Item 7 - Local child poverty report 23-24
West Dunbartonshire Council · 21 November 2024
Back to Community Planning West Dunbartonshire Management Board — 21 November 2024 and its agenda
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Report by Chief Officer Roads and Neighbourhood CPWD Management Board: 21 November 2024 ______________________________________________________________ Subject: Local Child Poverty Annual Report 1. Purpose 1.1 The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requires the Scottish Government to meet four income-based child poverty targets by 2030. 1.2 Local Authorities in partnership with NHS Health Boards have a duty in this legislation to produce a local child poverty annual report that outlines what they are doing to contribute to the national targets. 1.3 This report provides an update on the local child poverty report with the full document attached as an appendix. 2. Recommendations 2.1 CPWD Management Board is asked to: • Note and support the actions set within the local child poverty report. • Partners are asked to commit support, and representation where appropriate, to the Family Prosperity Network and its aims. 3. Background 3.1 We know people are poor if they are unable to achieve a standard of living that most others expect and take for granted. The evidence suggests that child poverty in Scotland is driven by structural or institutional factors. These factors include: • (limited) Income from social security. • (limited) Income from employment. • (disparity between income and) Costs of living, including housing, food and fuel costs, the poverty premium, the costs of the school day, and the extra, unavoidable costs of disability. ITEM 7
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3.2 The Scottish Government has set itself the target of reducing the proportion of children in relative poverty to 10% by 2030. Current level is 24.5% The guidance on this states that almost 90% of all children in poverty in Scotland live within six priority family types. • Lone parent families (32%) • Disabled (29%) • 3+ Children (32%) • Minority Ethnic (38%) • Youngest Child less than 1 year old (34%) • Mothers aged less than 25 years (55%) 3.3 These are families with: • Low or inadequate incomes. • Poor quality or insecure employment • Affected by welfare reform. • Facing challenges meeting the high and rising cost of necessities. 3.4 Efforts to reduce child poverty, in effect, should focus on these target groups and these efforts should focus on the drivers of poverty reduction. The drivers of poverty reduction include: • maximising income from employment and benefits and • reducing the cost of living. 3.5 The drivers of poverty reduction and inputs are illustrated in Diagram 1. Drivers of Poverty Reduction Income from Social Security and BenefitsCosts of LivingIncome from Employment Hours worked per household Hourly Pay DebtsOther costs of living Housing Costs Reach of Benefit Levels of benefit Skills and Qualifications Labour market Availability of affordable and accessible transport. Childcare. Barriers to access Enablers (access to affordable credit, internet access, savings, assets, debt management) Take upEligibility criteria Understanding the system 4. Main Issues 4.1 Data relating to the scale of child poverty is notoriously difficult to reconcile to the Scottish Government’s targets. However, the figures provided in ‘Children in low-income families: Local statistics 2014 to 2024’ are most closely aligned with the Scottish Government’s 2030 target for families living in relative poverty, which is set at 10%. 4.2 These figures state that 3,900 children were living in disadvantaged households in West Dunbartonshire in 2023. This is from a population of approximately 15,000 (in the 0-16 years age group) and represents 25.6% of the population. 4.3 The main issue is, irrespective of the source of data, child poverty in West Dunbartonshire is higher than the average figure for Scotland and United Kingdom. It is also higher than the regional (NHS GG&C area) figure and
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higher than our neighbours, with the exception only of Glasgow. All of which suggests the continued need for focused attention on the issue. 4.4 The local child poverty report highlights actions that have been taken to address child poverty in West Dunbartonshire. It should be noted that the list and examples are not exhaustive of the actions to address the impact (and effects) of poverty. The report simply attempts to highlight action that contributes to the drivers of poverty reduction. 5. Resource Implications 5.1 Effective intervention depends on a complex, multi-agency and multi-sector approach to the delivery of specialist services. During the year, and as a result of consultation through community planning partners and community event, we have established a Family Prosperity Network to focus on the drivers of poverty from a range of perspectives. 5.2 The Family Prosperity network will draw on the available knowledge and expertise to investigate the lived experience and impact of poverty on parents and children’s lives and work together to mitigate that impact by taking action that directly addresses the drivers of poverty (crisis, income, costs). 5.3 This approach will allow us focus on the drivers of poverty while connecting with key policy areas to maximise resource input and joint working. Key to this is the input/contribution by several services and organisations that include, for example: • Employability and Learning Support (No One Left Behind). • Information and Advice (Debt and Benefits) • Integrated Children's Services. • Empowering Communities • Housing Solutions. • Community Planning Partners and Anchor organisations (Golden Jubilee Trust) • 5.4 We have captured the Family Prosperity Network aims, objectives and approaches in a ‘one-page plan’ to summarise the complexity of the task and breadth of input.
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Family Prosperity Network Objectives and Approach Community Planning West Dunbartonshire (CPWD) Vision ‘To develop West Dunbartonshire as a place where people choose to live, work, explore, visit and invest.’ Family Prosperity Network Aim: To work in partnership through the Community Planning West Dunbartonshire to reduce the level of child poverty in West Dunbartonshire and bring it closer to the City Region average. Objectives: We will do this by improving our understanding and raising awareness of how poverty affects families and children and by addressing the drivers of poverty through partnership working. Our focus will be placed on actions to: • Alleviate immediate hardship through cash first approaches. • Reduce the cost-of-living for families with children with specific emphasis placed on those most in need. • Maximise income from benefits through the provision of good quality debt and money advice, guidance and representation and focussed campaign. • Maximise income from employment through the provision of employability and learning services Our approach: The Family Prosperity Network will take the lead in co-ordinating efforts that aim to have an impact on addressing the drivers of poverty and reporting progress. Working alongside the Community Planning Partnership Delivery Improvement Groups and existing partnerships we will use the available knowledge and expertise to investigate the lived experience and impact of poverty on parents and children’s lives and work together to mitigate that impact by addressing the drivers of poverty (crisis, income, costs). The Family Prosperity Network will collate information provided by existing partnerships and organisations to illustrate what has been done and what will be done to alleviate child poverty. This will inform priorities for action; provide content for the Local Child Poverty Annual Report; and form the basis of progress reports for the Community Planning West Dunbartonshire Management Board. WDCPP: Nurtured, Flourishing, Safe, Empowered, Independent West Dunbartonshire Council (W4U)/ NHS GG& Clyde lead with Key partnerships input from: Community Empowerment WDCVS The Food Insecurity Network Cash First Project (Reduce the cost of living alleviate immediate hardship and cash first fund – understand lived experience) Children and Families Integrated Services Education Services The Promise SHINE Programme (Reducing the cost of living, for example reducing the cost of the school day - alleviate hardship-) Health and Social Care NHS GG&C Golden Jubilee Health Improvement Team Social Care Services Targeted actions and Opportunities/understa nd lived experience. Benefit and Debt Information and Advice partnership Working4U Citizens Advice Bureau Social Security Scotland DWP (maximise income from benefits) Economic Development, Local Employability Fair Work Employability Social Benefit (maximise income from work) West Dunbartonshire Crisis support and Cost of Living Initiatives Welfare Funds Discretionary and Passported benefits (Alleviate hardship reduce the cost of living) Housing Solutions Partnership WDC Housing Services RSL (Alleviate Hardship/Trigger events) Success: Specific Actions to address drivers of poverty and progress indicators: Residents understanding what’s available and report improvements in their quality of lives because of support
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5.5 The production of the local child poverty report means that we are compliant with the legislation, Child Poverty (Scotland) Act (2017), that states the Local Authority in partnership with the GG&C NHS Board must produce an annual report that highlights what we have done and what we propose to do to contribute to national targets for the reduction of child poverty. 5.6 The development of the Family Prosperity Network takes that obligation a little further by organising and orchestrating action at the local level to address the specific challenges we face in West Dunbartonshire. 5.7 While compliance with the legislation is important, we will have a clearer indication of success when parents can tell us that they know where to go to obtain help, they find the services relevant, and they are confident that help will assist them to make the changes they need to address their circumstances. Importantly, they can also report that they have improved the quality of life for their families. 5.8 To reinforce this the Family Prosperity Network partners are establishing and adopting a range of indicators to demonstrate progress towards its aims. These indicators will be refined and adopted in the forthcoming year, where appropriate. These indicators include: Alleviate Immediate Hardship • Number of families from priority groups receiving support through the Scottish Welfare Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments. • Number of families from priority groups receiving support through the West Dunbartonshire Household Hardship Fund. • Number of families from priority groups receiving support from the West Dunbartonshire ‘cash first’ initiative funded by the Scottish Government. Income from Employment: • Number of parents from child poverty priority groups supported employability initiatives. • Number of parents from priority groups receiving training. • Number of parents from priority groups securing a qualification. • The number of parents from child poverty priority groups into work. • The number of parents from child poverty priority groups into work in anchor institutions (including NHS and local authorities), from child poverty priority groups. • Number of Modern Apprentices recruited from child poverty priority groups. Income from Benefit • Total verified financial gain for clients from households with dependent children accessing local authority funded money and welfare rights advice. • Total number of clients from households with dependent children accessing local authority funded money and welfare rights advice due to debt, and total debt owed.
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Cost of living • The proportion of parents not making full use of 1140 hours, by priority group parents. • Proportion of priority families in receipt of passported benefits and child benefits. • Number of households with dependent children in Council Tax arrears. • Number of households with dependent children in rent arrears, living in social housing. • Number of patients (pregnant women, families with children) referred to money and welfare rights advice from the following settings: Midwifery; Health Visiting; Family Nurses and GP settings (and financial gain for those referred). 6. Financial Implications 6.1 The delivery of the Family Prosperity Network aims and objectives is set within the context of existing budgets and approaches. There are no additional financial implications. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 The production of the Local Child Poverty Annual Report addresses the risk of non-compliance with The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. 8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 An EIA scoping exercise will be undertaken as part of the further development of the work of the Family Prosperity Network Lead Group. 9. Consultation 9.1 This report provides a summary of the agreed approach being taken by CPWD in response to the feedback from services, community-based organisations and a self-evaluation that emerged from the community event held in Clydebank Town Hall in May 2024. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 Progressing work as outlined in this report ensures CPWD can deliver on the outcomes set in the Local Outcome Improvement Plan. Gail MacFarlane Chief Officer Citizen, Roads and Neighbourhoods 25 October 2024 ______________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Stephen Brooks, Working4U Manager, Stephen.brooks@west- dunbarton.gov.uk
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Appendices: Background Papers: West Dunbartonshire Local Child Poverty Annual Report Wards Affected: All Wards