Agenda item

Agenda item

Family Poverty Strategy update

Report of the Head of Work and Skills

 

This report sets out the progress that has been made since the Manchester Family Poverty Strategy 2017-2022 was adopted by the Council’s Executive in September 2017. It provides a summary of the governance structure that has been put in place, the priorities for each of the workstreams and some of their achievements and added value.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Work and Skills, which set out the progress that had been made since the Manchester Family Poverty Strategy 2017/22 was adopted by the Council’s Executive in September 2017.

 

The Head of Work and Skills referred to the main points and themes within the report, which included:-

 

·                A summary of the three themes and 10 priorities of the Strategy;

·                The governance structure of the Strategy, which comprised of a Core Group, who oversaw the delivery of the strategy;

·                The Core Group was underpinned by three working groups which were aligned to three themes of the Strategy:-

·                Sustainable work as a route out of poverty

·                Focus on the basics - raising and protecting family incomes 

·                Boosting resilience and building on strengths

·                Details of a number of other activities and events which had supported the resilience of families and children living in poverty, including the work of anchor institutions;

·                Measures which the Council track that give a citywide percentage estimate of poverty; and

·                Next steps, which included strengthening the membership of the Core and working groups.

 

The Committee also received a presentation from Jane Partington, founder of Bread and Butter Thing, which was a community led charity who provide quality food supplies for low income families and where part of the Core Group.

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussion were:-

 

·                How had the established discount supermarket chains reacted to the Bread and Butter Thing venture;

·                What relationship had the Bread and Butter Thing with social housing providers;

·                How were volunteers and members of the Bread and Butter Thing recruited;

·                There was concern around the impact of the threat of homelessness on family welfare, income and poverty and the interaction within a family’s existing social networks if they were rehoused in areas unfamiliar to them;

·                How was ‘in work’ poverty reflected in the strategy;

·                Was there any examples of where childcare providers had adapted towards more flexible working patterns;

·                More detail on the Child North East (CNE) pilot at Cedar Mount Academy was requested; and

·                How was the intended impact of the strategy going to be measured and reported to scrutiny.

 

Jane Partington advised the Committee that she was not sure how the established discount supermarket felt about Bread and Buutter Thing.  She commented that it had not been expected that the venture would get to the sized that it had within 18 months.  She advised that food companies, on the whole, wanted to distribute their food and the key aspect of the Bread and Butter Thing model, was that it was not a food pantry nor a foodbank.  All the food obtained and issued by the venture was either on date or just within the display until date, which the supermarkets could not sell due to food regulations.  As the venture collected and delivered the food in the same day, it meant that all retailers were able to distribute their foods, which otherwise would have gone to waste.  In terms of the relationship with social housing providers, Jane reported that they were currently working with One Manchester, Northwards, First Choice, Trafford Housing and Tameside, and that they were a good source of finding the community hubs to work from and getting into the right locations were there was a need for the service.  It was explained that members and volunteers were identified through the community hubs and to be a valid member, residents needed to live within the locality served by the hub.

 

The Deputy Leader advised that the Family Poverty Strategy was targeted at people who may be ‘just about managing’  but acknowledged there was a clear link between those who were ‘just about managing’ and those becoming homelessness, if there was a crisis or unexpected change of circumstances in their lives.  There was representatives on the Core Group from Save the Children and the Mustard Tree which provided a link to those at risk of being made homeless or were already. 

 

The Head of Work and Skills advised that there had been a rise of ‘in work poverty but it was still the case of that most children living in families in poverty, came from a home where parents and carers were not working.  There were limitations with the measurement of family poverty and to ensure that the Council captured both in-work and out of work poverty, as well as the effect of Universal Credit, the Council had moved to the End Child Poverty indicator, away from the HMRC data which was traditionally used.

 

The Council was also working with Anchor Institutions within the City to get them to lean into this agenda more.  An example of this was getting these Institutions to sign up to the GM Mayor Good Employment Charter, which recommends the minimum provision of the living wage for all staff, investment in training and progression. 

 

In response to other questions, the Head of Work and Skills said that few terms of childcare providers had adapted towards more flexible working patterns, which were more prevalent in the labour market.  However the working group was doing further work with parents, businesses and providers to understand the implications and roll out good practise.  It was also reported that it was too early in the life stage of the Poverty Proofing pilot at Cedar Mount Academy to identify any lessons learnt, but it was hoping that when these were identified, they could be rolled out to other schools within the City.

 

Officers advised that in terms of monitoring the success of the strategy, it was possible to monitor against national indicators, such as child poverty strategy measures.  Further work would be undertaken around the Logic model to identify how to measure the impact of the strategy without resulting in duplication of reporting.  Members welcomed the Logic Model.

 

Decision:

 

The Committee:-

 

(1)       Thanks Jane Partington for her presentation and the work of the Bread and Butter Thing; and

(2)          Notes the positive progress that is being  made in delivering the Family Poverty Strategy.

Supporting documents: