Why this matters
Poverty can have a profound impact on the child, their family, and the rest of society. It often sets in motion a deepening spiral of social exclusion, creating problems in education, employment, mental and physical health and social interaction. We understand that tackling child poverty will improve the life chances of children now and in years to come.
Children who grow up in poverty lack many of the experiences and opportunities that others take for granted, and can be exposed to severe hardship and social exclusion.
The Child Poverty Act 2010 introduces new duties on local authorities and their named local partners to cooperate to reduce, and mitigate the effects of, child poverty. This includes the duties to prepare and publish a local child poverty needs assessment and to prepare a joint child poverty strategy.
What we will do
Our ambition is for Nottinghamshire to be a place where children grow up free from deprivation and disadvantage, and birth and social background do not hold people back from achieving their potential.
We will work together to reduce levels of child poverty and to mitigate the effects of child poverty on children, young people and families, as well as on future generations.
Nationally, government aims to reduce child poverty to 10% or less by 2020.
Nottinghamshire aims to establish a downward trend in levels of child poverty and we will monitor our progress comparing with our statistical neighbours.
We have already undertaken a child poverty needs assessment, and published this in March 2011.
Over the next year, we will:
- target localities with greater levels of poverty to ensure outcomes in these areas are improved
- increase educational attainment, employment and skills amongst children, young people and parents in Nottinghamshire and reduce dependency on welfare benefits
- raise aspirations and improve the life chances for children and families so that poverty in childhood does not translate into poor experiences and outcomes
- support families to acquire the skills and knowledge to access responsive financial support services, money management and to avoid debt crisis
- support families with complex problems compounded by poverty and disadvantage.
When we will do this
We will publish our strategy in September 2011. We aim to have completed this year’s actions by March 2012, and will then review actions for future years.
How this will improve the lives of children, young people and families
Embedding the actions in the Child and Family Poverty Strategy will:
- improve the financial status of children and families in poverty
- reduce the effects of living in poverty through effective service delivery.
These children will have enhanced access to experiences and opportunities. This will result in a better experience of childhood, improve their heath and wellbeing and promote their achievement and their participation in society.
The percentage of children living in poverty will be used to illustrate progress.
