Child and family work on the agenda at national conference

Cheshire and Merseyside’s work to reduce child and family poverty was featured at the recent Local Government Association (LGA) conference which took place in Liverpool from 1^st to 3^rd July.

The subregion’s collaborative effort, which includes input from across the system including Directors of Children’s Services and the voluntary sector, was selected to host a dedicated session in the conference’s Innovation Zone.

Professor Matt Ashton, Director of Public Health for Liverpool and Co-Chair of the Cheshire and Merseyside All Together Fairer Board delivered the session with Nasima Patel, Director of the subregion’s Directors of Children’s Services Change and Integration Programme.

Matt and Nasima delivered a presentation on Cheshire and Merseyside’s unique model of collaboration and showcased just some examples of the excellent subregional work on reducing child and family poverty.

The examples included a Poverty Truth Commission in Warrington, which brings together partners and those with lived experience, as well as the 11 mobile food pantries travelling across St Helens which aim to reduce stigma around poverty.

The session also explored the findings from the Champs Public Health Collaborative report ‘A rapid situational analysis on child and family poverty in Cheshire and Merseyside’. This independent report was created to better understand the drivers and impact of poverty across the subregion. The report found there’s over 100,000 children living in relative low-income families in Cheshire and Merseyside and 60% of the children in poverty are from working households.

Following the presentation and Q&A, delegates were asked to get involved and share their views on four questions:

1. Out of the five urgent priorities we outlined in our report, which do you think would most effectively help reduce child and family poverty?
2. Which structural changes do you believe will deliver the greatest impact in reducing child poverty over the longer term?
3. What further action is needed at a national level to support local efforts in tackling child poverty?
4. Enter one word to describe how you are feeling as you leave today’s session

In response to the last question some of the most used words were “determined”, “optimistic” and “hopeful”.

Meanwhile, delegates also heard about Cheshire and Merseyside’s collaborative work at the conference’s opening panel on the NHS’ ‘three shifts’, which Professor Ian Ashworth, Director of Population Health for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and Co-Chair of the All Together Fairer Board was asked to join. The panel also included input from the Rt Hon Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

For more information on the Champs Public Health Collaborative’s All Together Fairer programme, click here.