‘Tackling poverty today and turning the tide to create lasting change in York

The strategy – entitled ‘Tackling Poverty Today and Turning the Tide to Create Lasting Change’ – sets out to create a ten-year strategy and action plan to address poverty in the city.

Shaped following consultation with residents, communities and partner organisations, the strategy describes the approach that the council and partners will take over the next decade to reduce the number of people experiencing poverty in York now and in the future.

It is designed to act as a framework that the council and partners will use to ensure the greatest impact on poverty levels in York.

The strategy builds on York’s strong history of addressing poverty and its causes, including through the work of Joseph and Seebohm Rowntree, with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation considered a world leading authority on tackling deprivation today.

Across York, work continues with organisations and charities, working to tackle poverty, deprivation and inequality in the city.

However, despite these efforts, the reality is that poverty exists in each ward in the city, with some more affected than others.

The University of York and Policy in Practice have been looking at data from the LIFT (low-income family tracker) platform to understand the prevalence of poverty in the city. They have focused on households in receipt of benefits, with a low income compared to others. Their research finds an indicative level of nearly 4,000 households in the city in either relative or deep poverty.

Cllr Claire Douglas, Leader of City of York Council, said:

“Poverty has been an unacceptable fact of life in our city for too many people and for too long. Bringing partners together with a collective commitment, ambition and clear focus for the next decade, I hope, will build on York’s strong social justice history of anti-poverty campaigners, and make a tangible difference to the lives of people and families living in poverty, not just now, but for future generations.”

It’s hoped that the final strategy and action plan will provide a structured approach to tackling and addressing the root causes of poverty over the decade ahead. They include:

• A shared definition with a recommendation that all city partners use the same definition of poverty

• Key performance indicators to monitor progress

• Three strategic objectives that address issues today, prepare for the future and prevent further people falling into poverty – with an expectation that when developing projects to tackle poverty, it is clear whether the outcome is to address today’s issues, or to prepare for a better future.

• A strategic action plan setting out actions already underway or interventions in development.

• A recognition that some communities are more adversely affected than others, and as a result, interventions will be targeted to areas of most need for those who are currently experiencing poverty, and more universal for interventions to prevent people from falling into poverty.

The strategy and action plan form part of a wider package to support residents facing or living with poverty including the York Hungry Minds initiative to provide universal free school meals to primary school age children and the York Talk Money initiative to improve financial literacy and ensure residents are getting the support they’re eligible for.