A major Trafford Council strategy to help tackle poverty across the borough will be discussed by councillors next week.
The Trafford Poverty Strategy 2022-2025 is designed to alleviate the economic hardship and inequality that exists across the borough through collaboration and partnership working. The strategy is seen as being ever more important now given the cost of living crisis which means more Trafford families will be struggling to make ends meet.
Trafford Council’s Executive, which meets on July 25, will be asked to approve a recommendation to approve the anti-poverty campaign as well as the Trafford VCFSE (voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise) Strategy 2022-27 which will aim to support a thriving and sustainable volunteer sector in the borough. Both strategies have been co-produced with public services and VCFSE organisations across the borough along with teams from Trafford Council.
The Council, which has made supporting people out of poverty one its main corporate priorities, launched a one-year strategy in 2020/21 to identify short term options to highlight and alleviate the issue. The authority has developed the proposed new plan through the Trafford Poverty Action Group with the aim of tackling the causes of poverty and raising people out of poverty.
The strategy would help residents in a number of ways - including giving them access to advice and information on how to manage, helping them improve their skills and get jobs, and by encouraging employers to pay the Real Living Wage.
In May this year, the Trafford Poverty Truth Commission was launched which gave people with experience of living in poverty the opportunity to speak up and build relationships with those in positions of influence. The commission will conclude in March 2023 and its recommendations will be incorporated into the Trafford Poverty Strategy.
Cllr Joanne Harding, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Strategic Partnerships, said:
“Trafford Council is totally committed to tackling the issue of poverty and all of its causes and that is why we have devised the Trafford Poverty Strategy 2022-2025. The current cost of living crisis makes this strategy more important than ever.”
Posted on Monday 18th July 2022