Almost £10million secured for Aberdeenshire residents
Almost £10million was secured for those experiencing or facing poverty and inequality in Aberdeenshire over the course of the past year, councillors have been told.
A report on the work of the Tackling Poverty and Inequalities Strategic Partnership was brought before Aberdeenshire Council’s Communities Committee at its April meeting, as councillors approved a budget of almost £5.5million for the year ahead.
The approach to tackling poverty and inequalities in Aberdeenshire focuses on early intervention and prevention, tackling the root causes of poverty and building family capabilities through income maximisation, employability, and promoting positive life chances.
The Tackling Poverty and Inequalities Strategic Partnership was set up by the Aberdeenshire Community Planning Partnership to co-ordinate activity across a range of partners.
The priorities are to reduce the number of children and people living in poverty, to prevent children and people falling into poverty, to enable children to live poverty-free in adult life, and to improve the wellbeing of people in poverty.
These aims are tackled with a range of activities and projects focused on reducing child poverty, ensuring financial and digital inclusion, helping people achieve food security, and through the provision of information and advice services.
Achievements over the past year included projects for children and young people to improve health and wellbeing, and to share financial advice, and initiatives to support families to develop skills and reduce household costs.
Individuals have been supported to improve employability, and more than a thousand people have been involved in decision-making at community, local, and national levels.
The £10million financial gain for individuals and households was achieved through support from access information and advice services across Aberdeenshire, allowing people to access a variety of entitlements.
And of the almost 1,100 families and individuals supported through specialist pathways, 95% of participants do not require any further support, councillors were told.
The committee welcomed the work of the strategic partnership, commenting on the importance of partnership working and sharing best practice. Councillors went on to support the allocation of almost £5.5million to support projects for the year ahead.
Activities will include the development of a flexible and responsive childcare sector fund, support for money advice and welfare rights, a pilot initiative to support council tenants changing tenancies or facing challenges, and the delivery of a range of community-based information and advice services across Aberdeenshire.
The committee also approved the allocation of a remaining budget of £695,608 to the chair of the Tackling Poverty & Inequalities Strategic Partnership, in discussion with the Communities Committee chair, vice-chair, and opposition spokesperson.
Speaking after the meeting, Communities Committee chair Cllr Anne Stirling said: “The committee was once again very pleased to hear of the strategic partnership’s hard work over the past year to support so many people to achieve better outcomes.
“We would like to thank the many bodies that make up the partnership, the community-based organisations supporting people across Aberdeenshire, and of course the residents who have engaged with the partnership and shared their experiences and opinions.
“The Partnership’s efforts are always aimed at where they will have the most impact, with food and fuel security an ongoing challenge for many, and a full programme of initiatives has been planned for the coming year.”