2. FRSC Programme Update Jun 26 v2
Renfrewshire Council · 3 June 2026
Back to Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-committee — 3 June 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-Committee On: 3 June 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Chief Executive ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Fairer Renfrewshire Programme Update ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1. The Council and partners have a key focus on tackling inequality and improving wellbeing and have longstanding programmes of work and partnership arrangements in place such as the Tackling Poverty Programme and the change programme established in response to the findings of the Renfrewshire Drug and Alcohol Commission. 1.2. At Council on 2 March 2023 members reaffirmed their commitment to the Fairer Renfrewshire programme and outlined several investments including bringing together the current Fairer Renfrewshire funding alongside the Tackling Poverty and Social Renewal reserve funds into a single resource. 1.3. At Council on 26th February 2026, members further reaffirmed their commitment to the Fairer Renfrewshire programme with continued investments in a number of targeted interventions including the £50 winter school clothing payment, the Winter Connections programme, funding to Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau to support their welfare rights advocacy service and schools advice as well as an allocation of further funding to supplement both Discretionary Housing Payments and Scottish Welfare Fund. 1.4. At Leadership Board on 3 December 2025, a Fairer Renfrewshire Action Plan detailing the priorities and programme of work to be undertaken over the next 18-24 months was approved. This plan refreshes and sharpens focus on the priorities for the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme. 1.5. Over the next two years, we will concentrate on four strategic priorities: • Improving Financial Security - Helping households maximise income, reduce costs, and access early help to prevent crisis.
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2 PUBLIC • Strengthening Health, Wellbeing and Community - Supporting families and communities through sustainable models of care, food security, and place-based approaches. • Embedding Equality and Inclusion - Ensuring services are accessible, inclusive, and shaped by the voices of those who are often unheard. • Using Insight and Evidence for Impact - Harnessing data, feedback, and lived experience to drive better decisions and deliver measurable change. 1.6. In line with this plan, key priorities for the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme for March to June 2026 were as follows: • Finalise our Equality Outcomes Action Plan • Finalise the re-commissioning of the external advice contract • Evaluate this year’s Winter Connections programme • Commence this year’s Summer of Fun Programme • Prepare the Local Child Poverty Action Report for 25/26 1.7. Progress updates are contained in Section 4 and 5 of this report. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that members of the Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-Committee note the report. 3. Background 3.1 As highlighted in Section 1, the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme brings together a number of existing programmes of work focussed on achieving fairness and equity. After a refresh approved by Leadership Board, the programme currently works to deliver against 4 key themes: · Improving financial security · Strengthening Health, Wellbeing and Community · Embedding Equality and Inclusion · Using Insight and Evidence for Impact 3.2 On 29 April, Leadership Board approved £0.562 to support the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme. This amount is in addition to the budget commitments made for a number of targeted interventions including the £50 winter school clothing payment, the Winter Connections programme, funding to Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau to support their welfare rights advocacy service and schools advice. 4. Fairer Renfrewshire Programme Update Strategic Priority One: Improving Financial Security
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3 PUBLIC Advice statistics for quarter 4 4.1. During quarter 4, Renfrewshire Council’s Advice Works Service assisted 958 new clients, bringing their total for the year to 3,711 clients. Within the quarter, they resolved 4,283 benefit cases, bringing the annual total to 16,729. Total Client Financial Gain for the quarter was £2,597, 868, bringing the total financial gain for the year to £10,731,774. 4.2. For Family Advice, 107 new referrals were received this quarter, 50 of these being from the 6 Child Poverty Priority Groups. Family Advice this year has secured £85,000 in financial gain for 441 families. 4.3. For RCAB’s School Support Service for 25/26, a total of 128 clients made a combined 322 contacts. 70 of these clients gained financially from the advice, with a total of £301,700 gained, including £142,000 in Universal Credit and £24,754 in Child Disability Payment. 123 of the families receiving advice were within the 6 Child Poverty Priority Groups. 4.4. For RCAB’s general service in quarter 4, 2,219 individuals sought advice, with 1,709 being seen and financial gain of £638,300. This brings the total clients seen for the year to 6332 and financial gain for RCAB for 25/26 to £2,640,705. Family Advice Pathway 4.5. As elected members are aware, a pathway to family advice was developed to support increased referrals to both Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau (RCAB) and the Council’s Advice Works service. 4.6. On 26 March a presentation was made to head teachers across schools introducing the pathway and asking them to support families who may be struggling with money and costs of living to access the relevant advice service. 4.7. Further to this, in April officers from the Connected Communities team met with the Family Wellbeing Manager to introduce the pathway, which will now be cascaded to the Family Wellbeing teams, both community and especially schools. Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme 4.8. The Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme opened on 1 April 2026 and will close by 30 September or when the fund runs out if sooner. Delivered by Advice Direct Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, it is for those who use LPG or oil to heat their homes and who may be in need of extra support.
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4 PUBLIC 4.9. Successful applications will receive £300 and applicants can receive one payment every three calendar months, although will need to apply each time. The payments go direct to the fuel supplier. 4.10. The scheme is for those who are in receipt of a means-tested benefit or who are in financial hardship and have additional vulnerabilities. The support will normally be applied for online, although there is also a telephone number to call. 4.11. There are around 270 households in Renfrewshire that use oil for their central heating and 639 households that use other gas central heating which includes both LPG and biogas (although the support is only offered for LPG). Officers from the Fairer Renfrewshire Team have been working with colleagues in Communications and Marketing to inform Renfrewshire residents who may be eligible about this extra support and how to apply for it. Strategic Priority Two: Strengthening Health, Wellbeing and Community Summer of Fun 4.12. Funding has been allocated as part of the Fairer Renfrewshire 2026/2027 programme to deliver another ‘Summer of Fun’ programme in 2026. This will support a small grants programme as well as summer camps provided by Community Learning and Development and ensure that families, especially low income families, can access free, fun activities over the summer holidays. As in previous years, the CLD summer camps will be targeted to families in receipt of school clothing grant, with spaces kept aside for referrals, such as from social work and schools. 4.13. The Summer of Fun small grants programme opened on 5 May to applications from community groups. Grants of up to £3,000 are available for community organisations for projects to deliver activities over the summer holidays which reach communities that might be underserved by mainstream activities. As in previous years, funding can cover costs such as venues, activity costs, sessional staff or volunteer expenses, food, or items to reduce costs for families such as transport. 4.14. Applications can be designed for whole families or for children and young people of a range of ages and funding can cover the total cost of a project, or additional costs to make existing activities more accessible for low-income families. 4.15. Working with partners across the Council and beyond, all free activities will be promoted on one page within the Council website. This will include Whole Family Wellbeing’s offer of summer camps for children with Additional Support Needs and One Ren’s summer programme. Links will also be fully established with the wider Summer of Sprot programme funded by the Scottish Government to support the legacy of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.
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5 PUBLIC 4.16. Summer of Fun will be evaluated and a report brought to elected members later in the year. Community Development – Gallowhill 4.17. Progress has been made on the community development work in Gallowhill, with the Community Development Worker now being hosted by the Family Wellbeing Team in Gallowhill Primary. In addition to the weekly Friday lunch, which attracts 25-30 people each week, a new Men’s drop-in started on 24th March in Glencairn Court. This drop-in, funded through the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund administered by Engage Renfrewshire, was started in response to the high number of male deaths by suicide in Gallowhill. Although supported by Active Communities at present, the aim is for this group to become self -managed with volunteer input, and it is hoped to have this in place by June. 4.18. The weekly litter pick continues to grow, and has become community led, with minimal input from Active Communities and Team Up to Clean Up Gallowhill community members also took part in the Team Up to Clean Up ‘Big Spring Clean’ campaign and did a fantastic job representing their work in the campaign video. In April, a silent disco litter pick took place, which attracted 4 new local people who it is hoped will start attending the Friday lunch. 4.19. Active Communities are also running a weekly exercise class at Gallowhill Community Centre on Friday mornings, ahead of the Community Lunch. The aim is to encourage physical activity for people with a range of fitness levels and abilities. The first class took place on Friday 24th April, with 16 people attending and 20 people booked in for the following week. The class is also funded through the Engage Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund. 4.20. Looking forward to May, plans are in hand for a walking group, again with the aim of being community led, and activities in the social space in Glencairn Court. In June and July a weekly kids group will be offered with Create Paisley using funding from the National Lottery Young Start Fund. 4.21. Active Communities are hoping that through these new opportunities for engagement relationships across the wider Gallowhill community will be strengthened and they will be well placed to bring together a group of engaged residents. This would allow them to begin developing a formal residents’ group, with the longer-term aim of progressing towards a Community Council. Good Food Nation 4.22. Members will be aware that in December, the Scottish Government published the first national Good Food Nation Plan and formally laid it before the Scottish Parliament. It outlines six over- arching Outcomes, Scottish Government food-related policies in place to achieve these
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6 PUBLIC Outcomes and the measures they will use to assess progress. Section 10 of The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, which is not yet in force, requires each local authority and health board, to publish a local Good Food Nation Plan within a period of 12 months, starting from the date upon which Section 10 is commenced. The Scottish Government gave notice in March, that Section 10 will be commenced on 1 April 2027 (subject to Cabinet Secretary approval post- election), meaning that the first local Good Food Nation plan for Renfrewshire will have to be published by 1 April 2028. 4.23. Officers have continued to attend relevant events to support the work of Fair Food Renfrewshire and around the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022. A recent workshop organised by the Living Good Food Nation Lab allowed local authorities and health boards to hear from the Scottish Government Good Food Nation team and gain an insight on their experience and learnings from developing good food nation plans. 4.24. Whilst the work of Fair Food Renfrewshire is distinct and independent from the statutory duty placed upon the Council, there are opportunities to work in partnership. The latest Food Support Forum meeting which took place on 14 May, allowed organisations to discuss issues around community and emergency food provision and provide their thoughts on the development and consultation of the local Good Food Nation Plan. Work is also underway to establish a communication channel for community and emergency food providers to share availability of excess food supplies that can be re-distributed. The new Renfrewshire Foodbank CEO attended the forum meeting for the first time, met the members and updated the group on Renfrewshire Foodbank plans. Winter Connections 4.25. This year’s Winter Connections programme has concluded, with 37 applications being successful in gaining funding, and a wide range of activities taking place across Renfrewshire. An evaluation report is presented to Sub-Committee as a separate agenda item. Strategic priority three: Embedding Equality and Inclusion Equality Outcomes Action Plan and equality actions 4.26. The Equality Outcomes Action Plan was approved at Leadership Board on 29 April and work continues on actions to support the Plan. This includes a new ilearn module on Equality Impact Assessments with an associated RenTalk which took place on 22 April, and was well attended by colleagues from across Council services. 4.27. A further RenTalk has been delivered with the Equalities Development Officer and Engage Renfrewshire’s IN-Ren Network Facilitator around inclusive and intercultural communications.
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7 PUBLIC This session will support staff to meet the needs of any service user who is not a native English speaker or who needs a different kind of communication style. New Scots Welcome Pack 4.28. Officers have been working to develop a New Scots Welcome pack. This pack is designed to provide useful information for anyone coming into Renfrewshire with an ethnic minority background and will provide information on a variety of topics which make life easier for those coming to live in Renfrewshire, including housing, work, libraries, shopping, travel, schools and learning English. Utilising the existing Refugee Resettlement Unit’s pack as a basis, the new Welcome Pack will provide information also suited to non-refugees and asylum seekers. 4.29. Once developed, the pack will be tested with the IN-Ren Network, and the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel, who were keen to see the pack introduced and all such information held in one place for ease of use. Once testing is done, the pack will be produced later in the year. Youth Provision Review 4.30. A review of youth provision across Renfrewshire is currently underway. The information collected is now being analysed and will be used to support the design and delivery of youth services locally as part of the CLD Partnership Plan. Strategic Priority four: Using Insight and Evidence for Impact Child Poverty Accelerator Fund 4.31. Work continues on the Child Poverty Accelerator Fund project, which will create a locally governed 'Insight Partnership' that uses existing data to identify families showing early signs of child poverty risk. The partnership will then connect these families quickly to the right support, including income maximisation, employability help, cost of living advice and family wellbeing services. 4.32. The initial stage of this project is examining the type of data that is held across Council services to decide what could be useful to the project. A steering group has also been set up to oversee the project. Lived Experience Panel 4.33. Elected Members have been given a number of updates relating to work of the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel. Since the last Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-Committee meeting, the panel have met with the Community Justice Lead Officer and with Research Resource as part of the residents’ research to discuss budget priorities and place and neighbourhood.
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8 PUBLIC 4.34. In April, the Panel also met the Convener of the Communities and Housing Policy Board for a session regarding housing. 4.35. Going forward, the Panel will meet with the Senior Policy Officer (Migration, Asylum and Population Change) along with the Equalities Development Officer, in part to hear about the role of the Migration, Asylum and Population Change officer as well as to discuss the New Scots Welcome Pack being developed. Renfrewshire HSCP have also asked for engagement around their Food Education Pilot and around the Health and Wellbeing Survey. 5. Next Steps 5.1. Further to the approval of the 2026/2027 Fairer Renfrewshire programme at Leadership Board in April, officers are working on arrangements for the delivery of key projects over the coming year. 5.2. In addition to the delivery of the actions within both the Fairer Renfrewshire Action Plan and Equality Outcomes Action Plan, officers are also working on the Local Child Poverty Action Report for 2026/27, which will be presented to Leadership Board later in June for approval. Implications of the Report 1. Financial – There are no financial implications associated with this report. 2. HR & Organisational Development – none 3. Community/Council Planning – The Fairer Renfrewshire Programme is a key driver in achieving the ‘Fair’ strategic outcome and theme within the Council Plan, and covers a number of the key actions identified in the plan. It also represents a significant partnership programme of work which supports the ‘Fair’ theme within the Community Plan, with dedicated partnership governance being established to ensure alignment between these areas of work. 4. Legal - none 5. Property/Assets - none 6. Information Technology - none 7. Equality and Human Rights – Equality and human rights are a key pillar of this plan, and it is anticipated that the programme will likely advance equality of opportunity. 8. Health and Safety - none 9. Procurement – none
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9 PUBLIC 10. Risk – none 11. Privacy Impact – none 12. Climate risk – none 13. Children’s rights - the articles within UNCRC underpin the work that is being progressed in Renfrewshire through the Fairer Renfrewshire programme, particularly in relation to rights in relation to aspects such as life, survival and development, food, clothing and a safe home and supporting the best interests of the child and their families. Child poverty and family wellbeing are key local partnership priorities. 14. COSLA Policy Position – none Author: Annabelle Walter, Connected Communities Manager