What? For many of us, Darlington is a great place to live, work and play. But it is a sad reality that not everyone is always able to enjoy the opportunities that the borough affords. Too many people, including children, are living in poverty despite being in-work and the numbers are predicted to grow. We - as residents, employers, service providers and workers of Darlington - find this unacceptable. We believe that every resident and household in Darlington should have the right to share in the borough’s success. We believe we should all feel heard and valued and be able to fully participate in our community, no matter our economic status. Poverty and inequality are currently the biggest barriers preventing wellbeing in Darlington: it affects everything from our happiness, health, educational attainment, employment to our sense of safety and security. We are not willing to continue to accept this unfairness and bear the significant social and financial costs that poverty and inequality have on all of us.
This Charter… is a formal, public statement of our collective intent to support local wealth creation that benefits all residents. This Charter… is a call to action for residents, businesses and other stakeholders to recognise the negative effects that inequality has on all of us, and to pledge to sign up and join us. This Charter… is our strategy to help people avoid, manage and escape poverty. It is our strategy to create a fairer, richer Darlington. POVERTY is a state or condition:
INEQUALITY is a relationship:
“What I have…”
“What I have relative to others…”
Poverty is when your resources are well below your minimum needs Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The nature of poverty has changed….Two-thirds of Britain’s poor children are now in households where an adult works. In three-quarters of those households someone already works fulltime. The problem is that those working parents simply do not earn enough to escape poverty. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
An extensive body of research suggests that: High levels of inequality generate a wide range of health and social problems; Income inequality holds back sustainable growth; and Everyone in society benefits from reducing the gap between rich and poor. Reducing income inequality means ensuring that those who are able to work have quality employment opportunities that pay a fair wage, and those who are unable to work claim their full entitlements.
So, poverty is about much more than income but income and material conditions remain the most fundamental determining dimensions of poverty: the psychological and social dimensions of poverty are a direct consequence of not having enough money. For the purposes of this strategy, therefore, poverty is defined as household income below 60% of median household income. This is the commonly used definition which is used to measure whether poor families are keeping up with the living standards in the rest of society.
Why? Poverty costs us all money: The financial burden of poverty to society is significant: in 2013 the cost of child poverty in Darlington was calculated to be £62m a year in terms of services (e.g. NHS and schools), lost tax receipts, cost of benefits and loss of earnings1. Darlington is missing out on a widening pool of potential talent, our economy is suffering from falling real incomes and our public services are struggling to meet growing demand for services. It’s not about unemployment… Whilst historically, full time work has been one of the best routes out of poverty, Darlington – like many other areas of the country – is struggling with low wages across its resident population: 26% of Darlington workers currently earn below the real living wage and face poor progression opportunities meaning, without intervention, they are likely to remain stuck in low paid work. The forecast isn’t good… By 2020, the average annual loss per working age household with children is estimated to be £1,330 (n.b. this figure includes those households not affected). The impact of this is reflected in recent analysis showing that child poverty in Darlington is expected to increase from 29% in 2018 to 39% in 2019/212. So? Children and adults from the poorest area of Darlington are significantly more likely to suffer from a wide range of negative wellbeing outcomes than those from the richest part of the borough, for example… Children are: Half as likely to achieve 5 A*-C grades at GCSE including English & Maths Twice as likely to be measured as obese 18 times more likely to be living in poverty
Adults are: 3 times more likely to report their health as being bad or very bad 3 times more likely to have no qualifications 5 times more likely to be in receipt of social care 6 times more likely to work in unskilled jobs 11 times more likely to have had difficulties making loan or credit repayments 39 times more likely to be referred for drug treatment 40 times more likely to be long-term sick or disabled 50 times more likely to be in receipt of income-related benefits In addition: The number of road traffic casualties is 16 times higher Men are expected to die 11.7 years earlier and women 8.5 years earlier Reported crime is 9 times higher Reported violent and sexual offences are 11 times higher Reported antisocial behaviour is 42 times higher The forecast growth in inequality is a problem for all of us – it doesn’t just leads to poorer outcomes for those at the bottom, but for ALL of us. 1
The cost of child poverty locally, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), 2013, http://www.cpag.org.uk/cpla/cost-child-poverty Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2017-18 to 2021-22 (appendix), Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), 2017, https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/10030 2
How? One Darlington Partnership – a broad network of local stakeholders from the public, community and voluntary sectors – already targets many of the issues associated with deprivation on our communities and residents as part of its, and its respective members’, core business; from ensuring access to support for vulnerable households to creating training opportunities and jobs to support growth. This Charter seeks to harmonise and coordinate existing activity with the common purpose of tackling poverty affecting residents, be that in terms of income levels, health and/or social inequalities, or access to services. A threepronged approach has therefore been developed to ensure delivery of a fairer, richer Darlington over the short-, medium- and long-term:
1. Ensuring Families have the Basics (Short-Term) The challenges facing families currently living in poverty in Darlington need to be addressed now, such as the ongoing impacts of welfare reforms, the poverty premium and costs of necessities such as food and fuel. 2. Boosting Families’ Resilience (Medium-Term) Helping households to be more stable and in a position to better cope with challenges means they are more likely to be happier and have positive outcomes relating to education and employment. It also requires professionals and organisations to change the way they work to allow them to better recognise the strengths of children, families and communities affected by low incomes. 3. Tackling the Causes of Poverty (Long-Term) Well-paid and sustainable work is the best way of increasing household incomes and moving families out of poverty. Darlington’s economy needs to provide opportunities for local people to benefit from the growth happening across the borough. A list of priorities (Appendix A) have been developed aligning to these three themes, each of which has an identified lead tasked with driving its implementation.
What Can I Do? Sign Up! We, as members of the Partnership, have committed to The Charter but in return we need residents and businesses to play their part too and work with us to deliver the vision of a fairer, richer borough. Whether you represent a local business, a voluntary or community organisation, or you are simply a concerned individual who lives and/ or works in Darlington, you have a key role to play and we need you to sign up and make a pledge to commit to The Charter.
What am I committing to? The actions we’re asking local organisations, communities and people to sign up to vary by stakeholder type but the overarching principles are the same. No matter how big or small your input, you can make a positive difference to the future of Darlington.
THE PLEDGES KEEP YOUR MONEY LOCAL Retaining and creating wealth locally is a fundamental part of delivering a fairer, richer Darlington and so we’re asking local organisations and residents to commit to keep their money – as far as is reasonable – within the borough. It’s not just the money you spend which can contribute to building a fairer and richer borough: where you choose to save and/or invest can also have a big impact. We want organisations to commit to spending as much as they can locally, including their contracted and procured spend, using local voluntary and community organisations and SMEs where possible for goods and services, and support fair and ethical trading practices. Organisations can also aims to invest their pension funds locally and encourage employees to opt in payroll savings schemes with Darlington Credit Union. We also need residents to support the economy by shopping in Darlington, both in the town centre and your local neighbourhood shop(s). Residents can also save with local building societies or credit unions, and keep an eye out for local investment opportunities. KEEP YOUR EYES & EARS OPEN This pledge is about ensuring local people in need are identified as early as possible and know how to get help. Organisations can contribute towards this pledge by having effective processes in place for identifying when people (either staff or service users) are in difficulty, and directing them to appropriate advice or support. Local residents can also support this ambition by simply keeping an eye out for their friends, family members and neighbours and taking action if they notice something concerning, by asking if someone needs help or reporting what they’ve observed to the relevant authority.
TACKLING LOW INCOMES Tackling poverty is the Charter’s primary priority. The majority of households experiencing poverty in Darlington are actually in-work but suffering from poor conditions, job insecurity, insufficient hours and/or low wages – this pledge therefore aims to support households to be able to access and sustain quality employment where possible and, for those who aren’t able to work ensuring they can access the support they are entitled to. Organisations can help tackle poverty in Darlington in all sorts of ways: As an employer, you can help support workers who may be struggling financially by offering workers fair pay, conditions and opportunities for development.
As an organisation, you can help local people in need of support to help themselves, for example by: o Offering apprenticeships, work experience placements and/or mentoring opportunities to young people and hard to reach groups. o Delivering employability support to schools, colleges, ex-offenders and others facing additional challenges in entering the labour market o Supporting local charities e.g. by encouraging staff and/or customers to give to a local charity
As a service provider, you can help identify and support customers suffering from poverty by: o Ensuring that all services and strategies are ‘poverty proofed’ o Making tackling inequality and poverty an explicit aim in business plans and strategies
GIVE LOCALLY Supporting your local community by giving what you can – whether it’s money, time or in-kind support – is a vital way of supporting the vision of a fairer, richer town as well as contributing to your own wellbeing. Giving your time volunteering, for example, is a great way to support your local community, as well as giving you an opportunity to learn new skills, keep active and try new experiences. Organisations can give to the programme in a number of ways. If you have funds you would like to spend supporting the local community, there’s plenty of opportunities to invest in initiatives supporting vulnerable residents. You can also encourage employees to volunteer, including by offering paid time off to volunteer, offering flexibility to employees who want to volunteer, or just by recognising and rewarding the contribution that your employees make to Darlington by volunteering. Moreover, supporting employees to volunteer has been shown to make business sense – it can improve morale and productivity, reduce turnover and even improve your workforce’s skills base! If you’re interested in finding out more, get in touch with Darlington Cares (www.darlingtoncares.co.uk). Organisations can also support the local voluntary sector by providing facilities for use by local community groups and volunteers. For residents, there are lots of local organisations working towards the vision of a fairer, richer Darlington which you can donate to. Moreover, the types of and reasons for volunteering are endless! Whether you’re a young jobseeker looking to gain experience, a retiree looking to get involved in some local activities or just someone who really enjoys mucking in and getting their hands dirty, there’s plenty of opportunities to make a real difference to your local area by doing something you find enjoyable. You could even access funding opportunities to start your own initiative! For more information, visit: www.darlington.gov.uk/yourcouncil/communities/volunteering/
On Board? You can sign up to The Charter at www.onedarlington.org.uk/charter and register to receive regular updates on progress and information about events and initiatives.
Appendix A: Summary of charter themes and proposed priorities and actions Workstream
Area
Boosting Families’ Incomes
COVERING THE BASICS
Priority
Required outcomes
Mitigating the impact of welfare reform on families with children
Impact of reforms mitigated. Residents supported into quality work.
Increasing benefit take up
More people claiming their entitlements. Reduction in crisis presentations.
Tackling the poverty premium
More families supported to make better financial decisions which protect their income. Public services delivering same quality of services in low income areas.
Making necessities more affordable
More families eating healthier food & food help developed into a more sustainable offer. More low income families living in energy efficient homes with improved health outcomes.
Adopting strengths-based approaches
More resilient families who are able to access local facilities including cultural & sporting venues.
Improving environmental inequalities
Low income households do not suffer from significantly higher levels of air / noise pollution and all other types of environmental hazards than the rest of the rest of the borough.
Improving identification & signposting of families in poverty
Improved identification & signposting of families in poverty to ensure support is offered at an early stage e.g. via referrals to Early Help
Poverty-proofing services
Everyone has equal access to local services, and no one receives poorer quality because they’re poor
Tackling costs of employment
Better understanding of market & ability to deliver. Action to raise capacity / flexibility
Improving employability
Greater awareness of local labour market opportunities and aspiration in low income areas
Community wealth building
People from low income areas securing employment in anchor institutions / their supply chains.
Taking responsibility for employee welfare
Reduction in the proportion of residents earning below the living wage and improved skills.
Reducing Families’ Costs
Strengthening Families and Communities BOOSTING RESILIENCE
Improving Families’ Access to Services
Removing Barriers to Quality Employment TACKLING THE CAUSES OF POVERTY Increasing Supply of Quality Employment