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Principles met

  • Innovation

    We will embrace innovation in how we work with local communities to drive positive change.

  • Learning

    We will capture and ‘expand’ the experience and learning from individual projects and approaches in order to encourage broader application of co-operative principles within individual member Councils and across the Network.

  • Maximising social value

    We will support the development of a framework and criteria for social value, giving substance to the concept and supporting Councils with the tools to ensure better local social and economic outcomes.

  • New models of meeting priority needs

    In exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users. in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

With a quarter of its residents living in the most deprived ten per cent of England, poverty has been on the radar of councillors in South Tyneside since long before the cost-of-living crisis.

In 2019 the People Select Committee started an in-depth investigation to ensure the Council was doing all it could to help people escape poverty while supporting those in difficult circumstances. The work of the Poverty Commission work led to the creation of the multi- agency South Tyneside Poverty Group which has helped coordinate the cost-of-living response and consider longer term interventions.

A recognition that no one organisation can deal with the magnitude of the issue has meant that partnership working is at the very heart of the approach. Last year a second Anti-Poverty Summit was held, involving 99 attendees from 36 organisations. A number of key themes emerged from the Summit. Continuing to put local people with lived experience of poverty at the heart of decision-making is key, particularly through the Poverty Truth Commission, while providing simple and easily accessible information to residents is also vital. Other themes included working with employers to reduce in-work poverty and enhanced collaboration on funding bids.

Since the Summit, a clear set of action points have been drawn together to set the direction of the ongoing programme.

Cllr Paul Dean, Lead Member for the Voluntary Sector, Partnerships and Equalities, is pictured with Laura Liddell

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