By Hollie Griss, Communications & Media Officer at Resolve Poverty
We’ve been supporting anti-poverty efforts across Greater Manchester since we were founded in 2016, working with a number of organisations to develop strategic, policy and practical responses to poverty.
Since our rebrand in June last year, we’ve begun working with more localities and regions across the country – but Greater Manchester continues to remain a hive of leading anti-poverty activities.
In today’s Greater Manchester bulletin we’re sharing a round-up of some of the work we’ve been involved with in the city-region so far this year.
Strategic work
We started working in a strategic partnership with NHS Greater Manchester in 2023. As part of this, we have this year continued to run our Poverty Awareness Training, and have now trained 1,262 local health professionals and NHS staff. We have also supported them with tailored advice and resources around voluntarily adopting the socio-economic duty. If they move forward with this, they will be the first Integrated Care Board to do so in the country.
Policy work
Over the past few months, we’ve been delivering training and workshops to Manchester City Council staff and senior leaders on the socio-economic duty. Following the Council voluntarily adopting the duty in October 2024, we’ve supported council staff to better understand what it is and what it can achieve when properly integrated into practices and procedures.
In April, we convened representatives from across the ten Greater Manchester boroughs in a discussion around the latest tranche of Household Support Funding. It was noted that the funding pots have been significantly reduced in this round versus previous pots of funding, which limits the councils’ abilities to target interventions to those most in need. Discussions made it clear that the government must move to a long-term model of funding for local crisis support to enable councils to invest in prevention.
Practical work
Our Money Matters programme has been running in Trafford since 2022, supporting families by providing debt and benefit advice in schools by working in partnership with Citizens Advice. We have this year expanded it to Rochdale and Manchester, and are already seeing its positive impact. Financial Inclusion Officers Rob and Sabah are running the programme in Rochdale and have so far supported local families to gain more than £20,000 in benefits they didn’t know they were eligible for. Read about how we’ve helped families in Rochdale.
In Manchester, we’re trialling a slightly different way of running the programme. Community Engagement Manager Jess has established a referral pathway in 12 schools, enabling school staff to connect families in need directly with Citizens Advice Manchester. As part of this, she has trained their pastoral leads, support workers, and teachers who are the trusted face of their school. In addition, a self-referral QR code has been circulated to allow parents and carers to seek support discreetly and at their own convenience. This approach has been well-received and has significantly improved access to services. One teacher shared: “Extremely valuable, it’s something we have never had before. I think it will change the way I support parents.”
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This article is featured in our Greater Manchester Bulletin.
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