By Tom Pottrill, Policy Officer at Resolve Poverty
Election of the new Labour government has brought a renewed focus on poverty, with the government’s commitment to adopt a national child poverty strategy in 2025. But decades’ long inaction by central government has led to localities considering their own role in resolving poverty. New research from Resolve Poverty examines the scale of local efforts in tackling poverty.
Earlier this month, Resolve Poverty published new research, Anti-Poverty Strategies in England, investigating the scale of anti-poverty strategies across councils in England. Increasingly, local authorities are recognising the importance of having their own anti-poverty strategy, but prevalence is low: only 13% of councils in England currently have an anti-poverty strategy. Our research has found that:
- 43 local authorities currently have an anti-poverty strategy in England
- A further 23 councils intend to introduce a strategy in the next 12 months
- Greater Manchester leads the way: 80% of the city-region’s councils have an anti-poverty strategy, which can be attributed to the concentrated efforts of Resolve Poverty in working with them to impress the importance of strategic responses to poverty
- There is a clear north-south divide, with the majority of anti-poverty strategies being in the North West and North East of England
- Councils in areas with more concentrated levels of child poverty are more likely to currently have, or to have plans to introduce, an anti-poverty strategy
- Councils where the Labour Party is the largest party are most likely to have a current anti-poverty strategy.
Most English councils, including many with high poverty rates, do not have an anti-poverty strategy. Our research uncovers that 251 councils, out of a total 317, do not have an anti-poverty strategy, nor plan to implement one within 12 months. This includes a significant number of councils whose child poverty rate is higher than the median child poverty rate for councils without an anti-poverty strategy.
Our latest briefing follows our 2023 report, Local anti-poverty strategies: good practice and effective approaches, which sought to fulfil a major gap in knowledge around strategic approaches to poverty. We highlighted best practice from existing strategies and developed knowledge on effective strategy design with a 12-point framework.
Since the publication of the 2023 report, Resolve Poverty has partnered with councils to develop their own strategic responses, and we are proud to have influenced the implementation of local anti-poverty strategies across the country.
We offer tailored consultancy work to public bodies across England and we can support public sector organisations to develop anti-poverty strategies that are holistic, innovative and responsive to specific local needs. Our offer includes comprehensive guidance on how to deliver an effective poverty response at a local level, and on how to ensure the strategy is effectively implemented and delivered for maximum impact. Our policy and research specialists can also provide strategic oversight to join up anti-poverty strategies with other organisational strategies, policies and priorities.
“[Resolve Poverty] have provided strategic direction and oversight, … developed template documents that have been utilised to capture key information, shared good practice from other areas and managed our lived experience programme … [Resolve Poverty] have really provided us with a wealth of impartial advice and direction” – Bolton Council
We are delighted to offer support to local authorities and other public bodies across England in developing their own anti-poverty strategy. If you are interested in working with us, or learning more about how we can support you, please email Tom Waring at thomas@resolvepoverty.org.uk or click here to book a free initial conversation.
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This article is featured in our 16 October newsletter.
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