Anti-Poverty Strategy 2024 to 2027

Together with our partners we are delivering a range of services aimed at supporting those in poverty. The listing below is just a snapshot of what we are already doing: 

• in 2022, 17,000 households were assisted with Council Tax Reduction. 7,500 were assisted with Housing Benefits and 679 awards were granted as Discretionary Housing Payment
• since 2012, the Council has supported 4,024 households across the Borough through its Warm Home Health People scheme.1156 boiler services or repairs have been conducted. 117 replacement boilers have been installed
• over 70 people have registered for CV support, advice and interview tips via the Council's Employment and Training Hub's 'Hub on Tour' project
• more than 20 Learning and Skills courses have been held across Community Spaces venues including Billingham, Stockton, Thornaby and Redhill Family Hubs. Other catering and nutrition courses designed to support people manage their budgets, in response to rising food and energy costs, included Air Fryer Recipes, Family Dinner Favourites on a Budget, Festive Cooking on a Budget and Skills to Pay the Bills
• the Council continues to work with Tees Credit Union (Moneywise) to encourage Council staff to access debt advice and support and open savings accounts via its payroll savers scheme
• Stockton and District Advice and Information Service's (SDAIS) work on income maximisation has brought £5,364,446 of previously unclaimed benefit entitlement to vulnerable people across the Borough  
• in 2021, the Council funded twenty organisations across Stockton-on-Tees to set up Ecoshops and Community Pantries to help with food insecurity for our most vulnerable residents. This included the introduction of an electric van to help with the logistics of transporting surplus food and reducing food waste. To date over 90,000 visits have been recorded across the Panties and Ecoshops

This strategy's supporting Action Plan is focused on four key priority areas. Our four priorities have been informed through conversations with our residents and engagement with our partners. Underneath each of these is a section around the action needed and a description on how we will get there. As stated throughout this strategy, integral to all these actions is the ongoing work with our partners and residents. The priorities are as follows: 

Household Poverty  

Key actions are focused on tackling food insecurity and poverty, reducing fuel poverty and income maximisation. This will involve developing a food insecurity plan, establishing a fuel poverty forum and widening access to targeted debt management and support.  

Child Poverty  

Key actions are focused on addressing the emerging issues at home and in school which directly affect children and young people and their families or carers. This will involve maximising free school meals take up, implementing a school uniform affordability action plan and the targeted promotion of Healthy Starts Vouchers to increase take up amongst eligible families.  

Participation and voice 

Key actions are focused on ensuring that an inclusive approach is taken when incorporating the voices of those affected by poverty. This will involve increasing the voices of young people in decision making, working with residents whose voices may not have been captured through existing networks, for example those who are homeless, and increasing engagement with refugees and asylum seekers.  

Health and Wellbeing  

Key actions are focussed on improving access to both physical and mental health services and support. This will involve minimising the risk of social isolation and loneliness, strengthening suicide prevention and increasing access to hygiene products.  

In addition to these actions, it is vital that all decisions taken within the Council are viewed through a poverty lens. To ensure we are doing this consistently we will be launching an updated Equality and Poverty Impact Assessment (with a supporting toolkit). This has been designed to ensure that our policies, practices, and decision-making processes are fair, do not present barriers to disadvantaged and protected groups and those affected by poverty. 

Moving forward, we are commitment to continuous engagement with residents and partners. This will be undertaken by engaging with:  

• Anti-Poverty Delivery Group: This group will drive forward the Anti-Poverty Strategy and action plan and it includes partners from the public and VCSE sectors
• Positive Living Group: This group will feed into our anti-poverty work using the insights, priorities and messages from participatory action and research undertaken by groups of people with lived experience of poverty. This work has been and will continue to be supported by Thrive Teesside
• Cost of Living Network and project groups: These groups were set up to help the enable the Council to address specific changes faces by our residents due to Cost of Living challenges
• Health and Wellbeing Board: The Health and Wellbeing Board leads the improvement of health and wellbeing for Stockton-on-Tees. Our anti-poverty work will feed directly into this board
• Infinity: This forum is the Financial Inclusion Partnership in the borough, comprising organisations in the borough that are committed to providing and progressing financial inclusion