Building Resilience: Tackling Poverty in Tameside
This new Strategy is Tameside’s collective response to addressing the causes and effects of Poverty and the Cost of Living Crisis. All key Partners in Tameside have agreed to work together to take a fresh look at the entrenched issues that blight our most vulnerable residents and provide the means to improve life chances for all.
We have called the Strategy ‘Building Resilience’ to acknowledge the fact delivering change for people in the long-term must rely on giving them the tools to be resilient and continue to thrive when outside events like the Cost of Living crisis or the Pandemic put additional challenges in our way.
Our Strategy is split into a number of key themes each of which contain a series of actions:
- “Raising incomes” – supporting residents to maximise their income and access all benefits they are entitled to.
- “Making Tameside work for everyone” – securing high-quality and high-wage employment for all residents.
- “Poverty is everybody’s business” – supporting residents, communities and partners to spot the signs of poverty and direct those in need to the appropriate help.
- “Climbing out of the debt trap” – Taking action against the high levels of debt, insolvencies and poor access to good credit experienced by many residents.
- “Breaking the cycle” – Focusing specifically on providing the best start in childhood and education for our young people.
- “Laying the foundations” – Ensuring residents have access to what they need in order to live in comfort and dignity, including food, housing and warmth.
- “Putting people first” – Making sure that our working practices, both customer-facing and internal, are best placed to identify and support those in poverty.
- “No one left behind digitally” – Focusing specifically on digital skills to help residents access support and opportunities.
- “One size doesn’t fit all” – Providing additional support for residents identified as being at particular risk of poverty, including disabled residents, carers, ethnic minorities, and those suffering from poor mental health.
- “Advocating for change” – Highlighting the need for action on poverty-related issues where responsibility lies with national government.
Key to forming the Strategy was the insight gained from those with lived experience of Poverty, especially the Tameside Poverty Truth Commission. We also commit in the Strategy to continue to work with those with lived experience as we deliver the ambitions set out above.
Underpinning the Strategy is a Charter signed by the members of the Health & Wellbeing Board to deliver on the promises set out in the Strategy.
Tackling Poverty Strategy
