.4.6 Over this reporting period the continuing legacy of the pandemic and most significantly the Cost-of-Living Crisis have continued to impact disproportionately on our most disadvantaged residents and communities, bringing the importance of income maximisation and wider work to tackle poverty into sharp focus, with the impact of low paid and insecure work a particular challenge. 2.4.7 The review of the Income from Benefits driver was submitted to the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee on 16th August 2024 and the Action Plan (Appendix 1) has been changed to reflect the outcomes and new Actions for 2024 to 2025. Supporting the Plan 2.5.1 Following the reviews of the four drivers of poverty in 2023/2024, the Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group decided to incorporate all of the Actions in the ‘Supporting the Plan’ in to the four main drivers to ensure consistency and assurances that the actions to supporting the plan were not looked at in isolation. Local Child Poverty Action Report 2.6.1 The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017, places a duty on Local Authorities and NHS Boards to jointly develop, publish and action an annual Local Child Poverty Action Report (LCPAR). 2.6.2 Our Tackling Poverty Strategy continues the approach of incorporating the Local Child Poverty Action Report (Action Plan), aligning both Plans into the same lifespan from 2023 to 2026. Both the local authority and NHSL have agreed that the Local Child Poverty Action Reports should be an integral part of the overall strategy enabling also our statutory duty to report to Scottish Government on an annual basis and recognising Page 16 of 106
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that child poverty is integrally linked with poverty and wellbeing within the wider community. To support reporting and measuring impact amongst targeted groups the action plan details which “strategy/plan” each action relates to, identifying those actions that are specifically aimed at the child poverty priority groups. 2.6.3 The Local Child Poverty Action Report for 2023 to 2024, is attached for consideration and approval for publication and issue to the Scottish Government (Appendix 2). This is the sixth Local Child Poverty Action Report produced by North Lanarkshire’s Tackling Poverty Officer Action Group on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The successful delivery and outcomes of the 2023 – 26 Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire Tackling Poverty Strategy Action Plan 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 - Updated Tackling Poverty Action Plan with outcomes and new Actions for 2024 to 2026. Appendix 2 – Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 to 2024 Alison Gordon Chief Social Work Officer Page 17 of 106
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The Tackling Poverty Strategy is fully aligned with the requirements of the Fairer Scotland Duty, its purpose being to reduce the inequalities caused by socio economic disadvantage. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The production of an annual Local Child Poverty Action Report is a legal requirement for the Council and NHS Lanarkshire under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 18 of 106
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If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group Sub Group developed a Communications Plan with Corporate Communications. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Tackling Poverty has been identified as a Corporate Risk, with the Chief Social Work Officer as the risk lead. Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire - Tackling Poverty Strategy sets out a planned approach which seeks to eliminate poverty or make very significant reductions in the level of poverty resulting in benefit to the residents and including improvement in the overall level of health and wellbeing of communities. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. Page 19 of 106
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5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). In North Lanarkshire we recognise that tackling poverty and inequality does not fall to one Service, or one Sector, we must therefore work together to use our resources effectively and efficiently to ensure that all our communities have access to opportunities that will lead to better outcomes for people in terms of employment, wellbeing and inclusive growth. If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☒ No ☐ Page 20 of 106
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z AA AB AC AD AE AF AG AH AI AJ AK AL Key TP Strategy Only TP Strategy and LCPAR Number Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 1 North Lanarkshire to increase the number of people employed and receiving the real living wage Payment of the living wage by employers is amongst those interventions that can support people out of poverty and is part of wider Fair Work commitments There is an increase in the number of NL employers in public, business and community and voluntary sectors with real living wage accreditation Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Plan Brighter Futures 123 employers have achieved accreditation, with 7053 employees benefiting from the living wage 135 NL based employers have achieved accreditation with 27, 977 employees benefitting Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR NLC Employability VANL for CVS * Number of employers paying the living wage * Number of employees receiving the living wage TP Strategy Only 2 Social Values North Lanarkshire will look to integrate social values and the objectives into the tendering process that will allow the weighting for fair work to be flexible to ensure that social values and community benefits are embedded in the contract . An increase in NL residents receiving the “real living wage”. Workforce for the future transforming places 5% current weighting applied 5% current weighting applied Ongoing on TP Strategy and LCPAR Procurement Number of tenders where higher weighting was applied to living wage providers TP Strategy and LCPAR 3 Working for Families Support families who are in or at risk of poverty to support/ access into work. Refreshed publicity to partners and public required An increase in parents entering and progressing in employment * Workforce for the Future * Economic Regeneration Plan * Local Child Poverty Action Plan Brighter Futures 22/23 - 40 parents have secured employment. Further 18 employed parents have progressed within employment. 104 parents have registered and are engaging with the Project. In 2023/24 North Lanarkshire’s Working and Routes to Work Ltd supported 85 parents into employment or into better paying jobs with 75% sustaining employment for at least 26 weeks. All activities related to parents and increasing income from employment have access to advice and support from the Tackling Poverty team and there are close links with other services which deal with parents both in the Council and among stakeholders. In 2024/25 an increased target of 192 low income parents into employment is in place with a similar level of grant funded programmes within the third sector to support parents. subject to annual funding from the SG - further activity planned for 2023/24 2023 / 24, however, subject to funding may continue beyond this TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Routes to Work Number of parents entering and within target groups progressing in employment invest in North Lanarkshire 4 Identify pathways within labour market growth sectors or areas of high replacement demand which will provide progression routes out of low pay in North Lanarkshire. As part of the Council's Workforce for the Future Strategy and associated plan, work progression pathways will be identified for key labour market growth sectors or those with high replacement demand. These will focus on progression routes out of low pay and strategies for engaging young people (in schools) and those economically active in the labour market (through Routes to Work) to consider increasing their qualification levels and job prospects to improve average weekly wage levels and alleviate “in work” poverty. Progression pathways identified for key growth sectors with qualifications and progression routes agreed, published and funded. Workforce for the Future Economic Regeneration Plan Developing the Young Workforce Brighter Futures The gross weekly wage in North Lanarkshire (based on all full time workers) is £656.60 The gross weekly wage in North Lanarkshire (based on all fulltime workers) is £705.70 - increase of 29.3% Ongoing The gross weekly pay for local residents is now higher than the national average for the first time ever - an increase of 10% (£63.90 per week) for North Lanarkshire residents from the previous years results TP Strategy and LCPAR Enterprise Team Number of people progressing to higher paid jobs within North Lanarkshire Noomis statistics for levels of qualifications within working age population and average weekly wage Resilient People 5 Supported Enterprise Targeted employability support on people with disabilities or other significant barriers to help them secure fair and sustained work. Also support for disabled parents to enter employment. Reduction in the disability employment gap in NL Workforce for the Future Economic Regeneration Plan Developing the Young Workforce Brighter Futures 22/23 - Supported Employment currently supporting 210 people on the different stages of the 5 stage employment model - 129 people currently receiving various levels of work support 41 people currently job finding NLC Employability also funded the NHS Lanarkshire Demonstrator 2 Programme. This initiative focused on placing 23 unemployed or low- earning parents into paid work placements for six months, earning just above the living wage within NHS posts. This was resource internally and with a real commitment from NHS Lanarkshire and proved a really effective route for securing good quality employment opportunities for parents and will be repeated in 2024/25. Ongoing Continued support planned for the next 3 years TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Number of people progressing to higher paid jobs within North Lanarkshire Noomis statistics for levels of qualifications within working age population and average weekly wage Brighter Futures 6 No one Left Behind Targeted employability support for vulnerable young people who have mental health problems, the BAME community and over 50s, with delivery through CVS organisations. In addition funding identified to support 200 young people. Rise in employment figures in targeted groups. Targets met to support young people in gaining qualifications Workforce for the Future Economic Regeneration Plan Brighter Futures 22/23 - Engaged with 101 people and supported 49 into employment. The focus is on 2 groups, the over 50s and those of any age who are long term unemployed. In 2023/24 147 16 -24 year olds were supported into employment – this was a mix of unemployed young people with little work experience or qualifications as well as a small group who were leaving school to a negative destination. In addition another 30 young people with additional support needs or who are care experienced were supported into year long work placements. In 2024/25 a target of 155 unemployed young people supported into work is in place with another 30 young people with additional support needs or who are care-experienced being supported into yearlong work placements. In tandem with these programmes in 2024/25 are our wider employability programmes which are targeting employment for 940 Ongoing Continued support planned for the next 3 years TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Number of people in target groups employed. Number of young people supported to gain qualifications One Service 7 No One Left Behind Phase 2 implement grant programme in 2022/23 to distribute £1.6 million to employment projects across North Lanarkshire which target support on groups who may be in poverty due to unemployment Rise in employment figures in targeted groups Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Brighter Futures N/A Nine projects were funded (cost £560,000) and delivered by the Third Sector in North Lanarkshire to work with parents on low incomes and focus on engaging them in activities and removing barriers to make them more job ready. People Plus, One Parent Families Scotland, Enable and New College Lanarkshire were some of the organisations involved in these projects. Ongoing Continued support planned for the next 3 years TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Number of people in target groups employed transforming places 8 Living Hours Adequate income is reliant on both living wage rate and also sufficient working hours to provide a liveable income. Living hours are part of wider Fair Work commitments There is an increase in the number of NL employers in public, business and community and voluntary sectors with real living wage accreditation. Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Brighter Futures N/A N/A ongoing ongong TP Strategy and LCPAR NLC Employability VANL for CVS number of employers providing living hours employment. Number of employees working living hours 9 Increase entrepreneurship, self- employment and the business birth rate in North Lanarkshire Deliver a range of interventions including school-based activities to increase the numbers of people considering or in self-employment in North Lanarkshire, to increase the business birth rate and to support those businesses to survive and grow An increase in the percentage of economically active in North Lanarkshire in self- employment, an increase in the number of new business starts per 10,000 working age population and an increase in the 3-year business survival rate Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Brighter Futures Invest in North Lanarkshire n/a All activities related to parents and increasing income from employment have access to advice and support from the Tackling Poverty team and there are close links with other services which deal with parents both in the Council and among stakeholders. annual ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Enterprise and Development ONS annual population survey (Self employment statistics) Business Birth and Survival Rates – ONS Business Demography Tackling Poverty Strategy Action Plan 2023 - 2026 INCREASE INCOME VIA EMPLOYENT Page 21 of 106
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TP Strategy and LCPAR Action Brief Description How We Measure Success 2022 /23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information Increase uptake of School Clothing Grants Introduce online application form for FSM & CG Continue to automatically award where we have customer consent Use automation to process our auto award caseload The number of School Clothing Awards increases 12,784 Clothing Grants awarded from June 2022 - May 2023 For School Pupils. An additional 937 Grants for made for nursery pupils 11,864 Clothing Grants awarded from June 2023 - May 2024 For School Pupils. Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits The number of clothing grants claimed and distributed TP Strategy Only Increase uptake of Free School Meal Awards Introduce online application form for FSM & CG Continue to automatically award where we have customer consent Use automation to process our auto award caseload The number of Children entitled to Free School Meals increases 12,151 FSM awards in 2020, 11,176 awards in 2021, 10,683 awards in 2022 10,401 FSM * No of school meal holiday vouchers issued 9999 pupils total value of £1, 497,503 Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits The number of Children in receipt of Free School Meals TP Strategy and LCPAR Club 365 Promote Activities and meal provision through Club 365 Initiative Numbers of Children attending and meals provided. £2.50 per day paid during school holidays to those in receipt of FSM Club 365 has provided over 88, 000 meals and activity sessions since inception N/A Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits Numbers of Meals and Activity Sessions Delivered Increase uptake of education maintenance allowance (EMA) Ensure full take of Education Maintenance Allowance. Promotion of EMA through Education Newsletter to schools and locally within schools to raise pupil awareness. Review publicity - posters leaflets etc not distributed recently Discussion within EMA and SMT meetings on improving up-take. Young People can access EMA in 22/23 1327 applications. 876 awards. 66% award rate (down from 73% award rate in 21/22) in 23/24 1537 applications. 944 awards. 61% award rate (down from 66% award rate in 22/23) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits The number of EMA grants claimed Increase take up of Free School Meals In situ with parents and carers, e,g attend parent council meetings and inviting parents for a school meal and information session • New management information system to give insights into trends, most popular choices, which ages take up free meals • Work with other local authorities developing menus, to improve sustainability and better safety and choice for those with special diets (>>ASIST and APSI) • Work with schools around different “sittings”, and overflow areas. • Capital investment to return more schools to Production kitchens • Continued roll out of electronic menu notifications to parents and carers • Consultation with secondary school pupils via a QR code (promoted via a ‘Tell us what you think’ poster displayed around schools allowing pupils to scan / access via mobiles) • Primary school parents online survey (targeted via menu email / school newsletter email and also Percentage of Children taking up free school meals when they have entitlement is increased Currently (May 2023) at 65-70% (May 2024) at 65-70% Ongoing launched and ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Facilities Support Services Take up rates for Free School Meals invest in North Lanarkshire Fuel Poverty Provision of a short term funded Energy Advice Service to comprehensively alleviate the levels of fuel poverty evperienced by vulnerable households. HES no of referrals from NL. CAB energy project nos of referrals Number of households assisted Unknown as SHCS data unavailable for Local Authorities however, zero has been used as the starting point for the introduction of this service 159 households assisted 2023/24 2 years launched and ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions will be monitored via NLAN and Wise Group reporting Sustainable Futures Affordable Credit To promote credit unions across North Lanarkshire employers and communities to encourage more people to join to increase access to affordable credit. To widen access to payroll deduction for credit unions and access to affordable credit. Establish a Credit Union Forum in North Lanarkshire Credit union membership numbers *Local Employers signing up to CU payroll deductions 5 credit unions affiliated to the Scottish League of Credit Unions have 9,642 adult members and 1,462 junior members. Unable to get contacts for ABCUL credit unions at present. 5 credit unions affiliated to the Scottish League of Credit Unions have 10,250 adult members and 1,460 junior members. Unable to get contacts for ABCUL credit unions at present. ongoing ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team The number of employers promoting payslip deductions The number of people joining the credit union Brighter Futures Debt Advice Advice and support in relation to debt and budgeting advice provided by Council and Externally commissioned advice services assist people out of debt and provide them with the tools to budget accordingly 1744 referrals received in 2022/23 NLC TPT) 1886 referrals received in 2023/24. (NLC TPT) 3,846 referrals (CABx) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of referrals to the Debt Advice Team Level of debt assisted Digital NL New Affordable Homes Deliver 5000 new affordable homes by 2035 reduce the cost of living by increasing the supply of energy efficient, affordable homes At 1 December 2022, 1,566 homes delivered (970 new build + 596 OMPS) Since 1 December 2023, 541 new homes delivered (381 new build + 160 OMPS) 2035 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing New Supply Number of new homes built One Service New Affordable Homes Support housing association and co- operative partners to deliver new homes reduce the cost of living by increasing the supply of energy efficient, affordable homes 2126 homes have been delivered 318 homes have been built since 1st Dec 2022. 2444 homes have been delivered ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing New Supply Number of new homes built Resilient People Improved Energy Efficiency in NLC Housing Stock Ensure all lettable housing stock is EPC D or above by 2025 by improving energy efficiency all housing stock is EPC D or above by 2025 At 2021/22, 99.2% of the homes are at D or above 99.5% of all NLC housing stock is rated EPC D or above Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Investment all housing stock is EPC D or above by 2025 Transforming Places Improve Energy Efficiency to owner occupied properties EES:ABS Scottish Government funding if avaliable Provide advice to households on energy efficiency measures supoprted by online information and in person advice provided by council and CVS. Reduce the cost of living by increasing the energy efficieny of homeowners housing stock £0.1 m spent In 2023/24 it is expected that £2m will be spent on private owned properties Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions Number of homes approved Support homeowners to adapt their homes deliver advice and assistance to homeowner through the Scheme of Assistance reduce the cost of living by preventing and addressing disrepair and improving health and wellbeing by suporting owners to adapt their homes 187 disabled adaptations grant provided in 2022 - the scheme has been revised with no funding available for owner grants 236 disabled adaptations grant provided in 2023 - the scheme has no funding available for owner grants Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy Only Private Sector Housing reduce the cost of living by preventing and addressing disrepair and improving health and wellbeing by suporting owners to adapt their homes. *Revision of scheme of assistance completed. Other than mandatory (Disabled Adaptation Grants) no funding available for owner grants for disrepair. Current grant funding for NLC capital programmes is scheduled to end this year and no new financial assistance has been identified. Owners will continue to be provided with advice/ assistance when possible but no financial assistance Furniture Fund Provides items beyond SWF- Community Care Grant items in place for Housing First clients and people people who are homeless/at risk of homelessness Reduce the cost of living by providing financial support for better quality furniture to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to settle in their accommodation. In 2021/22, 23 Housing First households assisted at an average figure of £861.39 per household from RRTP. N/A Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy Only Housing Solutions Reduce the cost of living by providing financial support for better quality furniture to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to settle in their accommodation #NAME? Support homeowners to adapt, repair and maintain their homes (within mixed tenure blocks) Where NLC investment programme includes owners in blocks with NLC staff, liase though voluntary agreement, enforcement where appropriate, EES:ABS programmes as appropriate reduce the cost of living by increasing the supply of energy efficieny of housing stock across all tenures 99.2% of the homes are at D or above 99.2% of the homes are EPC D or above Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions Number of home owners assisted Free Transport for Under 22's Promote and Maximise uptake of Free Bus Travel for 5-21 year olds Number of travel cards issued and in use 42,160 total number issued. 61.75% overall uptake 56,387 total number issued. 75% overall uptake ongoing ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR CLD number of travel cards provided Improved and accessible walking, wheeling and cycling network. Creating or enhancing active travel routes will improve the ability of all people to walk, wheel or cycle for any journey purpose within North Lanarkshire Equity of access for all our communities with mid term target of 50km to be created by 2026/27 7.8 kms of active travel routes created in 2021/22 N/A - see 'Supporting the Plan' Driver 125kms to be created by 2032 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Transportation / Planning number of travel routes Address Period Poverty Provide women with access to period products within education and other public buildings Develop Peer Support Programme Expand number of council building access points-expand community group partnerships from 8- 10 areas- develop recording to better understand demand and distribution- consider period card scheme. Distribution across all of North Lanarkshire. Number of products distributed 311, 767 products to NLC establishments (excluding education and culture venues) 87,396 to education 733,692 products were distributed in total. (82,596 to NHS sites & 651,096 to NLC sites) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Enterprise and Communities Number of products delivered and taken up Tackling Poverty Strategy Action Plan 2023 - 2026 REDUCE THE COST OF LIVING Tackling Poverty Strategy Action Plan 2023 - 2026 Page 22 of 106
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Support people to stop smoking to reduce outgoings Stopping smoking can have a positive impact of finances as well as health. Brief intervention and referral to the Quit Your Way service in Lanarkshire can support people to successfully quit smoking. Pregnant women are a particularly key target group. Yearly target 23/24 for 52 pregnant women who live in 40% most deprived areas to successfully stop smoking at 12 weeks (to be reviewed in 2024 after national tobacco control action plan is published). Awareness raising training sessions to be completed with Tackling Poverty staff. 24 pregnant women living in the 40% most deprived areas successfully quit smoking at 12 weeks (April 2022-Dec 2022 data). Published and confirmed data for April 2022 – March 2023 will be available in January 2024. NL % of pregnant women smoking at booking in appt 12.6% year ending Dec 2022 (scotland rate 11.9%) 28 pregnant women living in the 40% most deprived areas successfully quit smoking at 12 weeks (April 2023-Dec 2023 data). NL % of pregnant women smoking at booking in appt 12.7% year ending Dec 2022 (scotland rate 11%) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR NHS Lanarkshire Quit Your Way Service Number of Tackling Poverty staff members trained. Number of pregnant women supported to stop smoking. Recycled Bicycle Initiatives Individuals subject to unpaid work work within the bicycle recycling project Bicycles provided to low income families and donated to the Christmas Toy Appeals 320 bicycles recycled 320 bicycles recycled 2022/23. Programme of bike maintenance underway ongoing ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Restorative Justice Number of bikes restored Cost of Living Survey Cost of Living Survey delivered to the residents of North Lanarkshire - this will help develop and deliver services services and resources directed with the outcomes of the survey N/A N/A Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy Only The Tackling Poverty Team number of surveys completed One Service Page 23 of 106
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Key TP Strategy Only TP Strategy and LCPAR Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022 / 23 Baseline 2023/ 24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025 / 26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information The Tackling Poverty Team and other council services to continue to maximise the income of the residents of North Lanarkshire All residents are offered income maximisation and we continue to promote the "no wrong door" approach Residents will be directed to the tackling poverty team to ensure income is fully maximised The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People 18,521 benefit checks carried out in 2022/23 - £35,480,020 generated in addtiional income 26,158 benefit checks carried out in 23/24 (41.2% increase) - £47,935,822 generated in additional income (35.1% increase) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated Work with all social work services to ensure income maximisation is carried out for all vulnerable client groups Social Work staff refer people to the Tackling Poverty Team who will carry out all income maximisation work Referrals to the tackling poverty team from all social work staff The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People 4888 benefit checks carried out in 2022/23 9639 benefit checks carried out in 23/24 (now able to report income gen - £5.062.066) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated transforming places TP Strategy Only MacMillan Advice Service Maximise the income of cancer patients, their families and carers Provide an income maximisation and debt advice service The Cancer Strategy Resilient People 700 referrals in 2022/23 700 referrals in 2023/24 (generating £3,542,782) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated invest in North Lanarkshire TP Strategy and LCPAR Food Poverty Referral Gateway Mitigate the need for foodbank use by ensuring access to advice services and claims to crisis grants A decrease in the use of foodbanks The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People not available work still being carried out on referral monitoring with food banks Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of referrals to foodbanks Number of Crisis Grant applications Sustainable Futures Food Poverty Action Group Group to consider uniform recording across all emergency food providers Uniform recording adopted by all emergency food providers The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People n/a 21 food providers contacted - 3 currently working with co- ordinator Nov-25 ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of foodbanks recording Welfare Reform Group The welfare reform group to ensure serviceds, elected members etc are kept fully abreast of welfare reform changes and their impact on our communities updates are provided and action taken when necessary The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People n/a NLAN - social media messages around managed migration. Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR North Lanarkshire Advice Network Issues raised / campaigns Resilient People Health Staff refer to income maximisation and debt advice services Health Staff will ensure money issues are addressed and referrals are made to the tackling poverty team Increased number of teams and services in NHS Lanarkshire referring patients to the tackling poverty team to ensure income is fully maximised NHS Cost of Living Resilient People 394 referrals 22/23 591 referrals received in 23/24 (increase of 50%) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated / Number of health teams or services referring Brighter Futures Improvement Service Project - GP Practices GP Practices identified by the Improvement Service have a welfare rights officer in situ, with access to GP records The welfare rights service is integrated into the GP Practice The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People 357 referrals 22/23 608 referrals received in 23/24 (70% increase) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated Digital NL Relaunch Health Visitor & District Nurse Referral Pathway Poverty Awareness Training and pathway training to take place health visitor and district nurses make referrals to the tackling poverty team NHS Cost of Living Resilient People n/a 119 referrals received in 23/24 Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team number of referrals to the tackling poverty team One Service GP Community Link Worker Programme community link worker embedded within GP practices across North Lanarkshire making referrals to information and advice services embed link workers and increase support to patients NHS Cost of Living Resilient People 482 welfare rights referrals (22/23) 146 debt advice referrrals (22/23) 333 welfare rights referrals (23/24) 31% decrease 133 debt advice referrals (23/24) 9% decrease Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated Commissioned Services - Income Maximiation via Benefit Uptake All residents are offered income maximisation and we continue to promote the "no wrong door" approach the successful commissioned service offer income maximisation to the residents of North Lanarkshire NHS Cost of Living Resilient People £5,267,650 income generated for north lanarkshrie residents 2022/23 £8.259.352 income generated for north lanarkshire residents 23/24 - 55% increase Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated Rent Assistance Fund Rent Assistance Fund – to assist people who have experienced/are experiencing financial difficulty due to the increase in the cost of living. If tenant has received a previous award of funding from SG – TGF or SC Lacer Fund – they will not be eligible. Tenants can receive a maximum award of £2250 and this funding is not re- payable (fund allocation £1,000,000) Fund directed to people in need Local Housing Strategy Resilient People 522 grants awarded in 22/23 1050 grants awarded in 23/24 (103% increase) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Number of people Assisted Universal Credit Assistance Fund UCAF award is to assist tenants who have fallen behind with their rent due to the 5 week waiting period, and tenants who are in receipt of Universal credit are eligible to apply People can access the fund, it requires to be paid back, however, this is at an affordable level - the fund ensures that people can remain in their own home with their arrears being managed. Local Housing Strategy Resilient People 522 grants awarded in 2022/23 1908 grants awarded in 23/24 (265% increase) ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Services number of loans provided / loan repayments Welfare Rights Officer - Additional Support Needs Schools Welfare Rights Officer to deliver income maximisation to families and carers Number of referrals / income generated The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People introduced in 2024 pilot for one year August 2025 starting in August 2024 TP Strategy and LCPAR Education and The Tackling Poverty Team Number of people accessing the service / income generated Work with the commity and Services to encourage challenges to benefit decisions via Mandatory Reconsiderations and Appeals to Upper Tribunal level Encourage residents to exhaust all challenges to benefit decisions number of mandatory reconsiderations / number of appeals lodged / income generated via MR and Appeal The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People introduced in 2024 (however, stats available for 23/24) * 293 Mandatory Reconsiderations * 124 appeals * £1,269,619 generated Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Tackling Poverty Team number of mandatory reconsiderations / number of appeals lodged / income generated via MR and Appeal Tackling Poverty Strategy Action Plan 2023 - 2026 INCREASE INCOME VIA SOCIAL SECURITY Page 24 of 106
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Key TP Strategy Only TP Strategy and LCPAR Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information Sustain Tenancies Deliver increased financial advice and assistance via 8 income maximisers increase incomes from social security, reducing rent arrears and sustaining tenancies in social rented homes Local Housing Strategy Resilient People £15,041,070 income generated - 4007 benefit checks completed £18,850,629 income generated - 7040 benefit checks completed Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated TP Strategy Only Whole Family Support To create a flexible, reliable and integrated support for families to ensure that every famly who needs support gets the right support at the right time. People have access to income maximisation, employability and money advice services at the right time. Childrens Services Plan Resilient People n/a Barnardos awarded the contract - Families Here and Now Service started June 2024 2023 - 26 ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Education, Children and Families inter service referrals TP Strategy and LCPAR transforming places Arrest / Referral Service The North Lanarkshire Arrest Referral Service is focussed on early intervention by providing support to people whilst held in police custody and connecting them to services within the community to address individual needs. Number of referrals to the tackling poverty team Community Justice Improvement Plan Resilient People n/a Meeting held - service leaflets provided 2025 ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The service is delivered by Scottish Drugs Forum and Phoenix Futures and funded by North Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership for a period of 18 months as a Test of Change. number of referrals / income generated / debt advice provided / financial education invest in North Lanarkshire Poverty Awareness Sessions Bespoke poverty awareness sessions for council, NHS and third sector partners Number of people attending the sessions and ultimately the number of referrals this leads to The Plan for North Lan Resilient People n/a 328 staff attended poverty awareness sessions (health/education/CLD/ social work/nqsw/ NLADP/ One Parent families/NL Disability Forum onggoing ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team number of sessions delivered / number of people attending / referrals following the training Sustainable Futures Community Benefits To increase the number of tackling poverty interventions / fair work interventions within community benefits improve the economic, social or environmental well-being of our communities The Plan for North Lan transforming places Recent figures show the loal economy continues to grow, reflecting a positive position in North Lanarkshire compared to a negative growth position locally, however, moving forward we must see more tackling poverty related interventions within community benefits no update available ongoing ongoing TP Strategy Only Enterprise and Communities Number of Tackling Poverty Interventions Brighter Futures Community Solutions Programme Wide ranging community supports provided by Community and Voluntary Sector organisations to support residents wellbeing including those in poverty or at risk of poverty including; food, mental health and wellbeing improved wellbeing Community Solutions Strategy and Investment Plan 2023 and HSCNL Commissioning Plan 2023 - 26 Resilient People n/a no update available ongoing ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR VANL Learning and impact reports Digital NL Financial Education (Adults) The Multiply Project is a government initiative helping adults to improve their numeracy skills, people can access numeracy qualifications with the access of the Community Learning and Development Service and will be able to access financial education from the Tackling Poverty Team. people develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to manage money well and make informed decisions. The Plan for North Lan Resilient People n/a start up and development 119 sessions delivered 420 people attended Project ends March 2025 On going TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team number of courses delivered / number of attendees One Service Financial Education (children and young people) Following the "three questions" delivery of a revamped financial education for the primary children the younger children asked for financial educaiton - the programme will ensure that we meet the needs and requests of our children The Plan for North Lan Resilient People n/a *Audit of financial educaiton activity in schools *Discussions with Scotland's Financial Schools re delivery in development in development TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team number of sessions completed in schools Number of young people who attend the sessions Resilient People Community Boards to support the tackling poverty agenda Through tackling poverty awareness sessions and delivery of the councils tackling poverty agenda the community boards will support the Strategy Those representing communities understand their roles and responsibilities in raising awareness of key poverty messages, challenging stigma The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People n/a Tackling Poverty on agendas of community boards pilot focussed sessions in Coatbridge - in discussion - if successful will continue role out Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Local Planning Partnership Teams Community Board Sub Groups Reports Tackling Poverty Strategy Action Plan 2023 - 2026 HOLISTIC SUPPORTS Page 25 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Page 26 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Foreword Tackling poverty in our communities is at the heart of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and together with our Partners in NHS Lanarkshire and the Third Sector we are committed to addressing the cause and effects of poverty in all our communities. To achieve the Plans’ goal of North Lanarkshire being the place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest and Visit tackling child poverty and poverty in our communities has to be at the heart of all our services. For our families and children, we need to use the drivers of increasing income via employment, increasing income via social security benefits, reducing the cost of living and holistic supports, together with strengthening referral pathways, to ensure that our children and young people will live in prosperous and thriving communities across North Lanarkshire. If we are to tackle the poverty attainment gap, we must first of all tackle poverty. We are building on the work we reported in previous Local Child Poverty Action Reports, and are delighted in the new school term, to have a welfare rights officer dedicated to supporting Additional Support Needs schools across North Lanarkshire. Embodying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the “Three Questions” activity reported on in last year’s reports, continues in our schools. This helps us shape our Action Plan to meet the expressed needs and concerns of our children and young people, but also ensures that all our families have access to tackling poverty referral gateways and North Lanarkshire is the place to learn. 3 Page 28 of 106
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Increasing income via employment is working in North Lanarkshire, we must continue to build on the work with our employability teams. In North Lanarkshire our gross weekly pay for local residents is now higher than the national average for the first time ever, making this an attractive place for both employers and those seeking work. £1.3 billion of capital investment will improve the physical environment of North Lanarkshire, creating the economic, social and community conditions that will attract further investment in our communities. In creating our prosperous communities North Lanarkshire will be somewhere that people will want to visit. The 2023/24 Local Child Poverty Action Report demonstrates the work being carried out to achieve the goals set out in our previous Action Plan and will introduce new actions to take forward embedding our commitment to tackling child poverty across council and partner services. Martin Hill Chair, NHS Lanarkshire Councillor Chris Costello Convenor Wellbeing & Tackling Poverty Committee Councillor Jim Logue Leader of the Council 4 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 29 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Contents Foreword .............................................................................................................................3 Introduction ......................................................................................................................6 North Lanarkshire Child Poverty Profile .................................................................7 What are we doing to reach families in these constituencies? ........................11 How will we target resources? ..................................................................................11 How will resources be delived? .................................................................................12 North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Partnership ......................................13 The Drivers of Tackling Poverty ..............................................................................17 Increase Income via Employment .............................................................................17 Developing the Workforce Taskforce .......................................................................19 North Lanarkshire Summer Placement Programme ...........................................20 Working for Families .....................................................................................................21 Supported Enterprise ...................................................................................................23 The Roots Project ..........................................................................................................24 Demonstrator Programme ..........................................................................................25 The HIVE ..........................................................................................................................28 Early Learning and Childcare .....................................................................................29 Early Intervention ...........................................................................................................29 Reduce the Cost of Living ...........................................................................................30 Debt Advice .....................................................................................................................30 Early Intervention ...........................................................................................................31 Free Travel for Under 22s ............................................................................................33 Helping People to Quit Your Way .............................................................................34 The Drivers of Tackling Poverty ..............................................................................36 Making a Difference - It Starts with a Benefit Check ..........................................36 All roads lead to the Tackling Poverty Team ..........................................................38 Self Referral .....................................................................................................................39 Education .........................................................................................................................40 Social Work .....................................................................................................................41 NHS Lanarkshire ............................................................................................................42 The Third Sector ............................................................................................................45 Cash First .........................................................................................................................46 Holistic Supports.............................................................................................................48 Families Here and Now Service (Whole Family Support) ..................................49 Community Learning and Development .................................................................50 Poverty Awareness Sessions .....................................................................................51 Breastfeeding ..................................................................................................................52 North Lanarkshire’s Virtual School ...........................................................................53 Financial Eduction .........................................................................................................54 Family Nurse Partnership ............................................................................................54 Housing ............................................................................................................................57 Reducing Energy Costs ...............................................................................................58 Tenant Sustainment ......................................................................................................58 Homelessness ................................................................................................................59 North Lanarkshire Tackling Poverty Conference ...........................................62 “Do the one thing” .........................................................................................................62 Achievements and Challenges .................................................................................64 Appendix One ...................................................................................................................65 The Articles of the UN Convention on The Rights of The Child ......................65 Appendix Two ...................................................................................................................66 Developing the Young Workforce Plan ..................................................................66 Appendix Three ...............................................................................................................67 Tackling Povery Strategy Action Plan 2023-2026 ...............................................67 5 Page 30 of 106
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The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017, places a duty on Local Authorities and NHS Boards to jointly develop, publish and action an annual Local Child Poverty Action Report (LCPAR). In this sixth report, we will look at work being carried out across our communities by all our planning partners. Last year, North Lanarkshire adopted “Holistic Supports” as a fourth formal driver to tackling poverty and inequality in our community. It was important that we identified that the traditional drivers of; increasing income via employment, increasing income via social security benefits and reducing the cost of living, could not and would not work in isolation. The wrap around supports that do not always mean additional income to a family but are necessary to navigate a way out of poverty are equally important and at times essential to families in difficult situations. In recognising Holistic Supports we will look at the progress around Whole Family Support, the importance of each partners role in referral pathways and how embedding the No Wrong Door approach across our Services will ensure that those living in poverty and those at risk of poverty will receive the right support at the right time. Introduction“Poverty means not being able to heat your home, pay your rent or buy the essentials for your children. It means waking up every day facing insecurity, uncertainty, and impossible decisions about money. It means facing marginalisation – and even discrimination – because of your financial circumstances. The constant stress it causes can lead to problems that deprive people of the chance to play a full part in society.” 6 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 31 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 North Lanarkshire Child Poverty Profile The Centre for Research in Social Policy and Loughborough University produced a report to update the local indicators of Child Poverty after housing costs. The data builds upon the Children in Low Income Families produced by the Department for Work and Pensions which reports on the rate of child poverty before housing costs. The report produced used local administrative data and analysis of the household survey “understanding society”, to produce modelled estimates for housing costs, this therefore, provides a more accurate picture of how disposable incomes vary in different geographical areas. Parliamentary Constituency Percentage of Children in Poverty in 22/23 Number of children in poverty in 22/23 Airdrie & Shotts 30.9% 5302 Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill 28.1% 5415 Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch* 26.6% 4670 Motherwell & Wishaw 31% 5793 *Kirkintilloch is not within North Lanarkshire Council, therefore some figures will be attributed to East Dunbartonshire The figures produced have shown an increase in child poverty in North Lanarkshire, despite the reported 3.3% fall we reported in 2020/21. The 2022/23 figures are shown below, with an overview from 2014 in tables i and ii. 7 Page 32 of 106
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The tables below identify both the percentages (table i) and the numbers of children (table ii) across North Lanarkshire Parliamentary constituencies: 25.00% 23.50% 21.10% 25.30% 2014 / 2015 26.90% 24.80% 21.90% 26.80% 2015 / 2016 26.70% 24.90% 23.00% 26.20% 2016 / 2017 27.30% 26.30% 23.20% 28.00% 2017 / 2018 26.40% 24.90% 22.50% 27.50% 2018 / 2019 26.70% 25.90% 23.90% 28.20% 2019 / 2020 25.70% 23.60% 21.00% 24.60% 2020 / 2021 30.80% 27.60% 25.90% 30.00% 2021 / 2022 30.90% 28.10% 26.60% 31.00% 2022 / 2023 Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Motherwell and Wishaw (Table 1) Child Poverty % Level by North Lanarkshire parliamentary constituency 4540 4738 3927 4912 2014 / 2015 4975 5077 4052 5261 2015 / 2016 4866 5013 4218 5142 2016 / 2017 4762 4973 4052 5270 2017 / 2018 4649 4756 3909 5107 2018 / 2019 4900 5174 4224 5473 2019 / 2020 4761 4888 3869 4944 2020 / 2021 5335 5441 4616 5729 2021 / 2022 5302 5415 4670 5793 2022 / 2023 Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Motherwell and Wishaw (Table 2) Number of children living in child poverty by North Lanarkshire parliamentary constituency 8 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 33 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 The Tackling Poverty Team have worked within our communities to increase income via social security, our recording systems as reported last year, are allowing us to record additional income generated for those priority groups within the community. Priority Groups The priority groups identified by the Scottish Government in Every Child, Every Chance in 2018 as being at the highest risk of child poverty continue to be so in 2024. In June 2024, the Scottish Government reported that 24% of all children in Scotland are in relative poverty. Children in the priority groups are more likely than average to be in relative poverty: y 38% of children in lone parent families live in poverty y 43% of children in minority ethnic families live in poverty y 27% of children in families with a disabled person live in poverty y 38% of children in families with three or more children live in poverty y 9% of children not in the priority groups live in poverty 9 Page 34 of 106
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The Tackling Poverty Team endeavour to focus work in our communities with the priority groups. As reported last year, system changes have been made to allow us to record our activity, and whilst we do not report by Parliamentary Constituency, we can report as close to these as possible with the figures below for 23/24: Parliamentary Constituency Lone Parent Families where a member of the household is disabled Families with 3 or more children Minority Ethnic Families Families with the youngest child under 1 Mothers under the age of 25 Airdrie and Shotts £1,580,639.20 £111,747.85 £33,692.55 £900.00 £11,584.47 £100.00 Coatbridge and Bellshill £688,617.15 £158,272.21 £71,073.04 £5,730.66 £469.80 £0.00 Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Chryston £614,834.60 £248,705.18 £17,905.48 £22,472.76 £18,950.88 £6,962.81 Motherwell and Wishaw £895,377.50 £209,895.23 £25,360.30 £5,196.82 £2,207.91 £5,678.09 Headquarters (covering all localities) £52,819.59 £44,789.48 £6,149.50 £6,184.28 £400.65 £0.00 The Tackling Poverty Team assisted 5161 people from the Child Poverty Priority Groups generating £4,846,718 in additional benefit income for families in the priority groups in 2023/24. This number of people assisted in the priority groups in relation to income maximisation has fallen by around 15%, as a result of this more targeted communications will require to be carried out in the coming year. The Debt Advice service recently changed their recording system (November 23) and are now able to report on priority groups. This therefore means that from November 2023, in relation to Reducing the Cost of Living, we can report on the 209 lone parents who sought help from the tackling poverty team in relation to debts and budgeting. Other priority group figures are relatively low and therefore due to distinguishing characteristics, would not be appropriate to identify numbers of people in these constituencies. Parliamentary Constituency Number of Lone Parents seeking Help Airdrie & Shotts 62 Coatbridge and Bellshill 47 Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Chryston 43 Motherwell & Wishaw 57 10 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 35 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 What are we doing to reach families in these constituencies? The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is a tool for identifying the places in Scotland where people are experiencing disadvantage across different aspects of their lives. SIMD gives ranking for each small area, or data zone, which shows how deprived that area is compared to other areas. Whilst the latest SIMD information is from 2020, using the Loughborough University information around parliamentary constituencies together with what we know from the SIMD information we can identify where we will target resources. During and following the pandemic, advice services had to adapt the way they delivered services, home working and limited office space meant that a lot of work moved to digital and telephony channels. North Lanarkshire’s Tackling Poverty Team have been delivering services in this way with a lot of success, however, it is recognised that this should not be the only modes of contact, and for those who may be furthest away from digital services, locality based, and out-reach services need to be developed. A remodel of the service will mean that there will be a presence across all localities, with outreach being delivered not only by the councils’ tackling poverty team but will also be a condition of funding as we go forward to commission external advice services for 2025 -2028. How will we target resources? The Income Domain measure within SIMD considers the number of people in receipt of income support, income-based employment support allowance, jobseekers allowance, guaranteed pension credit claims and universal credit claimants with no employment markers. It also includes the number of children in households accessing Jobseekers allowance, income support, employment support allowance and the number of adults and children dependent on adults in receipt of tax credits. The income domain ranks all 447 data-zones according to income deprivation, as well as counting all people who are income deprived, including the dependants of adults who are income deprived. Using the most recent parliamentary constituency information, all constituencies in North Lanarkshire have child poverty figures above the Scottish average of 24%: Constituency 2022/23 Child Poverty Level Airdrie and Shotts 30.9% Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill 28.1% Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch 26.6% Motherwell and Wishaw 31.0% 11 Page 36 of 106
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Outreach in all our localities, is therefore really important, however, using SIMD figures we can look at specific areas for targeting resources, for example the following North Lanarkshire data-zones are within the 1% most deprived communities in Scotland: y Cliftonville (Towers and Dunbeth Nursery) y Greenend (John Smith Gardens to Southfield Street) y Craigneuk (Meadowhead Street to Kimberley Street) y Gowkthrapple (Birkenshaw Brae) y Craigneuk (Flaximill Avenue to Aldersyde Avenue) This data will allow us to ensure outreach is delivered at the heart of the communities where it is needed. How will services be delivered? The Tackling Poverty Team in addition to their current modes of service delivery will work with other council services, in the newly established Community Hubs. Community Hubs are centred around schools and learning centres in the heart of our towns and communities. Members of the tackling poverty team will establish Advice Surgeries within these settings, providing face to face delivery, ensuring our community have multi- channel access to much needed services. 12 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 37 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Partnership All Children and young people in Scotland, under the age of 18, have protected rights under The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024. This requires all Scotland’s public authorities to take proactive steps to ensure the protection of children’s rights in their decision-making and service delivery and makes it unlawful for public authorities, including NHS Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council, to act incompatibly with the UNCRC requirements set out in the Act. UNCRC gives children, young people, and their representatives that ability to use the Courts to enforce their rights. 13 Page 38 of 106
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NHS Lanarkshire and partners are committed to upholding children’s rights and reporting on resulting activity. Key actions will include assessing current compatibility, ensuring children’s voices are listened to in relation to decisions that affect them, implementing a new child friendly complaints procedure, and developing more child friendly information. In addition to this, Children’s Rights Wellbeing and Impact Assessments are now a requirement for significant developments, changes and NLC Committee Reports. Our Children’s Services Plan includes our vision, for how we best deliver services and supports for children, young people and families in North Lanarkshire. It states our ambitions and priorities and includes an action plan to detail these shall be achieved. In North Lanarkshire we do this through North Lanarkshire Children’s Services Partnership (CS Partnership). The CS Partnership brings together key partners and stakeholders and works together to identify shared priorities. Partners include children, young people and families, key public sector agencies, independent sector organisations and the community and voluntary sector. Rather than oversee the full breadth of work that directly or indirectly relates to children, young people and families, the focus of the CS Partnership is on the shared priorities identified in the CS Plan for the period 2023-26. Each partner has duties and responsibilities beyond the scope and work of the CS Partnership. In developing our Children’s Services Plan we recognise that children’s rights, as stated in United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), underpin each of the foundations of The Promise. The Children’s Services Partnership will develop a rights- based approach to children’s services in North Lanarkshire as well as advocate, promote and support, across and beyond the Children’s Services Partnership, the responsibilities of partners as duty bearers. On 16th July 2024, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was incorporated into Scots Law. The rights within the convention apply to everyone under 18. Scotland has become the first nation in the UK to implement the rights, with children being able to seek a remedy in Scottish Courts and Tribunals for a breach of their Convention rights by a public authority. There are 54 articles and 42 rights, covering all aspects of a child’s life, setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights all children have. The right to live free of poverty is not set out in a single article within UNCRC, instead we can see that this takes a holistic approach to ensure children have the right to live free from poverty, as can be seen in some articles identified below (full UNCRC articles appendix one) 14 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 39 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Article 27 Every child has the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and social needs and support their development. Governments must help families who cannot afford to provide this. Article 24 Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must provide good quality health care, clean water and nutritious food, and a clean environment and education on health and wellbeing so that children can stay healthy. Article 26 Every child has the right to benefit from social security. Governments must provide social security, including financial support and other benefits, to families in need of assistance. Article 28 Every child has the right to an education. Primary education must be free and different forms of secondary education must be available to every child. Discipline in schools must respect children’s dignity and their rights. Article 32 Governments must protect children from economic exploitation and work that is dangerous or might harm their health, development or education. Governments must set a minimum age for children to work and ensure that work conditions are safe and appropriate. Article 6 Every child has the right to life. Governments must do all they can to ensure that children survive and develop to their full potential. 15 Page 40 of 106
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Priorities and actions in the Children’s Services Plan link with priorities and actions in the Tackling Poverty Strategy and LCPAR. Examples of partnership work linking with the Tackling Poverty Strategy: y Promotion of free transport for young people through the Young Scot, National Entitlement Card. y Supporting the Tackling Poverty team on ‘The Three Questions’ to engage those in school, those not in school and seldom heard voices in conversations around poverty. y Supporting the delivery of Financial Education Package in schools and community settings. y Launch of Cash First Project supported by funding from Scottish Government to focus on food poverty and insecurity. There is additional funding from NLC to include fuel poverty in this project. y Whole Family Support task group are focused on reducing the cost of living. y Through co-production with children, young people and families, there has been support to all partners and services to “poverty proof” community based activities to maximise attendance, participation and outcomes. The Children’s Services Partnership has six task groups to take forward the priorities of the Plan: y Voice (includes UNCRC) We listen and respond to the needs and views of children, young people, parents and families and include them in plans and decisions that impact on their lives. Representatives on the task group have a role in the broad range of engagement and participation responsibilities and activities across the partnership. The group has an overview, makes connections, co-ordinates and supports engagement and participation. y Whole Family Support The aim of this group is to drive forward multiagency activity to achieve the ambitions of the foundation of Family in The Promise and ensure that children, young people receive support that is relational and trauma- informed at the time they need it. There is a focus on the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund programme of work to support the transformation of the system of support to children, young people and their families. y The Promise and Me Partnership This group lead on delivering the ambitions of The Promise foundation of Care. They have oversight of corporate parenting and develop and publish the corporate parenting strategy and plan, Corporate Parenting in North Lanarkshire, Families and Professionals Together 2023-2026. y Mental Health Wellbeing and Resilience The key role of this task group is to promote the mental health, wellbeing and resilience of children and young people in North Lanarkshire. There is a focus on a partnership approach to implement the Children and Young People Mental Health and Wellbeing Support and Services Framework and deploy the associated resources. y GIRFEC Delivery Group This group is promoting a shared understanding of Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC), embedding the National Practice Model and associated GIRFEC practice materials and guidance. It supports the development and delivery of GIRFEC within the Partnership, driving forward good practice in meeting the needs of families, children and young people so that they get the right help at the right time. y Continuous Improvement Group The Continuous Improvement Group is a sub-group of both the Child Protection Committee and the Improving Children’s Services Group, this provides the platform for taking forward areas of improvement across the partnership whether directly relating to the safeguarding of children and young people or wider children’s services improvement. Each of the subgroups consider how the actions impact on poverty as part of our Childrens’ Services Partnership Planning and each subgroup will address poverty with actions to be delivered by them identified within the Local Child Poverty Action Report Action Plan. 16 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 41 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 The Drivers of Tackling Poverty Increase Income via Employment The Plan for North Lanarkshire has Brighter Futures as one of the 7 priorities within the Plan of Work with the aim to “Support and improve educational attainment, employment opportunities, entrepreneurship, and volunteering”. The economy has not fully recovered since the pandemic, and North Lanarkshire like most authorities in Scotland are experiencing higher levels of economic inactivity, despite the 2.5% increase in the number of adults aged 16 – 64 employed from the previous year, North Lanarkshire still sits below the Scottish average of 74.7% at 70.5%. In relation to the number of adults unemployed, North Lanarkshire is sitting slightly lower at 3.2% than the national average of 3.5%, this is reflected with a decrease of 100 people claiming unemployment related benefits from March 23 to March 24. People are classed as economically inactive if they are not in employment but don’t meet the criteria for being unemployed, examples of this are people who have retired, are looking after family or disabled. In North Lanarkshire 27.6% were economically inactive in December 23, this figure again is higher than the Scottish average of 22.5% of people. 17 Page 42 of 106
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The Brighter Futures programme of work in North Lanarkshire is developing a dynamic landscape in North Lanarkshire with many new and innovative initiatives underway. From Developing the Young Workforce Delivery Plan to the new Working for Families program of employability provision, the journey to employment starts early for young people still in school and targets provision at priority groups and those facing barriers to employment, ensuring the “no one left behind” approach is always taken. The number of young people in North Lanarkshire leaving school and entering further and higher education, training or employment is at its highest level since data was first recorded 13 years ago. In 2022/23 94.7% of school leavers were in a positive destination three months after the end of the school year. The national average was 95.9%. 24.3% of pupils leaving school went into employment, matching the national average The percentage of young people unemployed and seeking employment dropped from 3.4% to 2.9%. The number of young people whose destinations are unknown(25) has decreased from 2021/22 to 0.6%. The Community Learning and Development (CLD) Service offered a range SQA qualifications and youth accreditations, free of charge, to adult learners, parents and young people. In 2023/24, 532 distinct learners (aged 16+) received 699 National Qualifications, boosting their skillset and employment prospects CLD Service offered a range of SQA qualifications and youth accreditations, free of charge. In 2023/24 1571 Children and Young people gained 2111 Youth awards and accreditations. CLD Service delivered Community-based learning opportunities with a focus on reaching vulnerable people and communities. In 23/24 48% of participants aged 0-7; 40% of participants aged 8-15, and 45% of adults (aged 16+) were from the lowest 20% data zones in North Lanarkshire 18 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 18 Page 43 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Developing the Young Workforce Taskforce Developing the Young Workforce Delivery plan brings three offerings to young people within Schools; Universal Guarantee for all children and young people from Early Level through to the Senior Phase, the Additional Offer allowing targeted groups of young people to experience a wide range of opportunities and work-related learning experiences and qualifications to best meet their needs and prepare them to succeed in life beyond school, and The Intensive Offer ensuring all young people have access to a rich curriculum where there is excellence and equity leading to positive outcomes for every child and young person, leaving no one behind. (appendix two) Improving initial and sustained school leaver destinations remains an improvement priority within North Lanarkshire. For young people with multiple and complex barriers to learning, there is a risk that a negative post school destination could lead to long term unemployment and the associated consequences linked to poverty, poor health and wellbeing. North Lanarkshire Council has given all schools in the local authority a stretch aim of increasing positive destination rates. A task force of multi-agency stakeholders including NLC Education Managers, NLC Secondary Schools, Skills Development Scotland, NLC Pathways/DYW, NLC Employability Support, NLC Social Work, NLC Virtual Schools, Routes to Work, Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Regional Group, has been established to deliver the primary objective of driving improvement in positive, sustainable post school destinations for every young person, leaving no-one behind. The task force will work with schools to provide targeted support for identified young people including home visits to offer support and guidance, career events and information sessions, access to wellbeing coaches, personal development and employability sessions, signposting to appropriate services and other bespoke activities to meet the needs of every young person, leaving no-one behind. 19 Page 44 of 106
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North Lanarkshire Summer Placement Programme Over 100 young people from across North Lanarkshire will be earning money and gaining vital work experience during their school summer holidays, introducing our young people to employment and potential future careers with the Local Authority and its Partners. 127 students from local high schools, priority groups and New College Lanarkshire have been employed during the school summer break across a range of employment sectors. The student placements are part of the councils’ One Workforce Plan and Brighter Futures Programme and stem from a highly successful pilot last year that involved 23 high school pupils. 21 of the 23 pupils who took part last year secured a sessional contract with the council, one gained employment as a home support scheduler and the final young person accepted a Housing Modern Apprenticeship. This year the 127 students have participated in various work placements with 19 local businesses, North Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire. The students were matched to work in the following roles: y Clerical Assistant y Clerical Assistant NHS y Customer Services Assistant y Home Support Worker y Locality Support Worker y Integrated Day Services Worker y Store Assistant Operative y Joint Equipment Store y Home Support Scheduler Assistant y Summer Student Construction y Assistant Sports Coach y Early Years Support Worker The placements are offered to students from across local secondary schools and colleges with individuals completing application forms and undertaking interviews. The students who are offered placements will be matched with various council, built environment sector and health and social care services providing them with real-life experiences and inspiring them about the diverse career opportunities within these fields. A celebration event was held on 9th August 2024, bringing all the young people together to recognise the achievements and contributions of the participating students as they prepare to return to school or further education. “The programme has proven to be an outstanding success and one we aim to build upon in the future. It was wonderful to welcome such a talented and enthusiastic group of young people into the workplace last year, and we were keen to get started with a much larger group this summer. Investing in our next generation workforce is a key priority for the council and is crucial to building a strong, vibrant working population to support North Lanarkshire’s growing economy. We believe in fostering a positive introduction to the world of work, teaching essential skills and encouraging teamwork. These skills will help bolster their job applications, university or college admissions and provide possible career pathways. With the students being paid for their endeavours, they can also look forward to spending their earnings on thigs they enjoy such as driving lessons, holidays or socialising with friends. This all helps provide them with a greater feeling of independence and gaining an appreciation for the world of work. Our team will be on hand to give them all help and assistance they need to succeed during their placements.” Fiona Whittaker – Chief Officer People & Organisational Development 20 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 45 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Working For Families The Working For Families employability initiative is part of a broader approach in providing support to Families. Taking a holistic key worker approach, parents are supported to upskill and/or re-train, increasing family income, lifting themselves and their families out of poverty. Working For Families will provide personalised support for parents who face barriers to progressing their careers, including help to gain qualifications, improving skills or work experience, money advice, and motivational support. Working For Families is open to all parents but focusses on the priority families; lone parents, families with a disabled adult or child, young parents aged 25 years or younger, minority ethnic families, families with 3 or more children and families with a child under 1 year. “Working for Families” in North Lanarkshire has been clearly branded with its own website and marketing to reach those parents who are furthest from the labour market and have significant barriers. Routes to Work have a dedicated Working For Families team to support all parents, as well as operating a place-based approach, targeting areas of high deprivation, with the team based in local venues for six months allowing them to deliver intensive, holistic support at those furthest from work. A programme of employability projects has been commissioned through a range of 12 diverse third sector providers to engage with parents in the heart of our communities. One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS) is just one of these providers who have two projects – Transforming Lives and Parent Connections. 21 Page 46 of 106
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One Parent Families Scotland - Cheryl Cheryl is a young single parent aged 23 years with a daughter at 3 years, she in receipt of Universal Credit and due to family circumstances within the home, her living situation had become unsustainable and she went into homeless accommodation. Cheryl was referred to OPFS by her health visitor for support and was allocated a Family Support Worker. Cheryl was encouraged to take part in the OPFS Best Beginnings Parenting Programme, and as a result was able to access the support of a partner organisation to address her mental health and undertake counselling sessions to address her stress and anxiety and develop appropriate coping strategies. This gave Cheryl the motivation to progress onto the 10 week Transforming Lives Employability Programme funded by Working For Families. Following the Programme Cheryl worked with her Employability Advisor (EA) to identify areas of potential employment, apply for jobs and prepare for interviews. Cheryl successfully secured a position as a carer working 14 hours per week at a rate of £13 per hour. While employed, OPFS maintained regular contact, ensuring Cheryl felt supported in sustaining her job. Cheryl expressed an interest in exploring an online learning opportunity. With the support of her Employability Advisor, she successfully applied for and gained access to the course. Cheryl has successfully sustained her employment and completed her online learning course. As a result of Cheryl ‘s employment and changes to her benefits, the household income increased by over £540 each month. “I have never had help and support before, like what I have had with One Parent Families Scotland. When I first contacted you, it was because I was totally lost and in such a desperate situation. Now I am so happy! without you (OPFS), I would not be where I am now. I cannot thank you enough. you have changed and made my life so much better! Thank you!” 22 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 47 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Supported Enterprise “No Limits”, now in its 4th year and funded by Scottish Government No One Left Behind offers young school leavers with Additional Support Needs training and employability support. In addition to their work placement, young people also meet regularly with Supported Employment Job Coaches for tailored employability inputs together with other fun activities such as Hill Walking to develop their independence and life skills. Placements are with the Council or Local Employers with a view to permanent work opportunities for participants. Placements are for 25 hours per week for 52 weeks and paid at £6.40 per hour Supported Enterprise - Tony Scott, a work coach in Supported Employment Team first got to know Tony during his 5th year at Buchanan High School when working towards his Construction Skills Certification Scheme Card (CSCS) and then in 6th Year Tony had a lot of input into creating his own Vocational Profile, building up an in-depth picture of his education, skills, hobbies and interests. During this time Scott was able to source the ideal training placement for Tony as a trainee plumbing assistant with a plumbing contractor. Tony excelled in the job and grasped every opportunity to learn, even volunteering to increase his working week to full 5 days. When Tony’s year of placement came to an end his employer was delighted to offer him a job as a plumber’s mate at an increased pay rate of £12 per hour. The longer-term career plan for Tony is to work as a plumber’s mate for a further year and then enter the modern apprentice programme with an eventual goal of him achieving his dream of qualifying as a plumber. Tony is valued by his colleagues and has earned his place in the “Squad”. He particularly enjoys Fridays when the Squad goes together to the local Café for a big breakfast! Tony’s next goal is to learn to drive which he hopes to do through an intensive driving course. “work gives me freedom and I can be Independent” Tony’s Income: Income at point of referral (per week) Income when in employment (per week) Universal Credit £67.41 £82.61 Child Disability Payment (aged 16) £68.10 standard care £26.90 standard mobility £68.10 £26.90 Wage N/A £369.87 TOTAL WEEKLY INCOME £162.41 £547.48 WEEKLY INCREASE N/A £385.07 23 Page 48 of 106
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The Roots Project The Roots project is an employability programme for care experienced young people. Staff strive to support young people to significantly improve their chances of securing and sustaining employment, leading to increased income and improved outcomes for their health and wellbeing. Provision of placements within North Lanarkshire Council Services or arm’s length and external organisations can last up to 12 months. In addition, a bespoke learning and development package enables young people to gain knowledge and skills in readiness for employment whilst ensuring the young person is supported before, during, and after they enter the programme. The Roots Project - Joe Joe has a mild learning disability which makes following instructions difficult and can lead to frustration. After leaving School aged 16 with a lack of qualifications, experience, and social skills he needed support to find and maintain a job that suited him. Joe struggled with several barriers, including a lack of self-belief and difficulty in communicating with new people and expressing his thoughts and feelings. Joe wanted to work but the idea of moving into a workplace was overwhelming, causing uncertainty and low confidence. Joe had regular meetings with his Job Coach to build his confidence and get him “job ready”. Joe and his Job Coach reached out to several potential employers, including a local supermarket just a short five-minute walk from home. Meetings with the employer to discuss Joe’s support needs and concerns led to an in-work mentor being assigned to help him understand his role and after meeting his mentor and the rest of the staff Joe felt more at ease. Following several job tasters with his Job Coach, Joe was offered a full time Roots work placement for one with year. Adaptations were agreed and made which helped Joe success in his role, this included a phased start, beginning with two days per week and gradually increasing to five days shifts allowing Joe to establish a routine. After completing his placement in March 2024, John secured a permanent 16-hour contract with his employer, with his manager stating; “continuing to do well and push himself to try new things. His attendance and timekeeping have been great, and we are proud to have him as part of our team.” Although his contract is for 16 hours, Joe regularly works up to 30 hours a week, earning a higher salary and taking on more responsibilities. His Salary lets him buy computer games and go on holiday with his family which he would not otherwise be able to afford. “I never knew I could push myself so far out of my comfort zone, but I’m glad I have. My Job Coach and mentor have really encouraged me.” Joe’s Income: Income at point of referral (per week) Income when in employment (per week) Universal Credit N/A N/A* currently awaiting decison Child Disability Payment (aged 16) £108.55 enhanced care £75.75 enhanced mobility £108.55 enhanced care £75.75 enhanced mobility Wage N/A £137.90 * 16 hours TOTAL WEEKLY INCOME £184.30 £322.20 WEEKLY INCREASE N/A £137.90 24 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 49 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Demonstrator Programme Anchor organisations are typically large local employers that can have a strong and positive influence on the health and wellbeing of their local communities. Organisations who are able to do this can make a difference to health and wellbeing outcomes and reduce inequalities through their work across five pillars. These pillars include; being an exemplar employer, adopting procurement practices which support and encourage local investment, designing services to better meet the needs of vulnerable populations, and through managing their assets for the good of the community. As an anchor organisation, NHS Lanarkshire is also dedicated to widening access to employment opportunities for local residents. One of our goals is to help remove barriers and support our most vulnerable groups in finding and sustaining good quality, well paid, fulfilling work. An example of this work locally is through the Demonstrator 2 Programme, placing unemployed or low-earning parents into paid work placements for six months, earning just above the living wage. The programme provides wraparound support, access to vocational training and a paid work placement. Twenty-six individuals started on paid placements in the first cohort, running from September 2022 to March 2023. Placements ran for six months across various sites in a variety of roles and the success was clear to see with 16 out of the 26 moving into positive destinations with many citing that their confidence, wellbeing and financial situations had improved. Following this success, the NHS Demonstrator 2 Programme was launched in October 2023, this time aimed at helping parents 18+ back into the workplace or encouraging parents already working, to upskill by coming to the NHS, in line with the child poverty action plan aims and NHS Lanarkshire’s commitment as an anchor organisation. 25 Page 50 of 106
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39 individuals across Lanarkshire participated in the programme this year, run by NHS Lanarkshire’s Employability Hub Team, in collaboration with International Service System (ISS) at University Hospital Hairmyres and with support from local employability partners. To support the individuals as much as possible, a flexible approach was taken with regards to their working hours to account for factors such as settling back into a routine and childcare responsibilities. There are a variety of job roles, such as admin, domestic, catering, porter and health care support worker, and while on the placement participants undergo on-the- job training and receive support from their onsite supervisors/buddies. The programme is a great example of the importance of partnership working as individuals were referred via the local employability partnerships. The employability staff from these partnerships provided the individuals with useful information sessions on the recruitment process and vocational training before their start dates. Supervisors, managers, and buddies help the individuals that are placed in their department, along with the Employability Hub Team, who provide bi- monthly sessions on topics such as goal setting and interviews to help them plan their next steps after the programme. Nicole, joined the NHS Demonstrator Programme as Clerical Officer, based in University Hospital Monklands. 26 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 51 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 When asked about the main benefit of the programme, Nicole said: “For me the main benefits in doing the Demonstrator Programme has been that my confidence has been boosted and I have been able to get myself into a routine with my kids. It has given me the opportunity to get back onto work when I thought it would have been so difficult and even though it has been as bit of a struggle with childcare at times, all of my colleagues and manager have been very supportive from the beginning and throughout the programme.” When asked about what challenges she had overcome along the way, Nicole said: “The biggest challenges for me were my confidence and childcare, because I hadn’t worked in a while it had diminished my confidence, but I really wanted to do the Demonstrator Programme as I knew it would allow me to get back my confidence and provide for my family financially. I would be able to get the financial support for my family. I was able to get the support from my family with childcare and this gave me the opportunity to participate.” The senior employability advisor from NHS Lanarkshire’s employability hub team, said: “Seeing this programme run for the second- year running is amazing. We have watched it grow this year and it’s been great to see so many NHS managers on-board, offering their support to these individuals. The feedback has been positive with 100% of the individuals that completed our survey rating the support they have received from their department as good or very good (4 or 5 out of 5). The true success has been seeing the individuals progress from their first day until now, with the confidence and personal growth being clear to see. It’s a pleasure to work on this programme along with the local councils, Routes to work and ISS. It shows the power of partnership working as we all have the same goal which is to enhance the life chances of those in our local communities.” For the individuals completing the programme, the world is their oyster. They can apply for vacancies in NHS Lanarkshire, or they can take their new experience and seek a different opportunity. The programme provides them with valuable skills and knowledge to help them succeed within their careers and improve their quality of life, as well as that of their families. 27 Page 52 of 106
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The HIVE The HIVE is a new workspace in Airdrie helping North Lanarkshire women get started and grow in business. The centre has been designed to help encourage and support more women realise their dream of being a business owner. The HIVE provides a mix of: y Desks y Office / meeting rooms y Treatment rooms y Onsite business advice and support y Events and networking meetings The space has been designed to be a welcoming space to meet the needs of the female business owners that will emerge within it. There is a quiet space for concentration, open spaces for making conversations and collaboration possible, and treatment space fitted out to allow pop-up beauty and health and wellbeing businesses to operate discreetly. The HIVE is launching an event designed to help North Lanarkshire women explore childminding as a self- employment option. The event will be a major lever in helping women in North Lanarkshire increase their income via employment, not only for those attending the course to become childminders, but also providing more available childcare for parents who wish to take up employment but face childcare as a barrier. Future reports will monitor the success of The HIVE for women in the priority groups looking at self- employment as a lever to increase income from employment. 28 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 53 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Early Learning and Childcare Provision of Childcare is one of the main levers available to assist parents to increase their income via employment. In North Lanarkshire, quality is at the heart of delivery with a provider neutral approach ensuring flexibility, affordability, and accessibility for families. In line with Scottish Government’s “funding follows the child” approach, families can select the most appropriate provision to suit their individual needs. This includes local authority nurseries, partner nurseries and childminders with availability for term time or all year-round provision. Parents can search a directory for all providers by name or location. Child Care Provision in North Lanarkshire Local Authority nurseries Partner nurseries Childminders 103 41 95 All children aged 3 are entitled to receive up to 1140 hours statutory funded childcare. To allow more flexibility for working parents, consideration can be given to requests for additional hours for children aged 3-5 years, where available, with associated costs. In addition, some children who are two years old, may meet the criteria for an eligible place if their parents are on a low income and/or receiving one of the qualifying benefits or if a parent or child is/has been care experienced. 239 two-year-olds currently take up their eligible free childcare place. We do not currently hold data on how many two-year-olds could be entitled to a place but are not taking up this offer. It is known that nationally the take-up rate for eligible two-year-olds was 52% in 2023. Parents face many barriers to taking up their Childcare offer and we recognise the need to address these barriers by communicating with parents and increase take-up in 2024 to 2025. The “Birth - Three Admissions and Interventions Policy” sets out provision for Children from Birth to 3 years and reflects the principles of GIRFEC. Applications for Childcare places under this provision are made via a Request for Assistance from a supporting agency, and places awarded to families when a professional agency e.g. Social Work has identified that a placement would reduce risk of harm to a child. Children identified as having additional support needs arising from disability or developmental concerns and Children of young parents still attending School themselves may also be awarded a Childcare place. 74 children aged 0-2 receive Childcare support due to their particular circumstances and 120 children aged 2-3 years. Early Invention The Early Learning and Childcare Family Engagement Service works in collaboration with partner services to deliver flexible and responsive family support. Early Learning Staff hold a range of information on family supports available within local communities and staff work hard to break down barriers and allow them to get to know the needs of individual families. Staff can then signpost or request assistance from supporting agencies as required. The majority of our ELC settings and the Family Engagement Service have established close working relationships with services such as the Tackling Poverty Team and support families in accessing appropriate support. 29 Page 54 of 106
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Reduce the Cost of Living The Institute for Fiscal Studies stated that it is likely that the official statistics measured in the usual way actually understate how badly living standards have deteriorated for the poorest parts of the population, and that evidence suggests that those living on the lowest incomes will be more affected than the wider population. Priority families face further inequalities meaning the cost-of-living crisis, which has seen food prices rise by around 25% between January 22 and January 24, cut even deeper. For example, lone parent families do not have economies of scale which couple families do. The increase in living expenses is ongoing and is felt more deeply by families with children, which makes reducing the cost of living a priority for families living in poverty. Debt Advice NLC Tackling Poverty Team (TPT) received 1992 referrals for Debt Advice from residents in 2023/24, an increase from 1744 the previous year. The total amount of debt dealt with by Tackling Poverty Team was £6,418,776. Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABx) across North Lanarkshire dealt with 3846 Debt advice enquiries over the same period. Both NLC TPT and CABx anticipate an increase in referrals due to the lifting of the evictions ban in April 2024 and engagement with Fuel Providers continues to be extremely difficult and time consuming for all advice agencies. 30 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 55 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 In November 23, NLC Tackling Poverty Team introduced a new recording and management information system. The new system provides better recording and means that we can monitor advice provided to priority groups and specific localities. Since November, we have been able to identify that lone parents are the second highest demographic group using our debt advice service, after single adults, and represented 15% of all enquiries to the service. 119 lone parents presented with nearly £222,000 of debt, with low-income being the main reason for presentation. Research has shown that debt has a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of both adults and children within a family, this has been evident in the referrals received by the Tackling Poverty Team with 55% of people presenting to the team since November 23 – May 24, reporting mental health problems. The stress and anxiety experienced by a parent dealing with debt may impact on the wellbeing of children within the family. Affordable Credit We often talk about the “poverty premium” that people living on low incomes have to incur, the highest premium for people is the price they pay for credit, with limited access to affordable creditors, people living in poverty are often pushed toward high interest lenders. The Affordable Credit Group in North Lanarkshire chaired by the Tackling Poverty Team, wanted to address this by raising awareness and widening access to affordable credit. The Affordable Credit Group has members from the local authority services including, tackling poverty team, multiply project and housing services, together with representation from NHS Lanarkshire, Citizens Advice Bureaux, Scottish Illegal Money Lending Unit, Credit Unions, ACS (local business) and Housing Associations. Affordable Credit is a key part of the financial education programme in North Lanarkshire, with the Multiply Project delivering sessions throughout North Lanarkshire to a wide variety of groups to ensure that people living in the priority groups have access to these. The sessions cover a wide variety of topics to assist people living on low incomes to budget appropriately. A common theme in the groups is “when money is tight, how do you plan for the unexpected”. Credit Unions play a key role in delivering savings and affordable credit to our communities, and it was important that they became a key member of the Affordable Credit Group. The Affordable Credit Group tasked themselves with encouraging staff and employers to use payroll deductions to credit unions, this gives the person choice and control over the amount they would want deducted from their salary, there is the added advantage, that when people save or repay a loan through their salary, they don’t have to worry about forgetting or overspending. Together with the Multiply Project, credit unions have delivered information sessions throughout the year, with NLC Modern Apprentices, Mears Group PLC, ACS clothing and participants in the Summer Placement Programme all learning the value of them in both saving and lending with a credit union. ACS Clothing is a local business specialising in rental fulfilment and clothing renewal, employing parents, people with disabilities and are part of a programme where prisoners will work with them during sentence with a job awaiting them on release. ACS approached the Council as they were interested to provide financial education to their employees. 31 Page 56 of 106
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Following the work carried out within ACS with the employees, the Managing Director discussed that after the success they had seen through these programmes, they wanted to engage with other small-medium enterprises in our local communities. In partnership with the Affordable Credit Group and North Lanarkshire’s Business Enterprise, ACS volunteered to host a “Business Breakfast” on 25th June 2024, inviting local employers to attend the event with a theme of Affordable Credit. Seven local businesses attended and heard presentations from Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Poverty Alliance, The Scottish League of Credit Unions and Lazy Day Foods, a local company discussing the benefits of joining a credit union for their workforce. ACS spoke to the businesses about the benefits of the Multiply Project and the payroll deductions for their workforce. Following the event, companies have approached the Multiply Project to deliver sessions to their employees, and a local credit union Newarthill, are engaging with local employers around payroll deductions. The council has launched an affordable credit page both on its intranet to ensure all employees have access to information around credit unions, as well as a web page for all North Lanarkshire residents to find information on local services. Following the Business Breakfast the Affordable Credit Group are working with the Scottish League of Credit Unions and the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (Scotland) to compile a directory of credit unions (local and national) and what financial services they can provide. This will allow local employers to make informed decisions around payroll deductions based on what each can deliver e.g. Mortgage provider, Christmas savings plan etc. 32 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 57 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Free Travel is a lifeline for Young People in North Lanarkshire, enabling equality of access to learning, leisure and work opportunities. Take up rates continue to improve through the work of Local Networks. Free Travel for Under 22s The Community Learning and Development team together with schools, Skills Development Scotland, social work and employability providers all promote take-up with families and young people. Every parent/ carer of a child receives a text detailing the application process and the assistance available. Outreach in schools and community events target the hardest to reach young people including refugees and minority ethnic children and young people. Publicity materials including Tik Toks targeted at young people themselves and videos for parents have seen take up rates peak at 75% with 56,387 cards issued in total. An awareness raising campaign targeting the new Primary One intake and the current S3 and S4 who seem to have a lower uptake of cards is planned in August 2024. 93% of 11-21 year olds in North Lanarkshire now have a free bus pass “If we’re going on daytime activities, I don’t need that extra money for travel – gives me more money for food, more money for bigger activities we can go to, we don’t just have to go to the park that’s free, we can go all over North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, we can go everywhere. That saves me a fortune, I can just google somewhere, £4 for me on the bus, we take a packed lunch and go! ……..Other families should go for it…..go to your local school, the school will help you fill in the forms” Laura, parent of 5, Wishaw Free Bus Travel Card uptake stats 31/3/24 Age Group No. of cards Population % of uptake by age range Junior age (ages 5-10) 13427 23606 57% Secondary (ages 11-18) 28290 32816 86% All age ranges (ages 5-22) 48579 67737 72% *Note: National average uptake is 73% 33 Page 58 of 106
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Helping People to Quit Your Way Smoking is expensive and prices will continue to rise. Smoking 20 cigarettes a day will cost around £5,000 a year. This is based on the average cost of over £14 for a pack of 20 cigarettes, the effects on often already strained family finances are severe. Smoking rates are highest in the most deprived areas, highlighting an ongoing health inequality challenge. 42% of all households in Scotland containing people who smoke live in relative poverty. Smoking is more prevalent in areas of high deprivation with as much as 24% of adults in the most deprived areas smoking compared to only 5% in the least deprived areas. Research also shows that children in deprived areas are significantly more likely to become lifelong smokers. Tackling the issue of smoking and inequality should be a shared approach and messaging must be framed positively with emphasis on support available. The Quit Your Way service targets pregnant women in the most deprived communities, embedding smoking support as early as possible in a woman’s pregnancy journey. Over the last year, 17 newly qualified midwives received smoking in pregnancy training, 81student midwives also received training and 70 NHSL staff have completed a brief online training course on Smoking in Pregnancy. Pregnant women and families are routinely offered a referral to partner agencies to maximise their income. The scale of the challenge remains however, with 12.7% of pregnant women in North Lanarkshire smoking at their 12 week booking stage (January 2023 – December 2023). 11% of pregnant women in Scotland are smoking at the 12 week booking stage therefore North Lanarkshire is performing below the Scottish average. Moving Forward Increased capacity will be available in 2024/25 to support pregnant women and partners in Quit Your Way pregnancy specialist service. Training will continue to partners/organisations working with pregnant women and families. Referral pathways with advice and income maximisation services will be further developed, recognising the links between smoking, health inequalities and poverty. 34 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 59 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Quit Your Way - Emma Emma wanted to stop smoking as together with her partner she was expecting her first baby. At her midwifery booking appointment Emma was informed about the free ‘quit your way’ service and this gave her the motivation to attempt to quit and so asked to be referred. Emma had attempted to quit previously however stresses in life such as her partner losing his job made this too challenging without help. Combination therapy of nicotine patches and gum were the best option for Emma and weekly support was provided by telephone due to Emma’s work commitments which meant she did not have to travel to see her nurse advisor. Emma advised her nurse advisor that she particularly enjoyed colouring books and so used this as a distraction technique when cravings occurred. Emma stopped smoking and is now 8 months smoke-free. She has a baby daughter and is proud that her daughter now has a smoke-free home. Emma believes that she could not have managed on her own and the support from the service along with the nicotine replacement therapy made such a difference to her quit attempt. The Family’s financial position has improved massively due to the savings made and they are able to purchase items for the baby that should she still be smoking, would not be possible. “Using support from quit your way and nicotine replacement therapy made stopping smoking a reality and my baby now has a smoke-free home, which I am very proud of” 35 Page 60 of 106
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Making a Difference – It Starts with a Benefit Check Increasing income via social security benefits is a key driver in tackling poverty and inequality in our communities. The demand on the Council and external commissioned services in 2023/24 has been unprecedented, with the internal service seeing a 41.2% increase in referrals to the service. The Drivers of Tackling Poverty The Team carried out 26,158 benefit checks for residents across North Lanarkshire, resulting in social security benefit increases of £47,935,822 in 2023/24. “Just a few words to say a huge thank you for all your hard work……it is greatly appreciated, and it will make a massive difference in our lives” (service user – tackling poverty team) 36 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 61 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 26,158 Benefit Checks completed by the tackling poverty team for residents of North Lanarkshire in 23/24 41.2% increase £1,211,758 in additional benefit income generated for people presenting in food crisis in 23/24 £8,259,352 additional income generated for North Lanarkshire residents by external commissioned advice services in 23/24 £47,935,822 additional income generated for North Lanarkshire residents by the tackling poverty team in 23/24 35.1% increase £4,846,718 in additional benefit income for people in priority groups in 23/24 £743,199 additional income generated for kinship carers 1908 Universal Credit Assistance Fund Grants awarded in 23/24 72% increase 1060 Rent Assistance Fund Grants awarded in 23/24 51% increase 37 Page 62 of 106
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All roads lead to the Tackling Poverty Team The Tackling Poverty Team have been delivering Poverty Awareness Sessions to internal and external services to not only raise awareness of the impacts of poverty, but, more importantly, to give them the referral pathways to help answer their concerns, such as those posed below. “I am working with a family who I think might need some additional help……” “I think my patient should be entitled to some benefits to help them…..” “Do I need to fill in a referral form….” Listening to those agencies referring to us, and to the people who use our service, the Tackling Poverty Team simplified the referral process into the team. We recognised that cumbersome or lengthy referral forms can be a barrier for some services to refer in, but, more importantly, the people who use the service told us that they didn’t like having to repeat their story to different people. The outcome of this was that all a service has to do is send the team an email with the basic details; name. address, date of birth and contact number, and the team will do the rest. People can also self-refer into the Team, using a multi-channel approach; phone, email, online form. The First Point of Contact Team will call the person within 3-5 days of receiving the referral (same day call back if urgent food/fuel issues). TACKLING POVERTY TEAM 38 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 63 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Self Referral Case Study Lana lives with her adult daughter and young son both of whom have disabilities. Lana was on income support and contacted the Service as she had heard about migration to Universal Credit (UC) and was worried about this. The Welfare Rights Officer (WRO) carried out a benefit check and looked at the impact Universal Credit would have on Lana, noting that with the severe disability premium transitional protection that would be afforded to her, Lana would be better to claim UC prior to managed migration. The WRO identified that Lana’s youngest son was not in receipt of Child Disability Payment. With an annual increase of £5291 in Child Disability Payment and an annual financial gain of £9500 from Universal Credit, this will be a massive help to the family. The WRO did point out to the family that they will have the challenge of the 5 week wait for UC, this would be mitigated by the 2 week run on of income support and housing benefit, Lana will still be liable for 3 weeks rent and loss of income replacement for 3 weeks. Lana was happy to migrate over as the additional income would “make such a difference to her family.” Self Referral Recognising the impact the cost-of-living crisis was having in our communities, the Integrated Joint Board provided additional funding to the Tackling Poverty Team to ensure that we had additional staff to deal with the demand on the service. Promotional work has been done via social media and press releases, to ensure that the public are aware of key changes in the benefit system and where they can go to for help. Universal Credit migration has been a key issue for people, with some people going to be worse off, some better off and some with no change to their income at all, the key message that has been delivered is to seek help as early as possible and the Team will support you through this. That is what Lana did, she had heard about migration but didn’t know what it meant for her and her family: 39 Page 64 of 106
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Education Referral Case Study The school sent an email to the Tackling Poverty Team referring Katie and her parents. Katie who has a learning difficulty was due to leave school, both Katie’s parents (Colin & Brenda) have a disability and they were concerned about what would happen to the family income if Katie were to leave school. Colin and Brenda had a younger son who was still in school. The welfare rights officer (WRO) met with Colin and Brenda and completed a benefit check, the WRO identified a shortfall in the couple’s income, a premium had been missing from their Employment & Support Allowance and had been for 6 years. The WRO had asked about disability benefits for Katie, but the family had never claimed this. Child Disability Payment was claimed and awarded for Katie, and the missing premium pursued by the WRO. The WRO pursued the missing premium as a DWP error, and the family were awarded a backdate of £30,672. Katie’s child disability payment and the additional premium now added to the parent’s benefit amounted to a weekly benefit increase of £209.07. Colin and Brenda stated; “we want to thank the welfare rights officer for sorting out our benefits, we didn’t know that there was a shortfall. This resulted in a nice backdate that we got just before Christmas, this and the extra money has made a big difference to us. Its good to see North Lanarkshire are recognising a need for this vital service.” Education The Tackling Poverty Team has been doing a lot of work in our schools not only with the children and young people through the previously reported “Three Questions Programme”, but also with the school staff taking in part in Poverty Awareness Sessions, that not only shape their Poverty Proofing Schools document, but also, promote the referral pathway to the Team. Following on from the sessions the Team have been invited along to enrolment days for new school starts, as well as parents’ evenings and other events in the schools. The valuable work for children and families the team do was recognised by Additional Support Needs schools, who came together using Pupil Equity Funding to fund a Welfare Rights Officer dedicated to their schools. This is an exciting addition to the Team and will commence at the start of the new school year in August 2024. 40 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 65 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Social Work Referral Case Study Nadia was referred to the Tackling Poverty Team via Social Work. Nadia is a Syrian national with settled status, she has 3 dependent children. Nadia had child benefit for her oldest daughter, but not for her twins who had been born prematurely the year before. Nadia was in receipt of Employment & Support Allowance, Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit totalling £224.15 per week. Social Work Recognising that our social work teams work with some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, the tackling poverty team works closely with social work colleagues, with some staff co- located in the social work offices to ensure support and advice is on hand. Simplifying the referral route for social workers has made significant improvements in the work we are doing with 9639 benefit checks carried out by the team last year, generating a total of £5,062,066 in additional income for those children, families and adults referred to the team by social work. A direct referral route was set up for Kinship Carers, with every application for kinship care being sent to the Tackling Poverty Team for income maximisation, this has resulted in £743,199 additional benefit income being generated for our kinship care children. Nadia is married to Amun, an Egyptian national with no recourse to public funds. The Welfare Rights Officer assisted with claims for; y Child benefit for the twins y Best Start Grant y Best Start Food Payments y Scottish Child Payment for 3 children y New Universal Credit claim as a single person with 3 dependent children (LCWRA already accepted via ESA) y New claim for council tax reduction y 2 claims for Child Disability Payment (enhanced rate daily living awarded for both babies) y Adult Disability Payment for Mona (enhanced rate daily living and enhanced rate mobility awarded) y Community Care application made for moving home y Crisis Grant application The weekly increase to the family income is £1132.32, due to the lengthy delays with processing claims, a backdate of £19,441.72 was awarded. Nadia stated: “financial matters were very bad, so when we asked for help, she was the best helper we could get…. Our situation was bad and she was giving everything she had to help. She waited for hours for the calls to make a better life for me and my children.” 41 Page 66 of 106
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NHS Lanarkshire The inequalities of poverty can increase the chances of children experiencing adversity in childhood, impacting negatively on health and wellbeing, attainment and life chances. Poverty contributes to poor health and inequalities and requires NHS Lanarkshire to work collaboratively with community partners to provide support which focuses on prevention and early intervention to break the cycle of poor outcomes for children and families. NHS Lanarkshire provide funding to the Tackling Poverty Team, Citizen Advice Bureaux and Royal Hospital for Sick Children. The Improvement Service provide funding for the Wealth & Health Project which has a welfare rights officer based in 4 GP practices across North Lanarkshire. As a result, Health Partners have a number of referral routes to information and advice services: y General referral route is set up for health visitors and district nurses y GP Link Worker Programme y Wealth & Health Project (funded by The Improvement Service) y MacMillan Services y Royal Hospital for Sick Children * 2% Royal Hospital for Sick Children 53% MacMillan 13% Health General INCOME GENERATED HEALTH The Partnership between Health and the Tackling Poverty Team has resulted in over 2350 patients receiving a benefit check in 2023/24, with £6,550,056 in additional benefit income being generated. Team Total income MacMillan £3,542,782 Health General £872,366 Health Visitor Referrals £144,251 Health and Wealth Project £1,738,154 GP Link Workers £252,504 Royal Hospital for Sick Children £101,725 Total £6,651,782.00 *The Royal Hospital for Sick Children have a team providing welfare rights support for children from Glasgow, North and South Lanarkshire and surrounding areas. Twenty-one children and their families from North Lanarkshire were helped by this team; 14 were provided support in respect of debt and money advice. In addition, 96 claims for social security benefits were made with £101,725 being generated in additional income for children and families using the Service. 2% Health Visitor Referrals 26% Health and Wealth Project 4% GP Link Worker 42 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 67 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 NHS Lanarkshire also promote the Scottish Government’s Young Patient Family Fund (YPFF) to help with the costs of visiting and providing essential care that supports the health and wellbeing of their child whilst in hospital. The fund works to remove some of the financial barriers for families visiting a baby, child or young person in hospital. Parents and siblings can reclaim expenses for travel, food and overnight accommodation costs associated with visiting a child under 18 years old. To encourage uptake of the fund, NHS Lanarkshire staff have made information available through social media platforms and within staff newsletters and briefings, to ensure staff on site are aware of the fund and how to help families access it. In 2023/24 NHS Lanarkshire paediatric and neonatal units received funding, which meant 20 families from North Lanarkshire were able to make claims via the paediatric unit alone and were reimbursed a total of £5,319. Additional monies were provided to support families via the neonatal unit. NHS Lanarkshire and the Tackling Poverty Team have identified that further work needs to be done with the Health Visitors and District Nurses in terms of refresher training or training for new staff and teams. NHS Lanarkshire Health Improvement staff are delivering sessions centred around the “Worrying About Money?” leaflet, working with a range of staff and volunteers in clinical and community roles, to introduce conversations around money and signposting to appropriate support. In 2023/24, 8 sessions were delivered to 146 participants and collated figures from pre- and post-session evaluation showed an overall increase in confidence in raising the topic of money worries and knowledge of support services available. NHS Lanarkshire and The Tackling Poverty Team will continue to work in partnership and more in-depth training programmes are being worked on for clinical teams and will be delivered throughout 2024/25. 43 Page 68 of 106
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Health Referral Case Study Melissa and her husband Calum live with their 6-year-old twins. Melissa and Calum have recently had to move back home with her parents as their private landlord increased their rent beyond their affordability. Melissa is currently off her work and was referred to the Wealth & Health Project by her GP. The Welfare Rights Officer (WRO) assisted Melissa with an Adult Disability Payment (ADP) claim, through discussions it became apparent that Calum would also be able to claim ADP and the WRO assisted with this. Melissa was awarded Enhanced Rate Care of Adult Disability Payment, she contacted the WRO to ask if she could review the award as she felt that she should have been awarded the mobility component, the WRO advised of the risks involved in reviewing awards. Melissa later advised that she had been made redundant through ill health and was assisted to apply for new style Employment and Support Allowance. The WRO referred Melissa and her family to a local councillor and housing services to look at their accommodation situation. Melissa and her husband have recently been given a new build council property and are delighted. “Due to circumstances with my chronic health conditions declining I found myself having to look for financial support within the benefits system. This was very difficult for me as I have always been employed and knew nothing in terms of navigating the system. It was all new and extremely daunting. I had no idea where to start. I spent hours on the phone to various places looking for support and it just wasn’t there. I explained this to the reception staff within my GP surgery who explained to me about Pauline (welfare rights officer) and the role she had and how fantastic she was at supporting people in situations like mine. I then spoke to Pauline over the telephone who gave me a wealth of advice and even provided me with print outs of my health conditions/diagnosis which helped my application for ADP which I have since been awarded. I then had to make a decision to leave my employment. I reached out to Pauline again and she was so helpful, reassuring and again provided me with the information I needed to move forward. I then met with Pauline and she took so much pressure away from me as she helped me to complete medical questionnaires which were so difficult and stressful. As Pauline is based within my practice, she was able to access the medical information/ evidence I needed to complete the forms. She was so efficient and again reassuring which helped put my mind at ease during these difficult processes. Pauline followed up with me numerous times to see how I was and the status of my applications. If it wasn’t for Pauline and her caring and reassuring manner and all of her valuable help over the last year or so I would not be where I am. I can’t stress enough the importance of having these roles in the practices to help people like me navigate the benefits system and to help provide advice and support where there isn’t any.” 44 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 69 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Third Sector Case Study Katie a 25-year-old single parent with a 3 week old baby, approached her local CAB and advised that she was currently on maternity leave from her part time post, she was currently receiving occupational maternity pay but was struggling to pay for food, nappies and her fuel. Katie advised that she was not in receipt of any benefits for her child, the CAB advisor identified that she was also entitled to Universal Credit. The advisor assisted Katie to claim Universal Credit, Scottish Child Payment and Child Benefit increasing her annual income by £10,067. The advisor was also able to assist with the immediate need by assisting with a crisis grant application, a shopping cart and fuel voucher. The Third Sector North Lanarkshire Council provide grant funding to third sector advice services, the funding is provided on a 2-year basis, with service from North Lanarkshire Advice Network being invited to bid for the grant funding. The Citizens Advice Bureaux across North Lanarkshire have been the successful applicants in the last round of bidding. The Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABx) are commissioned to provide Type II welfare rights and Type I debt advice. The CABx completed 5,957 benefit checks and generated £8,256,352 in additional benefit income for the residents of North Lanarkshire. It is important to note that this information relates only to activity supported through the funding that these services receive from North Lanarkshire. The CABx are partners of the Tackling Poverty Team and members of North Lanarkshire Advice Network (NLAN) and will jointly deliver information sessions in Monklands Hospital. NLAN is also responsible for taking forward the Welfare Reform agenda, this is a group that has been relatively dormant following Covid due to the relative inactivity in welfare reform changes. The group will now focus on the managed migration from legacy benefits to universal credit, with social media messages and attendance at events to highlight the need for early support in these cases. 45 Page 70 of 106
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Cash First North Lanarkshire has led the way since 2014 in promoting a Cash First approach to tackling food poverty and insecurity by ensuring that people do not only have access to crisis grants for the immediate need, but also to information and advice services to ensure sustainable solutions to food crisis, an approach that the Trussell Trust, Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) and the Scottish Government has now adopted in their publication Cash First: Towards ending the need for food banks. Cash First in North Lanarkshire means that when someone approaches any agency in North Lanarkshire in food crisis, they should be referred to either the Tackling Poverty Team who will carry out a benefit check, complete any claims including the immediate need for the Crisis Grant and assist with any budgeting/debt issues or refer directly to Scottish Welfare Fund. North Lanarkshire’s approach has always been No one is left without food, whilst dealing with the cause of the crisis, i.e. “poverty”. In reviewing our approach, it was apparent that one of the barriers to using this approach was the 48- hour delay in waiting for a crisis grant decision. North Lanarkshire submitted a successful application to the Scottish Governments Cash First Partnership Fund which will provide people and families with an interim payment whilst waiting on the crisis decision, thus eliminating this barrier. To access the fund people are referred to the Tackling Poverty Team who will carry out a benefit check and assist with the claim for the crisis grant. While there have been criticisms of this approach, North Lanarkshire’s Tackling Poverty Team generated £1,211,758 in additional benefit for residents presenting in food crisis. Claims for benefits such as; Scottish child payment, child disability payment adult disability payment, council tax reduction etc., thus evidencing that accessing advice services can provide long term solutions to tackling food poverty and insecurity. The Scottish Government funding will also allow for work to be done with emergency food providers, to allow for more uniform reporting, therefore, allowing us to better measure the impact this approach is having on demand for emergency food providers. 46 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 71 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 96% of the people responding to the survey said they were extremely concerned about their situation prior to contacting the Cash First Service, stating: “my son and I had nothing after my husband passed away this was a lifesaver to us” “very fast service the person I spoke to was understanding over my call” “thankful to the service being able to help me during this extremely difficult time” 83% of the people accessing the Cash First Service stated that the service made a difference to them, with 63% stating they no longer had the concerns they had when they first called. With 83% stating they would refer the Service to others. “Great service for emergency circumstances” “Great people dealing with helping others through hardship these people were amazing” John Campbell, Business Manager of the Tackling Poverty Team reflected on the demand on his Team: “I have been involved in welfare rights since 1991 and seen many changes from major benefit changes, to the impacts of austerity on our communities in 2010, through covid, to this cost-of-living crisis. The numbers of people and families who are currently affected and seeking support from my team are unprecedented. It is not just about social security, but wellbeing and mental health security, and giving people the chance to take opportunities that are available to them. When I see the work my team are doing and the difference we can make to people, I am assured that the Joseph Rowntree definition of poverty adopted by North Lanarkshire is the right one.” Having worked in welfare rights for over 20 years I have witnessed many changes, with various governments introducing different benefits and changing previous ones, our job has always been complex. However, with the roll out of Universal Credit and since 2023 the managed migration to Universal Credit, the complexity has increased considerably. With this is an increasing demand to support the residents and families within North Lanarkshire to navigate an ever-increasing complex system. With measures such as the 2-child limit, complexity around Universal Credit as well as other benefit reforms our workload has increased significantly. The impact of being able to support some of the most vulnerable people and families in our area is significant not only in the income generated but also knowing that we are so valued by those that use our service and can make positive differences in their lives. Lynne Whitelaw – Welfare Rights Officer 47 Page 72 of 106
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Holistic Supports In North Lanarkshire we recognise that children living in poverty will face countless challenges whilst growing up, through the work we have done with children and young people they have told us of the challenges they face in education, challenges in housing, the impact on family relationships, even at times facing social exclusion due to the inability to participate in extra-curricular activities or other experiences that their friends can. 48 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 73 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Families Here and Now Service (Whole Family Support) A newly commissioned family support service, developed as a resource to enhance the landscape of early and preventative support for families is now up and running in North Lanarkshire. Recently named the ‘Families Here and Now Service’, it is delivered by a partnership of providers, led by Barnardo’s. Having commenced in the Wishaw area in April, the service is now expanding to cover other areas of North Lanarkshire, with availability across North Lanarkshire expected by December. This service is aligned with community hubs, offering a variety of individual and group-based support to whole families, with the aim to offer support at the right time and place, in a responsive manner. In the first quarter, Families Here and Now received 23 referrals, opening 52 cases for children, young people, parents/carers for a wide range of issues. From the referrals received the service has worked with 6 lone parents, and 8 families affected by additional needs. Given the service is in early stages, reporting on impact will be undertaken next reporting period. The aim of the Families Here and Now Service funded via the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is to deliver the earliest, accessible help to families. The Families Here and Now Service will take part in Poverty Awareness Sessions in September 24 and establish a referral route to the Tackling Poverty Team to ensure easy access to income maximisation, money advice and financial education. 49 Page 74 of 106
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Community Learning and Development - Supporting and Empowering Families Community Learning and Development’s (CLD) family learning programs work alongside families with children who have Additional Support Needs (ASN) diagnosis. Empowering parents/carers by providing resources, workshops and activities tailored to their child’s needs. This can be learning together or gaining specific knowledge on supporting their child. The programmes include: y Solihull – Understanding Your Child y Relax Kids y Sleep Action y ASN parent support groups y Mood for Food y Let’s introduce anxiety management (LIAM) y Family learning – whole family approach “The group has been a lifeline for me, as there is not much support available for families with kids who have ASN, but I appreciate the support I get from other parents and CLD staff.” y Transition programmes y Parenting workshops The CLD programs are inclusive and link in with various partners including, income maximisations and third sector supports. In 2023/24 the programme supported: y CLD have supported 106 families with children who have an ASN diagnosis, 59 of the children attend mainstream establishments y CLD have supported 93 families who have children awaiting and ASN diagnosis through the neuro- developmental pathway, 87 of these children attend mainstream establishments y CLD have supported 19 parents who have an ASN diagnosis to access health and wellbeing programmes y Given the service is in early stages, reporting on impact will be undertaken next reporting period. “As a parent of a child with ASN, the Solihull understanding your child has really helped me. I have gained so much from our group; support, guidance, friendship and a sense of community. I feel more confident and feel like I attach less shame and guilt to my parenting. I understand my children more and this makes me a better parent.” 50 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 75 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Poverty Awareness Sessions Bespoke Poverty Awareness Sessions are delivered across all our partners. Designed specifically to address each service, be it location, type of services, client group etc, they ensure that all partners recognise their role in tackling child poverty. The Sessions challenge Services to recognise that whilst they may not be involved in the delivery of services that will increase a persons’ income or reduce their cost of living, they are dealing with the symptoms of the person/families not having enough money to live on. Services such as mental health, education, health, social work are all dealing with people where poverty is often a cause of their symptom. The Services are given effective referral routes to the appropriate services allowing us to work together to ensure that people’s income is fully maximised, supports to lead them to the job market and where required, financial education / budgeting etc is available to them. In 23/24 Poverty Awareness Sessions were delivered to around 400 staff from health, education, community learning and development, social work, North Lanarkshire Alcohol & Drug Partnership, One Parent Families Scotland and the North Lanarkshire Disability Forum as well as a session to our Elected Members. In 24/25 the Tackling Poverty Team would like to work with Community Boards and take the Poverty Awareness Sessions out to our communities, making local communities aware of the services and taking “The Three Questions” to them. The Team will also be basing themselves within the Community Hubs across North Lanarkshire to increase their presence and availability to our residents. This is an area within the LCPAR Action Plan that will remain ongoing to ensure that effective referral routes are embedded in all our work. 51 Page 76 of 106
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Breastfeeding Breast milk is widely recognised as the most complete form of nutrition for babies. Former UNICEF Executive Director, James P Grant, stated that “breastfeeding is a natural ‘safety net’ against the worst effects of poverty……exclusive breastfeeding goes a long way toward cancelling out the health difference between being born into poverty and being born into affluence….it is almost as if breastfeeding takes the infant out of poverty for those first few months in order to give the child a fairer start in life and compensate for the injustice of the world into which it was born.” More babies across North Lanarkshire are now being given the best possible start in life every year as a result of a range of breastfeeding initiatives across the whole system. NHS Lanarkshire maternity unit, together with North and South Health and Social Care partnerships, were delighted to be awarded the “Baby Friendly Achieving Sustainability Gold award”. In addition, the neonatal unit was delighted to be awarded their stage 2 award in March 2024 and work is continuing towards stage 3. Information on breastfeeding and associated policy has been embedded into the NHS Lanarkshire corporate induction for all new staff and there are 20 breastfeeding groups running across Lanarkshire, as well as further support offered by Community Learning and Development Community Breastfeeding Champions. Additionally, this year, a scoping exercise and initial work on local pathways for staff and partners to support families in financial crisis to maximise breastfeeding and/or emergency provision of formula where required, has been carried out by key staff and work will continue into 2024/25. This was in response to a nationally produced infant food insecurity toolkit. The number of babies breastfed in their first days in North Lanarkshire’s most deprived areas has increased by more than 12% in the last five years, this was recognised in February 2024, when North Lanarkshire Council became Scotland’s first local authority to achieve gold status in the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland (BFS) Local Authority Award. This sees all departments and areas within the council accredited. This is a systems wide approach to training, policies and procedures and supporting both staff and members of the public to promote, support and protect breastfeeding. Education is included, with 100% of Early learning settings achieving the BFS Early Learning Scheme award and >80% of Primary and Secondary schools achieving the BFS Schools scheme award. This award is reaccredited every 3 years, so work is ongoing to ensure the standards are maintained and the appropriate governance procedures are in place. Now in North Lanarkshire, 30.4% of babies are being breastfed by their 6-8 weeks review. This is a 3.8 point increase on the previous year and an 8.8 point increase since 2016/17. Professor Jann Gardner, Chief Executive, NHS Lanarkshire stated; “This accreditation for North Lanarkshire Council is well deserved and clearly demonstrates the positive impact of giving our children the best possible start in life.” The Council recognises that breastfeeding is one of the biggest levellers of inequity that we naturally have and is committed to cultivating a more welcoming environment to encourage more mums to breastfeed. 52 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 77 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 North Lanarkshire’s Virtual School The Strengthening Families Summer Programme 2024 North Lanarkshire’s vision is for all children and young people to achieve their full potential. The virtual school is a small multi-disciplinary team, delivering an intensive service supporting children and young people who are care experienced. In North Lanarkshire the virtual school not only offers this support to those who are currently, but also those children and young people who have been previously care experienced. The priorities of the virtual school are: y To improve the health and wellbeing of care experienced children and young people y To improve the educational attainment of care experienced children and young people The virtual school works in collaboration with young people, their families and a variety of staff including teachers, social workers, support staff and educational psychologists. The commitment from the Virtual School’s Team does not end with the school term, co-ordinated by North Lanarkshire’s Virtual School, the Strengthening Families Summer Programme 2024 provided support to 216 local families. Referrals made from Social Workers for families under the criteria of Kinship, Looked After at Home or Child Protection allowed support to be provided where most needed, over the school summer holiday period. A variety of activities were offered to keep children entertained and to enhance relationships through having fun together whilst minimising the financial impact on families. Activities including a family cinema treat, swimming passes, swim and skate tickets, a visit to M&D’s and a family trip to Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian were available. The Virtual School’s Team ensured that all families could take part by providing funding for all activities including the cost of entry and lunch or snacks per person. Vouchers for kiddie rides were also included for the zoo. Transport was also provided for families who would struggle to get to the Five Sisters Zoo. Virtual School staff organised six individual day trips in July which included local bus pick up and return. 44 families took up this offer. The families and staff involved in The Strengthening Families Summer Programme were enthusiastic about its value to them: “This allowed our family to spend quality time together without the financial barrier.” – carer “We had amazing days out, we would not have been able to afford to do these.” – parent “The summer activities allowed the families I support to have experiences they may not have been able to afford to do, it gave the opportunity for my families to build memories and enjoy days out together. They had a really positive impact and made the summer holidays less stressful for parents who are struggling financially.” Social Worker 53 Page 78 of 106
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Financial Education In North Lanarkshire we believe that Financial Education is one of the most important skills that you can develop, regardless of whether you are a child, young person or adult. Financial Education (children and young people) In 2023 we reported on the work done in our schools via the Three Questions; “how is the cost of living affecting you”, “how is the cost of living affecting others in the community” and “what would you like us to do about it”. The children and young people identified financial education as a priority for them. Initial planning for this was to have the Tackling Poverty Team develop and deliver these sessions, however, further work and exploration was done around this. Education wanted to commit to financial education being delivered across all year groups and at all 119 schools, and it quickly became apparent that this would not be possible to do with the limited resources within the tackling poverty team. Education identified that there was financial education being carried out in some schools, however, this was sporadic, and pupils weren’t necessarily recognising the lessons as financial education. It was agreed to ensure a universal approach to financial education is robust and maximises opportunities to embed financial education across the core curriculum for all learner’s education leads have also begun auditing existing NLC pathways and programmes to highlight to teachers’ core and additional opportunities to teach financial knowledge and skills. Education have identified a programme delivered by Young Enterprise Scotland which can provide an alternative vehicle to deliver financial education senior phase workshops and also provide other materials available for teacher to access and use in the class. The Three Questions have been instrumental in schools’ considering how they will address the “cost of a school day” and it has been agreed that the Tackling Poverty Team will roll this programme out in all schools throughout the 24/25 school term. 54 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 79 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Financial Education – Adults (Sum It Up Project) The Sum It Up Project delivers financial education to adults in our communities. The sessions are free and open to anyone who wishes to take part. The programme comprises of different modules covering; y Budgeting y How to reduce costs y Affordable credit y Savings y Using online tools y Payslips y Preparing for Christmas y Scam awareness y Fuel and energy y Surviving the holidays The sessions can be adapted to provide bespoke sessions to meet the needs of groups attending. The Sum It Up Project delivered 54 sessions in 2023/24, to 334 people covering 79 topics. Sessions have been delivered to modern apprentices, the young people taking part in the Summer Placement Programme, the Disability Forum, mothers’ groups, CAB to Careers. The sessions have been delivered to a number of parents across all the priority groups. The team of staff will be attached to areas within North Lanarkshire and will deliver classes to suit the needs of learners within those communities. Utilizing a variety of methods including face to face, group work, outdoor and online to support the learner’s journey toward confidence and gaining qualifications in numeracy. Sum It up Contact us: 01236 638485sumitup@northlan.gov.ukto find out more Sum It Up offers easy access to free numeracy courses and initiatives that can help learners brush up their Maths skills and help them to become more confident with numbers. Whether you need help in managing your bills, budgeting or you want to improve your potential at work.The Sum It Up team are here to engage learners who are 19+ and live, work, volunteer, or study in North Lanarkshire. We work with learners who have no qualifications or who have some and wish to progress. We deliver level SCQF 2 – 4 in the community and are working with New College Lanarkshire to deliver SCQF level 5. We asked some of the parents who took part in the sessions what difference the course had made to them: “Everything I learned was great. I can do my money budgeting and plan my shopping” “I love this group, it has helped me to be better with my money, and the apps provided are brilliant” “I can now use various shopping apps on my phone for savvy shopping and save on grocery bills. I can budget really well” 55 Page 80 of 106
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Family Nurse Partnership Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) is an evidence-based programme to support young mums aged 19 and under who are pregnant with their first child. Specially trained NHS Lanarkshire staff first meet women early in pregnancy and work with them quite intensively. Fortnightly visits are often the case, to develop strong, trusting relationships. This unique relationship allows for sensitive conversations about many issues and a safe space to discuss things like financial worries, often caused by the changes in their circumstances. Once a baby arrives, regular visits continue, to follow the programme guidance in terms of visiting pattern and to meet the client’s needs. Visits and support with the family continue up until the baby is two years old and then they will transfer into the health visiting pathway after that stage. Family Nurse Partnership Rebecca (17) enrolled with the Family Nurse Partnership in early pregnancy. Rebecca has been the kinship care of a relative for several years prior to her pregnancy. At the time, the family disclosed they were experiencing significant financial challenges, struggling to pay for food and other household bills. Rebecca’s carer also disclosed that he was unable to read and had shown the nurse a number of unopened letters that he had received. Through this disclosure and with the nurses help it was apparent that the family had not received any kinship care payments, nor additional universal credit premiums to support the children. Following a referral to the Tackling Poverty Team Rebecca’s carers income was maximised and they received a large sum of money. This allowed the family to support Rebecca to fully prepare for her baby and feel more financially secure, having a positive impact on their mental and physical health. “My daughter and I have been with my family nurse Stacey for the last year and a half. From being pregnant to now it has been a rollercoaster, Stacey has been through it all with us and supported me through some of the toughest times in my life, when my daughter was diagnosed with hydrocephalus back in 2022 I was so overwhelmed with emotion and so scared for what was to come, we would have never known if it wasn’t for the home visit and regular checkups from Stacey, she went well beyond to support me and my family through such a scary time. Stacey is a credit and has gave me so much courage and strength helping me transform form a pregnant scared teenager into the mother I am today and I will be forever grateful for everything she has done.” 56 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 81 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Housing North Lanarkshire Council have an ambitious New Supply Programme, which aims to provide 5000 new affordable homes by 2035. This includes new housing across North Lanarkshire. The provision of affordable and accessible housing makes an important contribution to tackling child poverty. The council has delivered 1,779 family homes from a total of 2,104 new affordable homes (includes open market purchase scheme / empty homes purchase scheme) since 2010 (up to 31 March 2024). During 2023/24, there were 296 family homes built from a total of 335 homes delivered in this period. Expansions to the OMPS which were made during 2022/23 have further helped to increase supply whilst preventing homelessness and contributing to tackling child poverty in North Lanarkshire. Since 2010/11 to 31st March 2024, NLC built 104 wheelchair standard homes have been built for families with a disability in the household with 34 of these built during 2023/24. RSLs have built 26 wheelchair standard homes suitable for families since 2010/11. Additionally, we build new homes with a study space which meets the current Housing for Varying Needs (HFVN) guidance for a household with 3 people. The proposed new HFVN 2025/26 extends this requirement that any new build home must have a study space, regardless of the size or occupancy which is intended to have a positive impact on educational attainment. All new build developments now have CAT5e cabling installed as standard ensuring the digital infrastructure is in place to support families with a disability. 57 Page 82 of 106
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Reducing Energy Costs Energy efficiency improvements were made to 1446 council homes with the installation of new heating systems during 2023/24, as well as a range of other energy efficiency measures such as external wall insulation, triple glazed windows and solar panels. During 2023/24, we spent £1.96m Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund from the Scottish Government on upgrading non-traditionally constructed homes in Wishaw, Motherwell, Newmains, Newarthill and Airdrie. Our new build net zero project at Dykehead Road in Airdrie completed a further 8 low-carbon homes during 2023/24, bringing this to a total of 19 low-carbon homes which are piloting renewable technologies including air source heat pumps. All these energy efficiency measures to our existing homes as well as new build homes intend to reduce energy costs for tenants and help tackle fuel poverty. North Lanarkshire Energy Advice and Assistance Service is delivered by the Wise Group through their HEAT team (Home Energy Advice Team). The service is provided via home visits with dedicated mentors providing help over the phone to households experiencing an energy crisis. The service works with households to manage fuel debt and related issues, Tenancy Sustainment There are 10 income maximiser/sustainability officers within Housing Solutions who work closely with locality teams to improve income maximisation levels for tenants and residents. We use income maximisation as a first step to help manage tenancy sustainment levels. All housing advisors have a remit to maximise income when they have contact with the tenant, In 2023/24 £18,850,629 was generated in additional income by housing staff for tenants of North Lanarkshire properties. save money on fuel bills, optimise energy usage as well as access energy grants, crisis funds and targeted schemes and initiatives. The aim is to reduce fuel poverty and ensure that no one has to choose between heating their home and eating. 58 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 83 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Homelessness We have embedded a trauma informed approach in homelessness practice with a focus on improving joint assessment and operational processes. This ensures we have a person-centred approach to prevent/reduce homelessness and tenancy sustainment. We have a Care Experienced Young Person’s (CEYP) housing operations group and have developed a robust Care Experienced Young People’s Protocol and pathway, in conjunction with the HSCP, to try to prevent homelessness from occurring. Bespoke housing and support solutions are delivered for Care Experienced Young People facing housing crisis and we have established Youth Housing Champions in localities. We provide reception flats and a training flat to help build confidence and independent living skills, improve the overall level of tenancy sustainment, and avoid homelessness wherever possible. During 2024/25, we will be seeking to optimise this model with an additional two reception flats and another training flat. Barnardo’s Family Plus Service funded by North Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership supports families experiencing homelessness after being adversely affected by domestic abuse and substance misuse to alleviate trauma. Referrals to this specialist service can be made from Housing, Health and Social Work as well as self-referrals. The Family Plus Service aims to resettle families within their community by providing families with practical and emotional support, assistance with housing needs and finance as well as health needs, advocacy, a whole family approach and building the confidence and resilience of children. All our homeless temporary accommodation will start to have Wi-Fi installed from 2024/25, which is intended to improve digital inclusion amongst homeless families. 59 Page 84 of 106
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Case Study - Care Experienced Young Persons Operation Group The Care Experienced Young Persons Operations Group is a network of staff from across a wide range operational services in North Lanarkshire including Social Work, The Promise Development Staff, Health, Housing, Community Learning & Development, Job Centre Plus, and the third sector such as Barnardo’s, Who Cares Scotland and Blue Triangle Housing Association. The group meets to explore the themes and issues that arise for Care Experienced Young Person (CEYP) and raise awareness on how these issues impact on care leavers to identify resolutions. The actions of the group are aligned with the principles and values of UNCRC, GIRFEC, and GIRFE. In relation to the housing needs of care leavers, the CEYP group seeks to consider the operational challenges and barriers to reduce homelessness and support care leavers establish a stable home. The group ensure income is maximised, and care leavers access their right and entitlements to benefits and financial support, receive support around budgeting and managing bills, including rent and utilities. The group provide a networking opportunity across the partnership to promote the supports and services available to young people, identify gaps in support and services considering solutions and responses; and importantly, seeks the views of care experienced young people to inform the actions of the group. The key to the success of the CEYP Operations Group is the collaborative and coordinated approach, which has proved to be more effective in supporting care experienced young people. This approach ensures the most appropriate housing option is identified with support to provide the best possible chances for tenancy sustainment and wider life outcomes. Housing Services and Social Work Services work closely in partnership to ensure homelessness is prevented for care experienced young people, and that a pathway plan is in place, whereby planning takes place at the earliest stage possible with the young person at the heart of their plan. As part of the CEYP, an initiative developed includes the establishment of Youth Housing Champions, which has helped to embed a shared culture of improved understanding of the needs, challenges and barriers that young people face in relation to housing and housing related support and crucially, how housing can meet needs within housing teams. Youth Housing Campions have an important role in improving the quality of planning and support for children and young people to improve outcomes across North Lanarkshire. This CEYP partnership has a unique way of working. It is different from routine/mainstream service delivery as it considers and applies innovative approaches and solutions putting young people at the heart to best meet their needs. 60 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 85 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Case Study - Barnardo’s Family B was facing eviction from their previous private let due to rent arrears. After presenting as homeless the family were relocated into a homeless unit out with their own locality and away from their support network. A referral was initially made to Barnardo’s Keys to the Future to support the family with housing and education needs as the children had poor school attendance. The family consisting of mum, a teenage child and three children under the age of 12 years. Mum had difficulties with her own mental health and anxiety, which were augmented by the lack of her normal support network and changes in health care after the locality move. The teenage daughter was managing issues of trauma through substance misuse. The younger children were attempting to cope with not seeing dad, their mum’s mental health and their sibling’s change in mood and behaviour. The Keys to the Future worker identified that each family member required individual support along with overall family support to allow the family unit to become less fractured. The family did not settle in the homeless unit and there were concerns about the children not attending school regularly because mum was not managing well, and her own support network would generally help with childcare. The children were travelling to and from to their previous school. Mum was supported by Barnardo’s to contact housing to discuss moving temporary accommodation to allow the family to be closer to their schools and support network. The family were moved into their permanent home and began the resettlement process. Mum was supported to complete relevant household tasks, managing the household routine and budgeting as due to mum’s own experience she spent a substantial amount of money buying items for her children to show her “love”, which significantly impacted her household budget. Barnardo’s supported mum to build her own parenting skills and work on healthy ways to show her emotions. The children became more settled in routines, with a much calmer household overall. The children also benefited from intensive one to one support which focused on building their self-esteem overall, reducing worries and identifying individuals to speak to if they need to. 61 Page 86 of 106
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North Lanarkshire Tackling Poverty Conference “Do the one thing” North Lanarkshire’s Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group (TPOAG) brings inhouse Services together with our Partners from NHS Lanarkshire and the Third Sector and is the governing body for the Tackling Poverty Strategy which incorporates the Local Child Poverty Action Report. The TPOAG brought together over 160 delegates from all sectors and services at a conference held on 23rd April 2024. The conference heard the health perspective on child poverty from Professor Josephine Pravinkumar of NHS Lanarkshire, and were asked What Can We Do? From Peter Kelly of Poverty Alliance. Hannah McCulloch of the Improvement Service discussed the challenges of tackling poverty. Whilst Peter and Hannah presented the Scotland perspective, Alison Gordon, Chief Social Work Officer, and Des Murray, Chief Executive (NLC), were able to provide a North Lanarkshire perspective. 62 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 87 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Delegates attended workshops based around the four drivers; Income from Employment, Income via Social Security, Reduce the Cost of Living and Holistic Supports, a further workshop on Financial Education was provided. The Tackling Poverty Team replicated the work of the “Three Questions” carried out in our schools with the delegates at the Conference; y How is the cost of living affecting you? y How is the cost of living affecting others in the community? y What can we do to help? The delegates answered in much the same way as the children and young people, both in terms of how it was affecting them, recognising the impact on the community and also in what we can do to help. Following this exercise, Conference were asked to look at the “what we can do to help” question again and were asked what was the one thing that their service, be them an internal or external partner. To ensure the work goes beyond the Conference, the TPOAG will focus on one service at each meeting, asking them to do a presentation on each of their Services’ “Do the one thing” commitment. The actions identified will help shape our Action Plan, with the Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group taking evidence around these, this ensures that Tackling Poverty remains embedded across our Services and will ensure that the steps we take will become part of our normal everyday practice. These commitments are fed through to the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee. 63 Page 88 of 106
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Achievements and Challenges North Lanarkshire Council and its partners are committed to tackling poverty and inequality in our communities. There have been some considerable achievements in doing this in 23/24, however, there is still a considerable amount more that can be done. The challenges come in doing so in a backdrop of economic uncertainty. The Cost-of-Living crisis has hit a huge number of families, Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported that in October 2023; y 47% of the poorest fifth of households were in arrears with their household bills or behind on scheduled lending repayments y 72% were going without essentials y 58% reported not having enough money for food The work done by all the Partners is essential in helping to lift our families out of poverty. Below we list some of the notable achievements in 23/24 and challenges we face in 24 and onwards. Achievements Challenges £56,195,174 in additional benefit income generated by the partners for residents of North Lanarkshire. Temporary funding and uncertainty around this remains a challenge for all partners. North Lanarkshire Council had its highest level of new home completions in 23/24 delivering 355 additional affordable council homes, 296 of which were family homes. Emergency food providers lack of engagement with Cash First Project making it difficult to identify if referrals are going up or down. A five-year improvement in the number of S4 pupils achieving National 3,4 and 5 awards in 2024 compared to 2019. Higher than average economic inactivity among the working age population remains a challenge for all partners alongside unfilled vacancies for employers. Additional Support Needs schools in North Lanarkshire have funded a dedicated welfare rights officer to work with the children and families from their schools. A key labour market challenge is bringing disabled people and people with long term health issues into the workforce in a manner which allows them to sustain employment. Education have committed to the role out of the Three Questions Programme across all schools in North Lanarkshire All probationary teaching staff and newly qualified social workers will receive poverty awareness sessions as part of their induction. Families Here and Now Service has started and is expanding to make holistic family support more accessible and support families to address barriers, including poverty at the earliest stage. The Council’s No One Left Behind employability programmes supported 850 residents into sustained and fair employment, this number included 85 parents and 92 people with disabilities 64 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 89 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Article 1 – definition of the child Article 2 – non discrimination Article 3 – best interests of the child Article 4 – implementation of the Convention Article 5 – parental guidance and a child’s evolving capacities Article 6 – life, survival and development Article 7 – birth registration, name, nationality, care Article 8 – protection and preservation of identity Article 9 – separation from parents Article 10 – family reunification Article 11 – abduction and non return of children Article 12 – respect for the views of the child Article 13 – freedom of expression Article 14 – freedom of thought, belief and religion Article 15 – freedom of association Article 16 – right to privacy Article 17 – access to information from the media Article 18 – parental Responsibilities and state assistance Article 19 – protection from violence, abuse and neglect Article 20 – children unable to live with their family Article 21 – adoption Article 22 – refugee children Article 23– children with a disability Article 24 – health and health services Article 25 – review of treatment in care Article 26 – social security Article 27– adequate standard of living Article 28 – right to education Article 29 – goals of education Article Thirty – children from minority or indigenous groups Article 31 – leisure, play and culture Article 32 – child labour Article 33 – drug abuse Article 34 – sexual exploitation Article 35 – abduction, sale and trafficking Article 36 – other forms of exploitation Article 37 – inhumane treatment and detention Article 38 – war and armed conflicts Article 39 – recovery from trauma and reintegration Article 40 – juvenile justice Article 41 – respect for higher national standards Article 42 – knowledge of rights Article 43 – 54 The convention has 54 articles 43-54 are about how adults and governments must work together to make sure all children can enjoy all their rights, including Article 45 Article 45 – UNICEF can provide expert advice and assistance on children’s rights Appendix One The Articles of the UN Convention on The Rights of The Child 65 Page 90 of 106
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Appendix Two Developing the Young Workforce Plan UNIVERSAL GUARANTEE All children and young people from Early Level through to the Senior Phase of Learning are entitled to: THE ADDITIONAL OFFER Allowing targeted groups of young people to experience a wide range of opportunities and work-related learning experiences and qualifications to best meet their needs and prepare them to succeed in life beyond school INTENSIVE OFFER Ensuring all young people have access to a rich curriculum where there is excellence and equity leading to positive outcomes for every child and young person, leaving no-one behind • a new and simplified career development model • experience a curriculum through which they learn about the world of work, job possibilities, and the strengths and skills needed to take advantage of these opportunities • access to a curriculum which is aligned to the needs of our key growth sectors and meets the skills required by employers • develop skills and habits for learning, life and work as an integral part of their education and be able to articulate how their achievements relate to these opportunities to engage in profiling that supports learning and development of skills for work and future career choices • a learning environment that recognises and promotes diversity and supports them to understand their responsibility to challenge discrimination develop an understanding of the responsibilities and duties placed on employers and employees • develop an understanding of enterprise, entrepreneurship, and self- employment as a career opportunity y know where to find information and access online resources such as My World of Work y develop Career Management Skills as an integral part of their curriculum • further develop Career Management Skills through groupwork and individual sessions with SDS careers advisers • Vocational, Education and Work-Based Learning – linked to growth employment sectors with predicted skills shortages including Early Education and Childcare, Health and Social Care, Construction and Hospitality • Apprenticeships – Opportunities at every level >> • Wider Achievement – access to recognized qualifications/awards including Prince’s Trust Achieve, Duke of Edinburgh, Dynamic Youth • Leadership Academy – Wide range of Council Services will deliver training and support in areas such as sport, dance, drama, enterprise, digital and STEM. This will allow young people to deliver activities to younger children further enhancing their own opportunities • Employability Mentoring – Targeted young people matched with a trained mentor from local business or NLC who will build a supportive relationship, encouraging personal growth, nurture talent and build networks to help lead to a desired positive destination • Digital School – targeted opportunities including coding programme, Smarthub CoBot pilot project in collaboration with New College Lanarkshire and working collaboratively with NHSL to highlight pathways into key roles within NHS • Widening Access and Participation to Higher Education – innovative employability pathways, and partnerships including HNC Pathway with New College Lanarkshire and the University of the West of Scotland • Academy NL – mapping current and future labour market demand, stimulating further growth and opportunities for apprenticeships and other placements aligned to employment growth sectors including Health and Social Care, Construction and Digital Skills • STEM – access to high quality STEM opportunities. Digital literacy in the world of work focus, Gender imbalance/ inequalities will be addressed through a programme of positive action. • Creativity, Enterprise, and Employability – Dragons Lair initiative -S3 in all Secondary Schools. Supported by Lanarkshire Business Gateway to identify a product/ service to promote and sell, create a business plan, and pitch their idea to a team of dragons – local • The Virtual School • Routes to Work in Schools • Supported Employment • Roots/No limits/Project Ability 66 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 91 of 106
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ChildPoverty Action Report LOCAL NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2023 - 2024 Appendix Three Tackling Poverty Strategy Action Plan 2023-2026 INCREASE INCOME VIA EMPLOYENT No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 1 North Lanarkshire to increase the number of people employed and receiving the real living wage Payment of the living wage by employers is amongst those interventions that can support people out of poverty and is part of wider Fair Work commitments There is an increase in the number of NL employers in public, business and community and voluntary sectors with real living wage accreditation Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Plan Brighter Futures 123 employers have achieved accreditation, with 7053 employees benefiting from the living wage 135 NL based employers have achieved accreditation with 27, 977 employees benefitting Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR NLC Employability VANL for CVS * Number of employers paying the living wage * Number of employees receiving the living wage 2 Social Values North Lanarkshire will look to integrate social values and the objectives into the tendering process that will allow the weighting for fair work to be flexible to ensure that social values and community benefits are embedded in the contract . An increase in NL residents receiving the “real living wage”. Workforce for the future transforming places 5% current weighting applied 5% current weighting applied Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Procurement Number of tenders where higher weighting was applied to living wage providers 67 Page 92 of 106
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INCREASE INCOME VIA EMPLOYENT No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 3 Working for Families Support families who are in or at risk of poverty to support/ access into work. Refreshed publicity to partners and public required An increase in parents entering and progressing in employment * Workforce for the Future * Economic Regeneration Plan * Local Child Poverty Action Plan Brighter Futures 22/23 - 40 parents have secured employment. Further 18 employed parents have progressed within employment. 104 parents have registered and are engaging with the Project. "In 2023/24 North Lanarkshire’s Working and Routes to Work Ltd supported 85 parents into employment or into better paying jobs with 75% sustaining employment for at least 26 weeks. All activities related to parents and increasing income from employment have access to advice and support from the Tackling Poverty team and there are close links with other services which deal with parents both in the Council and among stakeholders. In 2024/25 an increased target of 192 low income parents into employment is in place with a similar level of grant funded programmes within the third sector to support parents." Subject to annual funding from the SG - further activity planned for 2023/24 2023 / 24, however, subject to funding may continue beyond this TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Routes to Work Number of parents entering and within target groups progressing in employment 4 Identify pathways within labour market growth sectors or areas of high replacement demand which will provide progression routes out of low pay in North Lanarkshire. As part of the Council's Workforce for the Future Strategy and associated plan, work progression pathways will be identified for key labour market growth sectors or those with high replacement demand. These will focus on progression routes out of low pay and strategies for engaging young people (in schools) and those economically active in the labour market (through Routes to Work) to consider increasing their qualification levels and job prospects to improve average weekly wage levels and alleviate “in work” poverty. Progression pathways identified for key growth sectors with qualifications and progression routes agreed, published and funded. Workforce for the Future Economic Regeneration Plan Developing the Young Workforce Brighter Futures The gross weekly wage in North Lanarkshire (based on all full time workers) was £656.60 in 2022 The gross weekly wage in North Lanarkshire(based on all full time workers) is £705.70, an increase of 29.3% Ongoing The gross weekly pay for local residents is now higher than the national average for the first time ever - an increase of 10% (£63.90 per week) for North Lanarkshire residents from the previous years results TP Strategy and LCPAR Enterprise Team Number of people progressing to higher paid jobs within North Lanarkshire Noomis statistics for levels of qualifications within working age population and average weekly wage 68 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 93 of 106
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INCREASE INCOME VIA EMPLOYENT No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 5 Supported Enterprise Targeted employability support on people with disabilities or other significant barriers to help them secure fair and sustained work. Also support for disabled parents to enter employment. Reduction in the disability employment gap in NL Workforce for the Future Economic Regeneration Plan Developing the Young Workforce Brighter Futures 22/23 - Supported Employment currently supporting 210 people on the different stages of the 5 stage employment model - 129 people currently receiving various levels of work support 41 people currently job finding NLC Employability also funded the NHS Lanarkshire Demonstrator 2 Programme. This initiative focused on placing 23 unemployed or low-earning parents into paid work placements for six months, earning just above the living wage within NHS posts. This was resource internally and with a real commitment from NHS Lanarkshire and proved a really effective route for securing good quality employment opportunities for parents and will be repeated in 2024/25. Ongoing Continued support planned for the next 3 years TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Number of people progressing to higher paid jobs within North Lanarkshire Noomis statistics for levels of qualifications within working age population and average weekly wage 6 No one Left Behind Targeted employability support for vulnerable young people who have mental health problems, the BAME community and over 50s, with delivery through CVS organisations. In addition funding identified to support 200 young people. Rise in employment figures in targeted groups. Targets met to support young people in gaining qualifications Workforce for the Future Economic Regeneration Plan Brighter Futures 22/23 - Engaged with 101 people and supported 49 into employment. The focus is on 2 groups, the over 50s and those of any age who are long term unemployed. In 2023/24 147 16 -24 year olds were supported into employment – this was a mix of unemployed young people with little work experience or qualifications as well as a small group who were leaving school to a negative destination. In addition another 30 young people with additional support needs or who are care experienced were supported into year long work placements. In 2024/25 a target of 155 unemployed young people supported into work is in place with another 30 young people with additional support needs or who are care-experienced being supported into yearlong work placements. In tandem with these programmes in 2024/25 are our wider employability programmes which are targeting employment for 940 unemployed or economically inactive residents this year." Ongoing Continued support planned for the next 3 years TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Number of people in target groups employed. Number of young people supported to gain qualifications 69 Page 94 of 106
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INCREASE INCOME VIA EMPLOYENT No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 7 No One Left Behind Phase 2 implement grant programme in 2022/23 to distribute £1.6 million to employment projects across North Lanarkshire which target support on groups who may be in poverty due to unemployment Rise in employment figures in targeted groups Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Brighter Futures N/A Nine projects were funded (cost £560,000) and delivered by the Third Sector in North Lanarkshire to work with parents on low incomes and focus on engaging them in activities and removing barriers to make them more job ready. People Plus, One Parent Families Scotland, Enable and New College Lanarkshire were some of the organisations involved in these projects. Ongoing Continued support planned for the next 3 years TP Strategy and LCPAR Employability Number of people in target groups employed 8 Living Hours Adequate income is reliant on both living wage rate and also sufficient working hours to provide a liveable income. Living hours are part of wider Fair Work commitments There is an increase in the number of NL employers in public, business and community and voluntary sectors with real living wage accreditation. Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Brighter Futures N/A N/A Ongoing Ongong TP Strategy and LCPAR NLC Employability VANL for CVS Number of employers providing living hours employment. Number of employees working living hours 9 Increase entrepreneurship, self-employment and the business birth rate in North Lanarkshire Deliver a range of interventions including school-based activities to increase the numbers of people considering or in self-employment in North Lanarkshire, to increase the business birth rate and to support those businesses to survive and grow An increase in the percentage of economically active in North Lanarkshire in self-employment, an increase in the number of new business starts per 10,000 working age population and an increase in the 3-year business survival rate Workforce for the future Economic Regeneration Brighter Futures Invest in North Lanarkshire n/a All activities related to parents and increasing income from employment have access to advice and support from the Tackling Poverty team and there are close links with other services which deal with parents both in the Council and among stakeholders. Annual Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Enterprise and Development ONS annual population survey (Self employment statistics) Business Birth and Survival Rates – ONS Business Demography 70 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 95 of 106
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REDUCE THE COST OF LIVING No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success 2022 /23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 1 Increase uptake of School Clothing Grants Introduce online application form for FSM & CG Continue to automatically award where we have customer consent Use automation to process our auto award caseload The number of School Clothing Awards increases 12,784 Clothing Grants awarded from June 2022 - May 2023 For School Pupils. An additional 937 Grants for made for nursery pupils 11,864 Clothing Grants awarded from June 2023 - May 2024 For School Pupils. Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits The number of clothing grants claimed and distributed 2 Increase uptake of Free School Meal Awards Introduce online application form for FSM & CG Continue to automatically award where we have customer consent Use automation to process our auto award caseload The number of Children entitled to Free School Meals increases 12,151 FSM awards in 2020, 11,176 awards in 2021, 10,683 awards in 2022 10,401 FSM * No of school meal holiday vouchers issued 9999 pupils total value of £1, 497,503 Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits The number of Children in receipt of Free School Meals 3 Club 365 Promote Activities and meal provision through Club 365 Initiative Numbers of Children attending and meals provided. £2.50 per day paid during school holidays to those in receipt of FSM Club 365 has provided over 88, 000 meals and activity sessions since inception N/A Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits Numbers of Meals and Activity Sessions Delivered 4 Increase uptake of education maintenance allowance (EMA) Ensure full take of Education Maintenance Allowance. Promotion of EMA through Education Newsletter to schools and locally within schools to raise pupil awareness. Review publicity - posters leaflets etc not distributed recently Discussion within EMA and SMT meetings on improving up-take. Young People can access EMA In 22/23 1327 applications. 876 awards. 66% award rate (down from 73% award rate in 21/22) In 23/24 1537 applications. 944 awards. 61% award rate (down from 66% award rate in 22/23) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Revenues & Benefits The number of EMA grants claimed 5 Increase take up of Free School Meals In situ • Trial new methods of engagement with parents and carers, e,g attend parent council meetings and inviting parents for a school meal and information session • New management information system to give insights into trends, most popular choices, which ages take up free meals • Work with other local authorities developing menus, to improve sustainability and better safety and choice for those with special diets (>>ASIST and APSI) • Work with schools around different “sittings”, and overflow areas. • Capital investment to return more schools to Production kitchens • Continued roll out of electronic menu notifications to parents and carers • Consultation with secondary school pupils via a QR code (promoted via a ‘Tell us what you think’ poster displayed around schools allowing pupils to scan / access via mobiles) • Primary school parents online survey (targeted via menu email / school newsletter email and also placed on NLC website on menu page) • Primary pupil surveys (via either focus groups / school meals mystery shopping / pupil surveys designed specific to age groups (P1-3 / P4-7) Percentage of Children taking up free school meals when they have entitlement is increased Currently (May 2023) at 65-70% (May 2024) at 65-70% Ongoing Launched and ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Facilities Support Services Take up rates for Free School Meals 71 Page 96 of 106
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REDUCE THE COST OF LIVING No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success 2022 /23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 6 Fuel Poverty Provision of a short term funded Energy Advice Service to comprehensively alleviate the levels of fuel poverty evperienced by vulnerable households. HES no of referrals from NL. CAB energy project nos of referrals Number of households assisted Unknown as SHCS data unavailable for Local Authorities however, zero has been used as the starting point for the introduction of this service 159 households assisted 2023/24 2 years Launched and ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions will be monitored via NLAN and Wise Group reporting 7 Affordable Credit To promote credit unions across North Lanarkshire employers and communities to encourage more people to join to increase access to affordable credit. To widen access to payroll deduction for credit unions and access to affordable credit. Establish a Credit Union Forum in North Lanarkshire Credit union membership numbers *Local Employers signing up to CU payroll deductions 5 credit unions affiliated to the Scottish League of Credit Unions have 9,642 adult members and 1,462 junior members. Unable to get contacts for ABCUL credit unions at present. 5 credit unions affiliated to the Scottish League of Credit Unions have 10,250 adult members and 1,460 junior members. Unable to get contacts for ABCUL credit unions at present. Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team The number of employers promoting payslip deductions The number of people joining the credit union 8 Debt Advice Advice and support in relation to debt and budgeting advice provided by Council and Externally commissioned advice services Assist people out of debt and provide them with the tools to budget accordingly 1744 referrals received in 2022/23 NLC TPT) 1886 referrals received in 2023/24. (NLC TPT) 3,846 referrals (CABx) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of referrals to the Debt Advice Team Level of debt assisted 9 New Affordable Homes Deliver 5000 new affordable homes by 2035 Reduce the cost of living by increasing the supply of energy efficient, affordable homes At 1 December 2022, 1,566 homes delivered (970 new build + 596 OMPS) Since 1 December 2023, 541 new homes delivered (381 new build + 160 OMPS) 2035 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing New Supply Number of new homes built 10 New Affordable Homes Support housing association and co-operative partners to deliver new homes Reduce the cost of living by increasing the supply of energy efficient, affordable homes 2126 homes have been delivered 318 homes have been built since 1st Dec 2022. 2444 homes have been delivered Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing New Supply Number of new homes built 11 Improved Energy Efficiency in NLC Housing Stock Ensure all lettable housing stock is EPC D or above by 2025 by improving energy efficiency All housing stock is EPC D or above by 2025 At 2021/22, 99.2% of the homes are at D or above 99.5% of all NLC housing stock is rated EPC D or above Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Investment All housing stock is EPC D or above by 2025 12 Improve Energy Efficiency to owner occupied properties EES:ABS Scottish Government funding if avaliable Provide advice to households on energy efficiency measures supoprted by online information and in person advice provided by council and CVS. Reduce the cost of living by increasing the energy efficieny of homeowners housing stock £0.1 m spent In 2023/24 it is expected that £2m will be spent on private owned properties Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions Number of homes approved 72 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 97 of 106
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REDUCE THE COST OF LIVING No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success 2022 /23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 13 Support homeowners to adapt their homes Deliver advice and assistance to homeowner through the Scheme of Assistance Reduce the cost of living by preventing and addressing disrepair and improving health and wellbeing by suporting owners to adapt their homes 187 disabled adaptations grant provided in 2022 - the scheme has been revised with no funding available for owner grants 236 disabled adaptations grant provided in 2023 - the scheme has no funding available for owner grants Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy Only Private Sector Housing Reduce the cost of living by preventing and addressing disrepair and improving health and wellbeing by suporting owners to adapt their homes. *Revision of scheme of assistance completed. Other than mandatory (Disabled Adaptation Grants) no funding available for owner grants for disrepair. Current grant funding for NLC capital programmes is scheduled to end this year and no new financial assistance has been identified. Owners will continue to be provided with advice/ assistance when possible but no financial assistance 14 Furniture Fund Provides items beyond SWF-Community Care Grant items in place for Housing First clients and people people who are homeless/at risk of homelessness Reduce the cost of living by providing financial support for better quality furniture to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to settle in their accommodation. In 2021/22, 23 Housing First households assisted at an average figure of £861.39 per household from RRTP. N/A Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy Only Housing Solutions Reduce the cost of living by providing financial support for better quality furniture to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to settle in their accommodation 15 Support homeowners to adapt, repair and maintain their homes (within mixed tenure blocks) Where NLC investment programme includes owners in blocks with NLC staff, liase though voluntary agreement, enforcement where appropriate, EES:ABS programmes as appropriate Reduce the cost of living by increasing the supply of energy efficieny of housing stock across all tenures 99.2% of the homes are at D or above 99.2% of the homes are EPC D or above Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions Number of home owners assisted 16 Free Transport for Under 22's Promote and Maximise uptake of Free Bus Travel for 5-21 year olds Number of travel cards issued and in use 42,160 total number issued. 61.75% overall uptake 56,387 total number issued. 75% overall uptake Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR CLD number of travel cards provided 73 Page 98 of 106
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REDUCE THE COST OF LIVING No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success 2022 /23 Baseline 2023/24 Outcomes 2024/25 Outcomes 2025/26 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 17 Improved and accessible walking, wheeling and cycling network. Creating or enhancing active travel routes will improve the ability of all people to walk, wheel or cycle for any journey purpose within North Lanarkshire Equity of access for all our communities with mid term target of 50km to be created by 2026/27 7.8 kms of active travel routes created in 2021/22 N/A - see 'Supporting the Plan' Driver 125kms to be created by 2032 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Transportation / Planning number of travel routes 18 Address Period Poverty Provide women with access to period products within education and other public buildings Develop Peer Support Programme Expand number of council building access points-expand community group partnerships from 8- 10 areas-develop recording to better understand demand and distribution-consider period card scheme. Distribution across all of North Lanarkshire. Number of products distributed 311, 767 products to NLC establishments (excluding education and culture venues) 87,396 to education 733,692 products were distributed in total. (82,596 to NHS sites & 651,096 to NLC sites) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Enterprise and Communities Number of products delivered and taken up 19 Support people to stop smoking to reduce outgoings Stopping smoking can have a positive impact of finances as well as health. Brief intervention and referral to the Quit Your Way service in Lanarkshire can support people to successfully quit smoking. Pregnant women are a particularly key target group. Yearly target 23/24 for 52 pregnant women who live in 40% most deprived areas to successfully stop smoking at 12 weeks (to be reviewed in 2024 after national tobacco control action plan is published). Awareness raising training sessions to be completed with Tackling Poverty staff. "24 pregnant women living in the 40% most deprived areas successfully quit smoking at 12 weeks (April 2022-Dec 2022 data). Published and confirmed data for April 2022 – March 2023 will be available in January 2024. NL % of pregnant women smoking at booking in appt 12.6% year ending Dec 2022 (scotland rate 11.9%)" 28 pregnant women living in the 40% most deprived areas successfully quit smoking at 12 weeks (April 2023-Dec 2023 data). NL % of pregnant women smoking at booking in appt 12.7% year ending Dec 2022 (scotland rate 11%) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR NHS Lanarkshire Quit Your Way Service Number of Tackling Poverty staff members trained. Number of pregnant women supported to stop smoking. 20 Recycled Bicycle Initiatives Individuals subject to unpaid work work within the bicycle recycling project Bicycles provided to low income families and donated to the Christmas Toy Appeals 320 bicycles recycled 320 bicycles recycled 2022/23. Programme of bike maintenance underway Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Restorative Justice Number of bikes restored 21 Cost of Living Survey Cost of Living Survey delivered to the residents of North Lanarkshire - this will help develop and deliver services Services and resources directed with the outcomes of the survey N/A N/A Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy Only The Tackling Poverty Team number of surveys completed 74 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 99 of 106
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INCREASE INCOME VIA SOCIAL SECURITY No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/2023 Baseline 2023/2024 Outcomes 2024/2025 Outcomes 2025/2026 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 1 The Tackling Poverty Team and other council services to continue to maximise the income of the residents of North Lanarkshire All residents are offered income maximisation and we continue to promote the “no wrong door” approach Residents will be directed to the tackling poverty team to ensure income is fully maximised The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People 18,521 benefit checks carried out in 2022/23 - £35,480,020 generated in addtiional income 26,158 benefit checks carried out in 23/24 (41.2% increase) - £47,935,822 generated in additional income (35.1% increase) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR 0 Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated 2 Work with all social work services to ensure income maximisation is carried out for all vulnerable client groups Social Work staff refer people to the Tackling Poverty Team who will carry out all income maximisation work Referrals to the tackling poverty team from all social work staff The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People 4888 benefit checks carried out in 2022/23 9639 benefit checks carried out in 23/24 (now able to report income gen - £5.062.066) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated 3 MacMillan Advice Service Maximise the income of cancer patients, their families and carers Provide an income maximisation and debt advice service The Cancer Strategy Resilient People 700 referrals in 2022/23 700 referrals in 2023/24 (generating £3,542,782) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated 4 Food Poverty Referral Gateway Mitigate the need for foodbank use by ensuring access to advice services and claims to crisis grants A decrease in the use of foodbanks The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People not available work still being carried out on referral monitoring with food banks Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of referrals to foodbanks Number of Crisis Grant applications 5 Food Poverty Action Group Group to consider uniform recording across all emergency food providers Uniform recording adopted by all emergency food providers The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People n/a 21 food providers contacted - 3 currently working with co- ordinator Nov-25 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of foodbanks recording 6 Welfare Reform Group The welfare reform group to ensure serviceds, elected members etc are kept fully abreast of welfare reform changes and their impact on our communities Updates are provided and action taken when necessary The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People n/a NLAN - social media messages around managed migration. Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR North Lanarkshire Advice Network Issues raised / campaigns 7 Health Staff refer to income maximisation and debt advice services Health Staff will ensure money issues are addressed and referrals are made to the tackling poverty team Increased number of teams and services in NHS Lanarkshire referring patients to the tackling poverty team to ensure income is fully maximised NHS Cost of Living Resilient People 394 referrals 22/23 591 referrals received in 23/24 (increase of 50%) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated / Number of health teams or services referring 8 Improvement Service Project - GP Practices GP Practices identified by the Improvement Service have a welfare rights officer in situ, with access to GP records The welfare rights service is integrated into the GP Practice The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People 357 referrals 22/23 608 referrals received in 23/24 (70% increase) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated 9 Relaunch Health Visitor & District Nurse Referral Pathway Poverty Awareness Training and pathway training to take place Health visitor and district nurses make referrals to the tackling poverty team NHS Cost of Living Resilient People n/a 119 referrals received in 23/24 Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of referrals to the tackling poverty team 75 Page 100 of 106
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INCREASE INCOME VIA SOCIAL SECURITY No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/2023 Baseline 2023/2024 Outcomes 2024/2025 Outcomes 2025/2026 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 10 GP Community Link Worker Programme community link worker embedded within GP practices across North Lanarkshire making referrals to information and advice services Embed link workers and increase support to patients NHS Cost of Living Resilient People 482 welfare rights referrals (22/23) 146 debt advice referrrals (22/23) 333 welfare rights referrals (23/24) 31% decrease 133 debt advice referrals (23/24) 9% decrease Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated 11 Commissioned Services - Income Maximiation via Benefit Uptake All residents are offered income maximisation and we continue to promote the “no wrong door” approach The successful commissioned service offer income maximisation to the residents of North Lanarkshire NHS Cost of Living Resilient People £5,267,650 income generated for north lanarkshrie residents 2022/23 £8.259.352 income generated for north lanarkshire residents 23/24 - 55% increase Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated 12 Rent Assistance Fund Rent Assistance Fund – to assist people who have experienced/are experiencing financial difficulty due to the increase in the cost of living. If tenant has received a previous award of funding from SG – TGF or SC Lacer Fund – they will not be eligible. Tenants can receive a maximum award of £2250 and this funding is not re-payable (fund allocation £1,000,000) Fund directed to people in need Local Housing Strategy Resilient People 522 grants awarded in 22/23 1050 grants awarded in 23/24 (103% increase) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Number of people Assisted 13 Universal Credit Assistance Fund UCAF award is to assist tenants who have fallen behind with their rent due to the 5 week waiting period, and tenants who are in receipt of Universal credit are eligible to apply People can access the fund, it requires to be paid back, however, this is at an affordable level - the fund ensures that people can remain in their own home with their arrears being managed. Local Housing Strategy Resilient People 522 grants awarded in 2022/23 1908 grants awarded in 23/24 (265% increase) Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Services Number of loans provided / loan repayments 14 Welfare Rights Officer - Additional Support Needs Schools Welfare Rights Officer to deliver income maximisation to families and carers Number of referrals / income generated The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People introduced in 2024 Pilot for one year August 2025 Starting in August 2024 TP Strategy and LCPAR Education and The Tackling Poverty Team Number of people accessing the service / income generated 15 Work with the community and Services to encourage challenges to benefit decisions via Mandatory Reconsiderations and Appeals to Upper Tribunal level Encourage residents to exhaust all challenges to benefit decisions Number of mandatory reconsiderations / number of appeals lodged / income generated via MR and Appeal The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People introduced in 2024 (however, stats available for 23/24) * 293 Mandatory Reconsiderations * 124 appeals * £1,269,619 generated Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Tackling Poverty Team Number of mandatory reconsiderations / number of appeals lodged / income generated via MR and Appeal 76 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 101 of 106
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HOLISTIC SUPPORTS No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/2023 Baseline 2023/2024 Outcomes 2024/2025 Outcomes 2025/2026 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 1 Sustain Tenancies Deliver increased financial advice and assistance via 8 income maximisers increase incomes from social security, reducing rent arrears and sustaining tenancies in social rented homes Local Housing Strategy Resilient People £15,041,070 income generated - 4007 benefit checks completed £18,850,629 income generated - 7040 benefit checks completed Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Housing Solutions Number of Benefit Checks / Benefit Claims / Resolutions Income Generated 2 Whole Family Support To create a flexible, reliable and integrated support for families to ensure that every famly who needs support gets the right support at the right time. People have access to income maximisation, employability and money advice services at the right time. Childrens Services Plan Resilient People n/a Barnardos awarded the contract - Families Here and Now Service started June 2024 2023 - 26 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Education, Children and Families Inter service referrals 3 Arrest / Referral Service The North Lanarkshire Arrest Referral Service is focussed on early intervention by providing support to people whilst held in police custody and connecting them to services within the community to address individual needs. Number of referrals to the tackling poverty team Community Justice Improvement Plan Resilient People n/a Meeting held - service leaflets provided 2025 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The service is delivered by Scottish Drugs Forum and Phoenix Futures and funded by North Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership for a period of 18 months as a Test of Change. Number of referrals / income generated / debt advice provided / financial education 4 Poverty Awareness Sessions Bespoke poverty awareness sessions for council, NHS and third sector partners Number of people attending the sessions and ultimately the number of referrals this leads to The Plan for North Lan Resilient People n/a 328 staff attended poverty awareness sessions (health/ education/CLD/ social work/nqsw/ NLADP/ One Parent families/NL Disability Forum Onggoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of sessions delivered / number of people attending / referrals following the training 77 Page 102 of 106
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HOLISTIC SUPPORTS No. Action Brief Description How We Measure Success Links to Other Strategies Link to Programme Of Work 2022/2023 Baseline 2023/2024 Outcomes 2024/2025 Outcomes 2025/2026 Outcomes Timescales Status Identify if applies to TPS &/or LCPAR Lead Team Monitoring Information 5 Community Benefits To increase the number of tackling poverty interventions / fair work interventions within community benefits Improve the economic, social or environmental well-being of our communities The Plan for North Lan transforming places Recent figures show the loal economy continues to grow, reflecting a positive position in North Lanarkshire compared to a negative growth position locally, however, moving forward we must see more tackling poverty related interventions within community benefits no update available Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy Only Enterprise and Communities Number of Tackling Poverty Interventions 6 Community Solutions Programme Wide ranging community supports provided by Community and Voluntary Sector organisations to support residents wellbeing including those in poverty or at risk of poverty including; food, mental health and wellbeing Improved wellbeing Community Solutions Strategy and Investment Plan 2023 and HSCNL Commissioning Plan 2023 -26 Resilient People n/a no update available Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR VANL Learning and impact reports 7 Financial Education (Adults) The Multiply Project is a government initiative helping adults to improve their numeracy skills, people can access numeracy qualifications with the access of the Community Learning and Development Service and will be able to access financial education from the Tackling Poverty Team. People develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to manage money well and make informed decisions. The Plan for North Lan Resilient People Start up and development 119 sessions delivered 420 people attended Project ends March 2025 Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of courses delivered / number of attendees 8 Financial Education (children and young people) Following the "three questions" delivery of a revamped financial education for the primary children The younger children asked for financial educaiton - the programme will ensure that we meet the needs and requests of our children The Plan for North Lan Resilient People n/a Audit of financial educaiton activity in schools *Discussions with Scotland's Financial Schools re delivery In development In development TP Strategy and LCPAR The Tackling Poverty Team Number of sessions completed in schools Number of young people who attend the sessions 9 Community Boards to support the tackling poverty agenda Through tackling poverty awareness sessions and delivery of the councils tackling poverty agenda the community boards will support the Strategy Those representing communities understand their roles and responsibilities in raising awareness of key poverty messages, challenging stigma The Plan for North Lanarkshire Resilient People Tackling Poverty on agendas of community boards Piilot focussed sessions in Coatbridge - in discussion - if successful will continue role out Ongoing Ongoing TP Strategy and LCPAR Local Planning Partnership Teams Community Board Sub Groups Reports 78 North Lanarkshire Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023 - 2024 Page 103 of 106
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This document can be made available in a range of languages and formats, including large print, braille, audio, electronic and accessible formats. To make a request, please contact Corporate Communications at: corporatecommunications@northlan.gov.uk CC_2024_00276 Produced by NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL John Campbell Tackling Poverty Manager Education, Families and Justice e. campbelljohn@northlan.gov.uk NORTHLANARKSHIRE.GOV.UKPage 105 of 106
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