Appendix 1 - Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023-24 and Action Plan 2024-25
Perth and Kinross Council · 30 October 2024
Back to Perth and Kinross Council — 30 October 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 1 Appendix 1 Local Child Poverty Action Report 2023/24 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2024/25 6th Edition
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 2 Contents Contents .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Context ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Where we are doing well .................................................................................................................................................................................. 8 What we are doing well .................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 What we could do better .................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Spotlight on Innovation and Good Practice .................................................................................................................................................... 13 Supporting People – Addressing Need Programme (SPAN) .......................................................................................................................... 13 Infant Food Insecurity Pathway ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Futures for Families ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Area based Needs Analysis ........................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Health and Work ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Aberlour - Tayside Hardship Project ............................................................................................................................................................... 18 NHS Tayside Anchor Strategy ....................................................................................................................................................................... 19 The Big Hoose ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Money Maximisation and Health Services ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 Letham Hub ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Multi-Disciplinary Locality Working ................................................................................................................................................................. 24 Appendix 1 – Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026 ........................................................................................................................................ 29 Strategic Aims ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 29 Objectives ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Our Approach ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 30
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 3 Executive Summary Since the introduction of the Child Poverty Targets in 2017 significant resources and energy have been devoted to tackling child poverty in Perth and Kinross. Child poverty rates and numbers have remained relatively stable with 5,750 children living in poverty (21.7% 2022/23) compared to 5,914 (21.9% 2021/22). Perth and Kinross reflects the national trend with poverty rates similar despite resources being devoted to tackling child poverty. As in 2017, in 2024 22% of children are living in poverty. The differential child poverty rates between Scotland and England/Wales (Child Poverty is 31% and 30% respectively) suggest that measures taken by the Scottish Government, Local Government and other actors have had a protective effect for children in Scotland as a whole and in Perth and Kinross in particular. However, it is a matter of concern that few now have a serious expectation that the poverty targets set by the Scottish Government will be achieved by 2030. It is not just that we need to redouble our efforts, we also need to re-examine our approach to tackling poverty and invest in those areas where greater outcomes could be made. We are currently collaborating with the Fraser of Allander Institute and the Improvement Service to evaluate our efforts more rigorously and to generate a body of evidence to determine actions which would have the greater impact to alleviate poverty. We have secured just over £1.3 million to invest in the Supporting People – Addressing Needs Programme (SPAN) which provides a platform for the integration of services across income maximisation, employability and wellbeing. It will deliver a tailored offer to each family affected by poverty. This will be assessed to measure the impact of moving families from crisis and emergency to sustainable livelihoods. Poverty is one of the biggest equality issues in Scotland today with 1 in 5 of our children having their opportunities and life chances limited by the financial circumstances into which they were born. Thomas Glen Chief Executive, Perth and Kinross Council Nicky Connor Chief Executive, NHS Tayside
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 4 Introduction This report has been jointly produced by Perth and Kinross Council and NHS Tayside and reflects the wider collaboration with our Community Planning Partners and deepening engagement with our stakeholder groups. It is our sixth Child Poverty Action Report and includes actions taken to implement our Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026. The Child Poverty Delivery Plan aligns with Best Start, Bright Futures: tackling child poverty delivery plan of the Scottish Government which covers the same period. It connects to and will deliver a rights-based approach as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child with reference to those articles which particularly relate to child poverty: • Article 3 (best interests of the child) • Article 6 (life, survival and development) • Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) • Article 26 (social security) • Article 27 (adequate standard of living). It is underpinned by GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Child) the national approach in Scotland to improving outcomes and supporting the wellbeing of children and young people by offering the right help at the right time. It supports children and their parents to work in partnership with the services that can help them. It also aligns with the Scottish Government’s No One Left Behind approach to employability support. In particular, the growing emphasis on supporting parents into work, and to increase their earnings in work. It will contribute to the delivery of Scotland's Promise to care experienced children and young people that they will grow up loved, safe and respected and relates to the delivery of Plan 21-24 which requires organisations to demonstrate how they are ensuring that they play a part in mitigating the impacts of poverty. It flows from the Perth and Kinross Corporate Plan 2022/23 - 2027/28 which has Tackling Poverty as a corporate priority and the Perth and Kinross Community Plan 2022-2032 adopted by our Community Planning Partners which sets Reducing Poverty as a strategic priority.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 5
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 6
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 7 Context Perth and Kinross Council and NHS Tayside agreed a Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022 – 2026 and this report measures the progress made in terms of actions, and outcomes against the objectives set out in the delivery plan. The Children’s Scorecard measures the extent and impact of poverty on children and families in Perth and Kinross, it monitors feedback from parents with lived experience of poverty and measures how well our services are responding to the feedback provided. Perth and Kinross Council have agreed 26 indicators to measure the extent and impact of child poverty across Perth and Kinross. These indicators are: • General context information • income from employment • the essential cost of living • social security and benefits in kind and • breaking the cycle of poverty Post-Covid-19 several of the statistics previously used to measure progress in these areas have been discontinued. The Perth and Kinross Children’s Scorecard and Measuring Child Poverty project have been updated accordingly to align with the Scottish Government Child Poverty Dashboard, the available data around income from employment and benefits and cost of living and PKCs performance data.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 8 Insights – from the Statistics This year the percentage and number of children living in poverty reduced from 5,914 to 5,750 children living in poverty (21.7%). Relative Child poverty rates have remained stable since 2017 – this mirrors the situation for Scotland as a whole. The differential child poverty rates between Scotland and England/Wales (Child Poverty is 31% and 30% respectively) suggest that measures taken by the Scottish Government, Local Government and other key influencers have had a significant protective effect for children in Scotland. The number of children living in absolute poverty has increased during since 2020. This is in line with the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that levels of deep and very deep poverty are increasing. Whilst many people in Perth and Kinross manage well, over a third of households are financially stretched and face considerable economic challenges. There is income inequality both between and within settlement areas across Perth and Kinross. (Insert link to Children’s Scorecard once approved at full council) Median income by settlement shows that the richest settlement (Murthly) has a median income of more than twice that of the poorest settlement (Bridgend). The lower quartile income by settlement for Murthly is £35,000 – and the median is £58,200. For Bridgend, the poorest settlement, it is £15,700 and £27,000 respectively. Where we are doing well Increasing income from employment - The number and percentage of employees earning below the Real Living Wage has reduced significantly – from 13,000 (16.5%) in 2020/21 to 7,000 (10.4%) in 2023. Getting people into work - The employment rate is at or slightly above pre-pandemic levels (81.7% to 80%) Increasing income from benefits - £3.2m has been achieved as a result of 6565 applications for Best Start grants since 2019/2020. Scottish Welfare Fund payments have provided emergency cash to 4135 households who gained a total of £566,001. Providing affordable housing - Local authority average rentals for a 2 bedroom house at £67.91 are more than 50% cheaper than the broad rental market area figure of £148 per week.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 9 Closing the attainment gap – the gap for proportion of school leavers attaining 1 or more passes at SCQF level 6 (higher) has reduced from 44% to 29%; at Level 5 (National 5s) has reduced from 27% to 17% and for 5age of pupils age 16-19 in education training and employment has reduced rom 13% to 9.5%. Where we could do better The Gender Pay Gap rose to 15.6% (from 13% in 2019/20). Insights From our Services Response There has been a significant increase in activities to support improved mental health for children and young people – and the publication of the Whole Family Support - Directory of Services was a key milestone in delivering what parents had asked for from PKC. Actions taken to support reducing stigma associated with poverty and respecting human dignity have been more evident. A Child Learning Hub has been provided by PKC learning in conjunction with Public Health Scotland and to date 70 employees have completed child poverty learning modules. Cash First approaches have been ramped up and over £1.3m secured for a Supporting People -Addressing Need programme which is being delivered by multiple partners across Perth and Kinross. Streamlining of benefits has resulted in one application being needed only for free school meals and school clothing grants. What we are doing well There is a significant range of provision for families experiencing financial crisis and food insecurity, a range of access points to secure emergency cash, help and assistance. What we could do better There is work to be done to shift resources and actions upstream to provide earlier interventions which prevent families from experiencing financial crisis and enabling them to achieve sustainable livelihoods. Survey of Parents of Children in Early Years Education The Early Learning and Childcare bi-annual survey which included for the first time a section on parents from Priority Groups and social needs screening (a set of questions to help frontline workers
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 10 identify signs of poverty in a household). There were 480 responses indicating: • 44% of parents belonged to a Priority Family group • 10% were lone parents • 2% were from a minority ethnic group • 1% were mothers under 25 • 3% had a disabled family member • 20% had more than 2 children • 6% had a child under 1. The Social Needs Screening questions reinforced the findings from the research undertaken by the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Unit in “Lived experience of child poverty in Perth and Kinross” that “ Intense poverty exists. There is evidence of abject poverty in Perth and Kinross. Sometimes, such poverty has a passing intensity, which may be triggered by unforeseen circumstance (e.g., breakdown of a household appliance; loss of employment; change in family arrangements).” • 44% of parents with children in early years education belong to a Priority Family Group. 1 480 parents with children in early learning centres responded to this social needs survey • 43% of parents with children in early years education sometimes or always have difficulty making ends meet in the days/week before payday. • Someone went hungry in 9% of households with children in early years education in the last year because there was not enough money for food • 12% of households with children in early years education lack access to the internet/devices to support learning from home for all of their children • 25% of parents with children in early years education struggle to heat their homes • 5% of parents with children in early years education consider themselves at some risk of becoming homeless • 11% of parents with children in early years education have missed a medical or other appointment, work or getting things for daily living because they lack access to transport.1
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 11 Work - childcare, transport, employability Survive and Thrive - education and whole family wellbeing Dignified Living - shelter, food, warmth, money and help 3413 childcare places provided across public and third sector 300 Funded strong start 2 places funded 292 People supported into employment 181 New families engaged in the Future for Families project 25 Rural jobs for young people created using employment incentives 42 Moved into jobs after completing HGV/LGV skills academy 53 Families issued with digital hardware devices 72% of under 22s now have free bus passes bus service 55 Parents supported into flexible employment and 7 into self- employment 173 Affordable homes were delivered 566 Tenants in financial crisis supported through Tenancy 10% Lower rent than neighbouring local authorities £250,000 Was provided to 94 community organisations for warm spaces, food and warm home packs £270,813 Was provided for summer food and activities (fuelled for fun) £8.5 million Generated in verified benefit gains by the Welfare Rights Team. 2,556 Applications received for the Council’s Financial Insecurity fund of £664,000 4135 Successful applications made for Scottish Welfare fund crisis grants £807,000 Was provided in community care grants to 1042 applicants 2205 Households benefitted from energy advice and measures to reduce bills Dignified Living 13 Schools joined phase 4 of the Nurturing Relationships whole school programme 100% Of PKCs schools are engaged with the Mental Health Ambassadors Programme 94% Of pupil equity funding spent within planned timescales 2662 Children accessed support or services funded via Community Mental Health Plan Closing the Gap tool was used to help 17,254 pupils overcome barriers to attainment. Anti-Poverty Task Force commissioned Perth and Kinross Tacking Poverty Strategy and third sectors 2 Projects were funded to provide Gypsy Travellers with cost-of-living support over the last 2 winters £521,076 Funding to support positive mental wellbeing in children and young people W ork Dignified Living Survive and Thrive What we did to tackle child poverty in 2023/24
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 12 Work - providing o pportunities and support needed to enter, sustain and progress in work Dignified Living – support to families to lead dignified lives and meet their basic needs Work • Identify and promote best practice on delivering the real Living Wage, championing the benefits to local employers. • NHS Tayside will use its strategic influence to tackle poverty and health inequalities • Ensure the new Economic Action Plan contains actions to tackle child poverty • Extend childcare to support parental employment through wraparound care, community childminding and strong start2 • Work with the Local Employability Partnership to improve access to employment and representation in the NHS workforce amongst priority groups • Support parents who want to become self-employed childcare providers to gain qualifications • Support parental employment through the Futures for Families project to support parents into skills and employment outcomes that will increase their earning potential • Meaningfully engage with business community under the Futures for All Recruitment Incentive project to create new, flexible and sustainable jobs for priority parents and people with employment barriers. • Accelerate delivery of 1050 affordable homes over 5 years • Buy back 40 former council houses • Provide support to community-led housing initiatives • Invest £4 million to upgrade Gypsy Traveller site with new energy efficient accommodation • Analyse data relating to the uptake of Council concessions and plot unmet need to local school catchment areas • Target income maximisation, employability offers and social prescribing to schools with the greatest levels of unmet need • Develop locality based, multi-disciplinary teams to support and connect parents and families to services • NHS Tayside will promote the Warmth Matters app and website to enable frontline workers to signpost people to a range of services and support • Work in partnership with Perth and Glenochil Prisons to provide an accelerated welfare rights service to people on release from prison • • Develop a joined-up approach to crisis intervention which is underpinned by Cash First including a new referral management system • NHS Tayside will increase the number of health-placed income maximisation referrals to welfare/energy advice services. This will include new work where children are severely disabled or have complex needs • NHS Tayside will identify performance indicators that can s how effected responses are implemented, monitored and reported through existing systems. • Work will be progressed through the Tayside Child Poverty network, Addressing Inequalities in Maternity Services and will identify areas where approaches will reach priority families • Work with partner organisations to put in place robust referral pathways around health and wellbeing support for parents and their children • Work to maximise the impact of Pupil equity funding on children experiencing educational disadvantage because of poverty • Ensure there is continued promotion of evidence-based interventions to target aspects of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing • Embed the use of the Closing the Gap tool to create a holistic planning and impact measurement tool • Report regularly, analysing progress, to the Raising Attainment Board • Develop and implement a refreshed Raising Attainment Strategy for 2023 - 2026 • Work in partnership with local community organisations to deliver Fuelled for Fun programmes to provide activities and food to school age children during school holidays • Work with Tayside Contracts to increase the uptake of free school meals • Work with Gypsy Traveller families to support their child’s development, expanding on the provision of starter sacks. • Implement the Perth and Kinross Corporate Parenting Plan 21-24 Work Dignified Living Survive and Thrive What are we going to do to tackle child poverty in 2024/25?
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 13 Spotlight on Innovation and Good Practice Supporting People – Addressing Need Programme (SPAN) Supporting People – Addressing Needs Programme (SPAN) provides a platform for the integration of services across income maximisation, employability and wellbeing. It will deliver a tailored offer to each family affected by poverty. This will be assessed to measure the impact of moving families from crisis and emergency to sustainable livelihoods. The Programme partners and elements are:- • Perth Citizen Advice Bureau (CAB) – Money Talk Service (enables clients to manage and improve their financial circumstances) and Cash First Partnership • Perth and Kinross Council – Social Needs Screening Tool (to identify unmet need), Support and Connect (to empower frontline workers to connect families to help and support) and Building Resilient Families (to empower priority parents) • Children’s Services Planning Partnership – Universal Whole Family Support Service. The programme elements were determined following feedback from parents from Priority family groups. The parents expressed • A strong preference for cash-first approaches, • A strong preference for a one-stop access point to a range of services and support for families experiencing financial challenge Parents made • A clear link between poverty, stress and mental health and wellbeing challenges for both parents and children and • Identified access to affordable childcare and transport as barriers to employment. The SPAN programme has leveraged £1.3m for poverty mitigation measures which integrate income maximisation, employability and wellbeing.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 14 Infant Food Insecurity Pathway In response to tackling food insecurity in families with infants under 12 months, NHS Tayside’s Public Health Team undertook engagement with health colleagues, social work, community food providers and advice providers across Tayside to identify current issues and scale of the problem of infant food insecurity. Scoping work found that there was a lack of robust data measurements that could show the extent of the problem but there were anecdotal reports of families reducing formula intake, diluting formula to extend the tin or using opened or out of date first stage formula, adding thickener agents or moving onto a follow-on formula that is not nutritionally suitable for the age of the infant. Public health staff participated in a short life working group that was led and facilitated by the Scottish Government to produce a toolkit that will aid services and staff, across sectors. The toolkit is being used to develop a local Tayside Infant Food Insecurity Pathway that was put out for consultation and feedback in May 2024. Training for frontline staff will support the pathway and a project brief is being considered by Dundee University Medical School and Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art and Design to develop a resource that will increase training capacity across the third sector and community organisations who work with families. Training outcomes will be increased awareness of pathway of support, increased knowledge on safe formula feeding, increased knowledge (and application) of the ‘Code’ around promotion and marketing of first formula feed and for consistent approaches to be taken across community food providers when supporting families with infants facing food or financial insecurity. Training will complement the offering already in place to health visiting, Family Nurse Partnership staff and midwives to increase knowledge and confidence on raising the issue of money worries and the money maximisation pathways already embedded across these services. A monitoring or feedback form is also being developed with the pathway to help measure implementation of the pathway and provide some baseline data.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 15 Futures for Families Futures for Families is a coordinated and multi-agency approach to tackling child poverty through employability and skills, supporting parents in the 6 priority groups. Our aim is to provide holistic, client-centred support, ensuring the barriers parents face are addressed and navigated with the use of mixed provision and flexible funding. The programme is financially supported by Scottish Government (£305k) and Perth and Kinross Council (£335k) to ensure flexibility of options when supporting our clients. Our experienced Key Workers create actions plans to design pathways with clients, to ensure they receive appropriate support at the right time for them and their family. Our offers include: • Support for childcare costs for parents entering employment/self-employment (3 months) • Grants for those entering else employment to fund transitionary period • Elev8 Training and Equipment Grants up to £4,500 • Funding for digital hardware and connectivity, providing internet contracts, laptops and iPads to clients in need • Funding for incentivised employment, creating new jobs in local small businesses • Funded travel to and from employment and skills interventions We deliver this service in conjunction with partners, including with Business Gateway to engage with parents in their self-employment journeys. The service is delivered with other family-centred and community learning provision in targeted areas of need. Here is how our programme supported one of our single parent clients Barry, 48, engaged with the team in April after being made homeless with his 8-month-old little girl. With our support we were able to supply him with an iPad and pay for a Project Management qualification, which he completed by June Along with his Key Worker Barry developed a business case for self-employment, and secured our Self-Employment Grant, which enabled him to launch his business and start generating income again. He has since moved off UC benefit. “Financially, I’m pleased to say that the business is going well, and the grants have allowed me to travel and take meetings throughout Scotland. It has grown to a point where I will be able to stop claiming UC in October. This has been a major milestone for me, and I couldn’t have reached it without the assistance and kind support from you. Mentally, I feel in a better place now and I feel much more optimistic about the future. Your support has been invaluable in helping me get to this point.”
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 16 Area based Needs Analysis A series of data maps have been developed which use public data (Children in Low Income Families), household income data with council data which was then mapped to the catchment areas of local primary schools to identify those areas where people were experiencing significant financial challenges and map that to the uptake of council concessions. The data will be contextualised at a meeting with Primary Headteachers and from this a targeted list of primary schools will be identified for action by the emerging locality based multi- disciplinary teams. The information generated will enable Perth and Kinross Council to target areas where there is significant financial hardship and lower than anticipated uptake of council concessions for take-up campaigns.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 17 Health and Work The Health and Work programme has broadened its offering to local businesses which led to enhanced partnership working, building capacity through fair work practices and promoting work as a route to good health and reduced financial hardship. Address the key reasons for absence from work such as Mental Health and Musculoskeletal disorders Fair Work Supporting partners and employers to promote and deliver Fair Work actions on employment; payment of Real Living Wage and progression for low paid workers, flexible working, inclusive workplaces, healthy workplace policy and practice. Access to and retention in work Focusing support and interventions towards key groups and sectors experiencing greatest health inequalities to improve access to and retention in work. Support the NHS as an Anchor Contributing to a wellbeing economy including development and delivery of parental employment, supported employment and individual placement services. Support Fair Work conditionality in the local community Building the evidence base - Support gathering, recording and dissemination of evidence on health and work The engagement with workplaces identified the current economic pressures, effects on wages, staffing levels, morale, workload and the cost-of-living crisis are all contributing to increased levels of stress and anxiety across workplaces. Other issues causing concern are the effects of in-work poverty, menopause and menstrual health, physical health conditions, Musculoskeletal health issues and bereavement. Building strong collaborative working relationships to tackle these challenges has led to working on shared priorities with organisations such as Working Health Services, Business Gateway, Enable Works as well as the Local Employability Partnerships. Over the year, a total of 27 training courses and workshops to 341 individuals were delivered, almost double that of the previous financial year. Post course evaluations indicate the value of the training for participants, with many stating that they have increased confidence, knowledge, and skills to address the topic in their area of work. They are also more likely to raise relevant health and wellbeing issues and to have supportive conversations with employees, initiate relevant workplace adjustments, and have greater awareness of existing tools and sources of support.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 18 Aberlour - Tayside Hardship Project Perth and Kinross Welfare Rights Team established a partnership with Aberlour and our Tayside counterparts to provide a comprehensive and enhanced welfare rights service to vulnerable families with dependent children. Last year, through our formal referral agreement with Aberlour 11 families with children on the "edge of care" were referred to us for comprehensive benefits advice and assistance. We made payments to the value of £3k from the Financial Insecurity Fund to these families and they benefited from almost £3k in additional income with an average household benefit gain of £272. In addition, we are now delivering a programme of training sessions around Reducing Council Tax Liability in partnership with our colleagues in Aberlour to frontline agencies across Perth and Kinross. We kicked the programme off in March 2024 and these will continue throughout 2024/25. Testimonial from Aberlour "PKC Welfare Rights have demonstrated exceptional expertise and passion in raising awareness of financial strategies aimed at alleviating the burden of debt and financial hardship on the families we support. Their commitment to empowering individuals and families with practical knowledge on maximizing income and accessing available resources has been instrumental in our shared mission of providing holistic support. PKC Welfare Rights collaborative approach, coupled with their deep understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable families, has undoubtedly made a significant impact on the lives of those we serve."
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 19 NHS Tayside Anchor Strategy NHS Scotland’s Annual Delivery Plan Guidance for 2023/24 asked Health Boards to set out an approach to developing an Anchors strategic plan by October 2023. To develop the local Anchor strategy this involved widespread stakeholder engagement and consultation across key NHS services and local community planning partners. The strategy was published in October 2023 and has since provided a positive platform for engagement with key partners around shared priorities. The Anchor Strategy has been presented to Dundee Partnership’s Inclusive Economic Growth SLG and to all 3 Local Employability Partnership Leads. This has directly led to Dundee LEP providing NHS Tayside with a part-time funded post for 2024/25 to accelerate and facilitate progress on aligned priorities (see appendix/attached) particularly around employability opportunities to those furthest away from the labour market. • Delivery of NHS Tayside’s Community Benefit Gateway, enabling potential suppliers to match community benefit contributions to local need. This has included coordination of a Tayside wide steering and triage group. 12 needs on the gateway, 5 delivered. • Support businesses to enhance their Fair Work credentials to improve their prospects of securing public sector contracts • Increase referrals to employability services from NHS Tayside • increase opportunities for employment to priority groups within NHS Tayside. • Agreement of tailored set of indicators to quantify, understand and measure progress of the anchor strategy working across the pillars. • Engagement with national Anchors strategic groups and networks to influence the national agenda, share learning and connect with others on shared priorities. Actions and examples of good practice have been reported within the Anchors Strategy NHS Tayside Anchor Strategy 2023
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 20 The Big Hoose The Big Hoose was founded in 2021 by the Cottage Family Centre and Amazon UK to distribute surplus everyday household essential products from Amazon and around 30 other local and multi- national businesses to families who need them most. The project originated in Fife but has, with financial support and premises from Perth and Kinross Council expanded to create a hub service Perth and Kinross. The project is hosted by PKAVS Carers. So far, 52,067 items have been distributed to families with 2,662 children. The next steps are to make the project available across rural Perthshire by creating local access points in 5 or more locations. The group wants to increase the number of referring partners and to continue building good relationships with local businesses who donate goods to the Big Hoose inventory.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 21 Money Maximisation and Health Services NHS Tayside will continue to offer money maximisation support through the embedded pathways within health visiting, family nurse partnership and maternity services. Steps have been taken to introduce similar pathways for money maximisation and parental employability support within paediatrics. Targeted areas such as neonatal, CAHMs and complex needs centres and the NHS Care Experienced and Young Peoples Service will increase reach to priority families most vulnerable to the effects of poverty. Training and new resources delivered to support the implementation of new or existing pathways. 25 midwives attended a public health training day which included training around health behaviour change approaches, financial inclusion and mental health. The Advice Centre provides signposting and referrals to services that will support on a range of socio-economic issues including benefit entitlements, carers support, housing, food insecurity, fuel poverty and debt. Inpatients referred through the financial inclusion pathway included in secondary care nursing documentation is triaged by the Advice Centre. Whilst the number of people requesting information and advice through this service has steadily increased throughout the year since reopening in December 2022, there are still low referrals from wards with the majority of clients self-referring. Service improvement work to be offered to acute services to increase the referral of patients experiencing money worries to NHS Tayside’s Advice Centre or partner advice providers such as CAB who will be offering onsite support from May 2024. Learning from a recent Making Every Contact Count (MECC) pilot with vaccination teams, will inform service improvement work to overcome the barriers to raising the issue of money worries with inpatients and improve reach to those most likely facing health inequalities.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 22 Advice Centre MECC Vaccination pilot Average weekly brief advice, signposting and provision of information – 50 contacts, 92% of which are self- referrals. 448 very brief interventions on alcohol, smoking and money worries offered within vaccination centre and home visits over 5 weeks. 268 agreed to answer question around money worries. 70 referrals to CABs across Tayside with further referrals made to other services over the year including welfare rights, carers, housing services, food larders, mental wellbeing services, Age Scotland and more. 13.8% of citizens accepted signposting to cost of living support Training co-delivered with Social Security Scotland offered to ward staff – low uptake. Offer bespoke ward training to increase reach across patient groups and confidence of staff to raise the issue Training offered to small cohort of vaccinators. Roll out to health care assistants and staff across GP practices.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 23 Letham Hub The Letham Hub is the result of a unique and productive collaboration between the local community and Perth and Kinross Council. Working together over the last 6 years this partnership has resulted in a community facility, which has been returned to community ownership. The drive for this project came from the local community to address local inequalities and improve health and wellbeing. Now opened, The Hub is run and owned for the community by Letham4All, and it offers a wealth of opportunities for partner agencies to deliver range of services in the locality, by offering the use of hotdesking and confidential meeting spaces with the benefit of enabling engagement with local people who attend the many community-based activities delivered by Letham4All staff, volunteers and partners. The building offers many free and very low-cost activities for local people. The Hub is open 7 days a week, offering access to the Community Fridge and Community Café making good food accessible with choice and dignity and at a very low cost. The affordable Community Gym is complemented by a Fitness Activity Co-ordinator to deliver a range sessions which are usually beyond the budgets of many people in the community. There is a diary of local activity groups from Keep Fit, Sewing classes, Youth Work, Cycling Projects and Digital Skills, as well as local access to employability support, financial wellbeing services and much needed community space for local groups to access, including the sports hall. All this activity enables a sense of anonymity when people enter the building to see more confidential services for guidance and support. Letham4All now employs a team of 20 full and part time staff, providing valuable local employment and they are a Real Living Wage employer. Letham4All are looking forward to co-designing and producing new services with partners and the community, exploring new ways of working and delivering locally.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 24 Multi-Disciplinary Locality Working Our Multi-Disciplinary Locality Working programme is a place- based approach to overcome organisational and sectoral boundaries by enabling greater collaboration with a range of partners including local communities. We are building on work currently underway to deliver an inclusive community model which takes forward the principles of the “no wrong door” approach and focuses on early intervention and prevention. By working together with partners and communities we aim to achieve greater outcomes and tackle and mitigate the impact of poverty and improve outcomes and the quality of life for people living in Perth and Kinross. This approach has been endorsed by the Scottish Government and we have recently received investment as one of their “fairer future partnerships” to expand and embed our place-based approach. Some examples of the work so far: - Letham – Love Letham is a project bringing together children, young people, families, residents and representative from Perth & Kinross Council to co-create plans to make Letham the best place for children to grow up. Love Letham is a collaboration between the Wellbeing Economy Alliance and the Council rooted in the belief that children and young people should have a greater voice in policymaking. Phase 1 of the project is complete with several actions being taken forward by communities and partners and multi-disciplinary teams are now working from the Letham Hub enabling greater local access to a range of council and partner services. Phase 2 – Is in progress and involves getting the voice of infants and this is being undertaken through partnership with the Wellbeing Alliance, Early Years Scotland, Northern Star and Starcatchers. Wellbeing Alliance are also planning to facilitate workshops to develop a methodology for a “shadow budget” for tackling child poverty and influence policy change. Highland Perthshire – The work in Highland arose through the Columba 1400 and recognised the distinctive needs of an extensive rural area and built on the learnings from the work in Letham. Initial work involved bringing Council Teams together e.g. schools, housing, community learning & development,
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 25 welfare rights, children’s services community safety etc. This work has been supported by the Improvement Service who are collating the outcomes achieved so far. Most recently engagement with key local include community groups has commenced recognising the value of co-production. Coupar Angus – Using the information for the Locality Profiles (PKInsights) Community Planning Partners commissioned an external consultant to undertake a research and consultation exercise. An action plan was developed informed by feedback from the local community, local businesses and public sector partners. This saw the creation of three subgroups (Community Development, Place and Poverty, Wellbeing & Employment). This is taking a multi-disciplinary approach formed by a range of council services and partners. A report of activities and outcomes for Year 1 across the 3 groups is currently available at (add link) We are taking an evidence-based approach to this work and are in the early stages of planning for Perth City and South Crieff.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 26 Perth Citizen Advice Bureau (CAB) - Pathways to Advice and Cash/Cash First Partnership Last year Perth CAB achieved a client financial gain of £5,049,000 – of this they estimate over £2M went into the pockets of 1800 families with children. 7113 people were supported by Perth Cab in 2023/24. Led by Perth CAB, the project secured funding from the Trussell Trust, the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund and more to ensure that support is getting to priority families and children in need. Lived experience data gathered identified that people find it difficult to know where to go to when in times of need. The project offers access to holistic support to improve outcomes for individuals and families through a shared referral system, which will incorporate partners working in local authority and third sector settings across Perth & Kinross. The system will allow for easy access and a ‘no-wrong-door' entry to advice, support (including cash first approaches) and information for individuals/families in need, utilising local organisations who have established relationships with clients. Current partners include Letham4All, P&K Central Arrears Housing Team, P&K Access Team, The Heat Project, PKAVS Carers, Buttons and Bows Baby bank, Broke Not Broken, Turning Point and more. The web-based tool includes directory pages for partners and links to the Whole Family Wellbeing directory and TSI Service Navigator for practitioner info.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 27 The project will continue to grow the system with partners in targeted areas of employability support, criminal justice, youth services, wellbeing and more. The project hopes to extend the project by creating a shared Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database so that we are able to track client progress in a more in-depth way.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 28 The partnership aims to capture the expertise and vast knowledge of organisations to help families and children in hardship as we recognise that we cannot tackle poverty alone. The Pathways to Advice and Cash project aligns closely with other strands that CAB is already running or plan to develop in 2025 – including the support provided through Money Talk Plus; education and peer support through Building Resilient Families and Communities; and in-depth support provided to priority parents and families through No-one Left Behind identified through the incoming FORT referrals to the service. Families with complex needs will also be triaged through the Universal Whole Family Support service with whom we will be working closely.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 29 Appendix 1 – Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026 Strategic Aims • To raise awareness about the causes and consequences of child poverty. • To foster social cohesion and reduce stigma surrounding poverty for children and families. • To reduce the negative effects of living in poverty for children and families. • To enable children and families to prepare themselves for a life free from poverty. Objectives Work - Provide opportunities and support needed to enter, sustain and progress in work (Employability and skills, housing and economic opportunity, connectivity and childcare) Sharpening Focus - Supporting parents into work that pays the Real Living Wage or more. • Taking action to close the gender employment and pay gaps. • Addressing the challenges presented by rurality. Dignified Living - Maximise the support available to families to lead dignified lives and meet their basic needs. (Person-centred support, social security and income maximisation) Sharpening Focus • Addressing the rural poverty premium. • Addressing the needs of the Gypsy Traveller community and other minority ethnic communities. • Addressing stigma which prevents parents and families from seeking help and support. Survive and Thrive - Supporting the next generation to survive and thrive. (Education and Children’s Services, Health and Social Care) Sharpening Focus • Closing the poverty-related attainment gap. • Addressing the challenges faced by disabled young people entering further and higher education and the jobs market. • Addressing mental health and wellbeing issues for parents and children affected by poverty.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report 2022/23 and Local Child Poverty Action Plan 2023/24 | 30 Our Approach Deliver a whole system, whole-family, whole-community approach to connecting children and families to the help and support they need to mitigate and move beyond poverty. Sharpening Focus • Changing the way we work to use data-driven approaches to identify and connect with families affected by poverty. • Offer no wrong door approaches to connecting families to the help and support they need and want. • Developing multidisciplinary, cross-organisational working in teams at locality level to build inclusive communities which strengthen the web of support on offer to families and children affected by poverty.
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