Child Poverty

The Council has received Beacon Status for its work tackling child poverty.  The award of Beacon status is in recognition of the strength of Newcastle’s strategic approach to child poverty.  However, child poverty levels in Newcastle remain above the national average and there is a substantial gap in outcomes between children and young people living in poverty and their peers in the city. 

Reducing child poverty has been identified as a priority by the Newcastle Partnership and this is reflected in our Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement.  In order to achieve this, a Reducing Child Poverty Strategy has been drafted which includes priority areas for action.  The production of the strategy was overseen by a Child Poverty Steering Group chaired by the Executive Director of Children’s Services.  The group enables members to share information and identify opportunities for joined up working but does not have a clear remit to deliver the strategy on behalf of the Children’s Trust Board and Economy Partnership. Therefore a Child Poverty Programme Board has recently been established to:

• Ensure that the delivery of the Reducing Child Poverty Strategy is supported by a robust action plan.
• Regularly monitor the plan to ensure that it is supporting the delivery of SCS/LAA targets to reduce child poverty and narrow the gap in outcomes between children living in poverty and their peers.
• Ensure that work around child poverty in Newcastle is informed by a strong evidence and intelligence base which meets the requirements of the Child Poverty Bill and government guidance and is based on good practice.
• Ensure the views of children, young people, parents and carers are reflected in the action plan.
• Ensure that ownership of the action plan is with the appropriate theme leads or partner agencies and that the appropriate people and bodies take responsibility for the delivery of the action plan.

 Further details regarding the Child Poverty Programme’s portfolio to follow