LIVERPOOL CITY REGION - Metropolitan Borough of … · Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Life...

Halton ! Knowsley ! Liverpool ! Sefton ! St. Helens ! Wirral

Child Poverty and Life Chances Strategy2011-2014

LIVERPOOL CITY REGION

Foreword 3

Executive Summary 6

1 Introduction 9

2 Child Poverty and Life Chances Key Actions 15

Aim 1: Ensure the best possible start in life 15for children and young people to improve their life chances

Aim 2: Maximise Family Income 28

3 The Extent of Child and Family Poverty 39in the City Region

4 Policy Background 45

5 Delivery of the Strategy 49

Acknowledgements 52

Annex 1 53Summary of Consultation Exercises

Annex 2 55Defining Poverty

Annex 3 56Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Life Chances Commission Terms of Reference

Annex 4 58Child Poverty and Life Chances Strategy Framework

Annex 5 59Child Poverty and Life Chances Indicators

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Contents

How can local authorities working together combat poverty and improve the life chancesof children? That was the aim set by the Liverpool City Region Cabinet when it establishedthe Liverpool Commission on Child Poverty and Life Chances. In establishing ourCommission the City Region Leaders wished to see organisations and politics operatingin a different way. The City Region Leaders believe that:• there is more that unites than divides our City Region and that by working together

to achieve a greater common purpose the whole region will benefit;• such cooperative working results in gains larger than can be achieved by local

authorities seeking the best policy but in an isolated way;• the best practice of some local authorities offers an opportunity to improve the

performance in all authorities;• advocating immediate action to help poor families now should not preclude an

honest evaluation of the causes of poverty;• supporting active research, through small scale research trials in one or two

clearly defined local areas, so as to learn fully the lessons of reform before it isuniversalised, offers the best way of increasing the social good while minimisingany unforeseen consequences.

The Commission is pleased to present its first Strategy to the City Region Cabinet. Our main recommendations for action draw on local authority best practice in the CityRegion and, while addressing the City Region Cabinet, many of our proposals touniversalise best practice are addressed also to the national government.

A central premiseI brought with me a central premise when accepting the Chairmanship of theCommission. For a number of reasons - the need for two wage earners to ensurechildren are not brought up in poverty, being one example - successful parenting isnow more difficult than it has been in the recent past. But, I believe, there has alsobeen a crucial cultural change. The working class norm of raising children was one oftough love: clear boundaries were set for behaviour but within these boundarieschildren were nurtured in a loving way, and loving didn't equate to simply giving in to achild's passing fancies. This approach to parenting operated, of course, way beyondworking class families but it was a central tenet in the working class commitment tobeing a respectable family.

For a number of reasons this culture has been ruptured with cumulative consequences.Most parents raise their children in the way they themselves were raised. Once asociety begins to lose the art of good parenting (that has been built up over a hundredyears or more), a growing disaster looms. More and more parents adopt their parents'practices which are precisely the ones that have failed them.

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Foreword

The great note of hope to emerge from my own personal observation has come fromthe replies of fifteen year olds who, when asked which six goals they most want theirschools to achieve for them, replied unanimously that one of those goals was to betaught how to be a good parent. They were determinately looking to the future, andplanning for a better future for their own children.

The only organisations that can respond to this innate human wish to be good parentsand offer universal coverage are our schools. The report sets out the need to develop aculture in both our primary and secondary schools that is conducive to the values of well functioning families and the work that secondary schools must do in teachingparenting knowledge through modules spread throughout the GCSE curriculum. It is onthis central premise about the crucial importance of effective parenting that thefollowing report is built.

I will now highlight a number of recommendations that I hope the City Region Cabinetwill agree to implement.

Breaking the cycle of poverty by enhancing life chancesOur first set of recommendations for action naturally centre on what the Governmentnow calls the Foundation Years, i.e. a child's life from the womb up to that child's firstday at school. It is here that we believe we can have the greatest effect in breakingthe hold poverty has in blighting families over successive generations.

Our first major recommendation is that the services making up the Foundation Yearsshould become outcome focussed, i.e. be measured on their increasing effectivenessin ensuring that a greater proportion of children are each year ready for school on theirfirst day. We are now piloting across the region a school readiness measure which willprovide objective evidence to determine the trends being experienced.

Our second major recommendation to the City Region Cabinet is that we should collectdata for each Children's Centre so that we can easily see to what extent each projecthas made contact, and developed that contact, with the poorest families most in needin their respective catchment areas. Our aim is that each year more children should beready for the first day at school to develop their full potential and we are devising waysof measuring the performance of the Foundation Years services.

Our third major recommendation centres on how to reinforce a good start in life by theperformance of every school throughout the City Region. The life chances of mostchildren are at present determined possibly by the age of three and certainly by five.Poorer and richer children now arrive at school with attainment gaps already welldeveloped. These gaps are not always closed by schools.

We are recommending to the City Region Cabinet that each school in our area shouldgive a clear account of how the pupil premium will be used to boost the education andthereby the life chances of its disadvantaged pupils. We are confident that this actionthroughout the City Region will be followed nationally by the Coalition Government. To ensure that the level of achievement of the very large tail-end of the distribution ofpupil achievement is raised each year, we advocate that each school should be setthe goal of narrowing the gap in performance between those on free school mealsand those who are not.

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Our fourth recommendation is directed towards helping tomorrow’s parents. Pupils askedat around age 15 about their hopes for the children they will one day bring upconsistently produce the answer of 'wishing their own children to be more successfulthan they will be'. When pupils are asked a little later in life they affirm these goals butadd that they do not now expect their children to achieve the ambitions they set forthem. This report has been concerned with what actions we can take now to ensurethat the expectations of future parents match the aspirations they hold for the childrenthey one day hope will form their family. None of our recommendations for theFoundation Years can possibly succeed until we realise that the great drivers forchange in children's life chances are parents. Pupils themselves record their wish toknow how to be good parents.

We advocate to the City Region Cabinet measures to support effective parenting, forexample by seeking to remove the stigma attached to parenting classes and by pursuingproposals around family mentor support. Help to ensure that parents achieve the verybest for their children should also naturally be a major concern of each Sure StartChildren's Centres project and the outcome of each Centre should be carefully recorded.

Studies show that some families often have to pay considerably more for their mainutilities. Lacking a bank account some families cannot make standing order paymentsand standing order payments are the key to being able to shop around each year tofind the cheapest supplier, and those who have bank accounts may not be using all oftheir facilities. Studies show that an average poor family could save substantial sums eachyear if they could buy their utilities from the cheapest source. A fifth recommendationtherefore to the City Region Cabinet is therefore that the best practice we have inCredit Unions, and in campaigns, should be built upon to ensure families acquire anduse bank accounts which do not incur penalties, and that a review is conducted of theway that utilities companies support customers to secure the most advantageous tariffs.

These are but a few of the recommendations we havemade. What is clear however is that we will fail in ourendeavour if public services on their own are left todeliver this strategy. What is required is a collectiveeffort from private, community and voluntary andpublic sectors, as well as community groups andfamilies. We all have responsibilities towards eachother and we will all need to exercise them if we areto achieve our targets. The African saying goes that ittakes a village to raise a child; it will truly take the City Region coming together like it has not donebefore if we are to tackle child and family povertysuccessfully and raise the life chances of all childrenand young people.

I commend this report to the City Region Cabinet andthrough them to the residents of the City Region.

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Frank Field

MP for Birkenhead

Chair, Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Life Chances Commission

This Child Poverty and Life Chances Strategy sets out proposals for achieving a long-termshared vision:

“Working together as City Regionpartners we will reduce child andfamily poverty and maximiseopportunities for children and youngpeople in their life chances.

We will achieve this through a dualstrategy which ensures an evergrowing proportion of children andyoung people are ready for schooland life whilst maximising familyresources.”

The evidence base underpinning our strategy iscontained within the City Region Child andFamily Poverty Needs Assessment1. It shows thescale of the challenge we face ahead; over 91,000children in the City Region are growing up inpoverty, more than a quarter of all children andprojections suggest that this will increase over themedium term2. Tackling poverty and improving lifechances will not be easy, particularly in thecurrent economic climate; therefore this strategyproposes a number of ways that we can boostexisting efforts by working together on a numberof priority areas:

The public sector has a key role in making thisstrategy happen, but it cannot be delivered bypublic bodies alone. The success of this strategydepends on parents, groups and organisationsfrom all sectors to deliver change on the ground.This strategy asks that organisations considertheir approach in a number of areas and refine or revise this. A large number of little changeswill make a significant impact on the lives ofchildren and families across the City Region. A number of overarching strategy delivery plansare also in development to help coordinateefforts and ensure that progress is made. The impact of our work will be monitored inpart, through a series of headline indicators thatseek to measure the prevalence and extent ofincome poverty, as well as monitor our progressin addressing the factors that are keydeterminants of children’s life chances.

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Executive Summary

Aim 1: Ensure the best possible start inlife for children and young people toimprove their life chances Our key actions are to: 1. Support effective parenting and driveimprovements in Foundation Years3 services

2. Enhance children’s social and emotionaldevelopment and reduce gaps in educationalachievement

3. Promote prevention and early interventionapproaches to reduce health inequalities

4. Influence an improvement in the quality ofplace and support strong communities

Aim 2: Maximise Family IncomeOur key actions are to: 1. Improve access to suitable financial servicesand support families to make good financialdecisions

2. Optimise employment opportunities byremoving barriers to good quality andsustainable employment

3. Support parents to progress in the workplace

1 http://www.liverpoolcitystrategyces.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Child-and-Family-Poverty-Needs-Assessment.pdf 2 Brewer, M., Browne, J. and Joyce, R. (2011) Child and Working-Age Poverty from 2010 to 2020. Institute for Fiscal Studies3 The Foundation Years refers to a child’s earliest years in life, from pregnancy to age five

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The following table summarises some of the key actions asked of various stakeholders.

Individual / Group Actions requested

Parents • To set learning culture within the home and positive attitude towards school and education

• To ensure secure attachment with all children and young people

Schools • To pilot a school readiness assessment, working with the University of Cambridge

• To report on how Pupil Premium funding is being used to benefit the most disadvantaged pupils in individual schools

• To report annually on the attainment gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and all children at ages 5, 11 and 16 in individual schools

• To reflect the importance of parenting in all subjects in the secondary curriculum

• To assess the impact of performance at secondary school by reporting on the numbers of school leavers not in education, employment and training

• To pilot a programme on data sharing between primary and secondary schools to ensure pupils’ transitions to schools take place effectively

• To appoint a lead Governor for life chances

Health providers • To increase immunisation rates for all children and young people • To report on the 6 best projects undertaken to improve the health of

children in each Council area• To work with Government, GP Commissioning Consortia and Primary

Care Trusts to increase the number of midwives and health visitors in the City Region

• To ensure those working with children and young people understand the emotional and social development of children and young people

Employers • To establish a working party through the Employer Coalition to report within one year on the implementation of a living wage throughout the City Region and to develop a business case for adopting a more flexible approach to employment

Councils • To use all contact with parents to support them as parents to achieve strong attachment with their children

• To report on the numbers of children individual Sure Start Children’s Centres have contact with within their catchment area and to explain and justify the range of activities they undertake

• To report on the 6 more effective practices in the six local authorities aimed at raising aspirations of children and similarly to report on the 6 most effective projects they undertake in supporting parents

• To introduce a 50p minimum unit price and bylaw to reduce alcohol related harm

• To facilitate a City Region review into utilities companies and their approach to offering tariffs

• To encourage adults into informal learning to support their parenting development

• To consider implementing supplementary planning guidance on take away provision around schools

• To report on the scope and effectiveness of benefit take up campaigns and to promote the effective practice

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Arrangements for review This strategy will run until the national 2020deadline to eradicate child poverty. We willhowever refresh the strategy every three years,to ensure that we remain focused on presentneeds as identified by complementary City Region Child and Family Poverty Needs

Assessment. Progress against strategy deliveryplans and performance measures will bereported by the Child Poverty and Life ChancesCommission to the City Region Cabinet on anannual basis.


Housing • To increase the use of credit unions facilities by Housing Association residents

• To work with Councils and locally based groups to proactively mitigate the impact of the forthcoming welfare reforms

• To maintain housing standards within a rent framework that remains affordable for low income households

Credit Unions • To work with partners to promote services and encourage take-up

Jobcentre Plus • To monitor the targets the government has set for the Work Programme private sector providers in placing unemployed claimants in to work

• To ensure that Jobcentre Plus and other welfare to work provision focuses on the needs of parents, particularly those with multiple needs

• To work with employers to promote the benefits of flexible working

Early Years providers • To promote Work Clubs within nursery settings and Children’s Centres to support parents in the journey back to work

• To gather and share information on the level of engagement with the poorest families

Police • To maintain a comprehensive and multi agency approach to tackle anti-social behaviour

• To encourage partners to prioritise neighbourhoods that have a Stronger Communities Initiative (SCI) to test out projects that aim to raise aspirations

Transport • To pilot a cycle hire scheme within the City Region• To provide travel advice to those seeking work• To deliver Sustainable Transport schemes to ensure that parents can get to work and education locations

• To share best practice on improving road safety across the City Region

Community groups • To support those with children and young people to be effective parents including running quality parenting courses

• To raise profile and importance of involvement in early language development

National Government • To change the incentives structure for immunisations • To assess whether the readiness for school index can be used as part of payment by results for Children’s Centres

• To support and then adopt the work on the healthy development check

• To consider changes to the Tax Credits system to better reflect the needs and aspirations of families

Growing up in poverty can affect every area of a child’s development and future life chances.We know that children from low incomehouseholds are less likely to achieve theiracademic potential, and secure employment asadults. They are more likely to suffer from poorhealth, live in poor quality housing and unsafeenvironments. Unfortunately, poverty hasblighted the lives of individuals, families andentire communities for generations and is anissue that has undermined many of the widersocial and economic policies across theLiverpool City Region.

We are clear, that to break this intergenerationaltransmission of poverty our efforts must giveequal importance to both, maximising familyincome and ensuring that children receive thebest start in life. The importance of effectiveparenting for instance, is highlighted in thisstrategy because we are clear that the parentingchildren experience can be crucial to opening uptheir life chances. Failure to provide a child withnurture and support during their critical earlyweeks and years can herald a pattern of failureand poor outcomes in later life. We, theLiverpool City Region Child Poverty and LifeChances Commission, want to use our collectivestrength to tackle poverty and support individualsand families to realise their full potential.

Liverpool City RegionThe Liverpool City Region is home to 1.5 millionpeople, which includes around 327,000 childrenin 191,000 families. The City Region comprisesthe boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helens, Wirral and the City of Liverpool.Together these districts make up a functionaleconomic area with approximately 90% of allresidents both living and working in the City

Region. The region is also closely relatedeconomically to the surrounding areas ofWarrington, Cheshire West and Chester,Ellesmere Port, North East Wales and Cheshireand Lancashire.

Levels of poverty within the Liverpool CityRegion are unfortunately not new. There havebeen significant levels of poverty and incomeinequality for many years, linked to the economiccontexts in which so many people foundthemselves and the historical imbalance betweenthe South East and the rest of the country. Prior to the economic downturn, the LiverpoolCity Region had enjoyed many economicsuccesses. For example, during 2004-2008 thevalue of the City Region economy was growingat a faster rate than the rest of the North West.The employment rate, number of self employedpeople and business base also increased overthis period. However, despite achieving anabsolute improvement on many economicindicators, the City Region’s performance was,and remains more mixed relative to the rest ofEngland.

Our vision“Working together as City Regionpartners we will reduce child andfamily poverty and maximiseopportunities for children andyoung people in their life chances.

We will achieve this through a dualstrategy which ensures an evergrowing proportion of children andyoung people are ready for schooland life whilst maximising familyresources.”

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1. Introduction

The case for changeOver 91,000 children in the Liverpool CityRegion are growing up in poverty4. The latestprojections5 suggest that there will be asignificant increase in relative and absolutepoverty through to 2020 which will mean theGovernment will not achieve the target oferadicating child poverty by then. Lack ofmoney can directly impact on children’s abilitiesto engage in activities, socialise and access the resources they need. However, poverty is aboutmore than money and its impacts go muchdeeper than just income and material

Tackling these issues will not be easy; many ofthe problems that we see today have alsoafflicted the lives of previous generations. Added to this, the current economic instabilityhas intensified the scale of the challenge. There isa serious risk that substantial cuts to publicsector spending combined with a difficult labourmarket, higher living costs, and welfarereductions will exacerbate child and familypoverty in some of the most vulnerable

deprivation. It is complex and interconnectedwith a wide range of other issues such as unsafeenvironments and poor health that together canhave a profound and lasting impact on a child’sdevelopment and future prospects.

The Liverpool City Region Child and FamilyPoverty Needs Assessment (2011) has given usa detailed understanding of the drivers ofpoverty in the City Region and its impacts onfuture outcomes and life chances. The followingheadline findings illustrate some of the key areasthat require change:

communities throughout the City Region. In particular, the substantial cuts in public sectorbudgets demand that spending is focused notjust on what is efficient at reducing costs, butwhat is effective in addressing current andreducing future service demands. Evidence fromAction for Children7 would unfortunately suggestthat this might not be the case with morefamilies identifying a need for support and thattheir requests for support are not being met.

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Theme Notable Findings

Foundation Stage/ • More babies are born to teenage mothers in the City Region Early Years compared to the England average

• At the age of five, the health outcomes of children in the City Region are below the national average on a range of key indicators such as obesity and tooth decay

Learning and attainment • There are stark differences in educational achievement between children from poor and more affluent families within the City Region. At Key Stage 4 the achievement gap between pupils who are eligible for free school meals and those who are not is a staggering 31%

Labour Market • There are 7.7 job seekers chasing every unfilled job vacancy notified to Jobcentre Plus

• The level of female claimant count in the City Region is the highest that it has been since September 1995

• Almost one in five adults in the City Region have no qualifications

Income, relationships • Three out of every four children who are living in income poverty, live and parenting in a one parent family

• Economic and social deprivation is generally widespread, but with severe concentrations in some neighbourhoods. Overall, almost one in three households can be categorised as ‘Hard Pressed’6

• Mental health problems, low emotional health, low parental skills and family attitudes and behaviours have all been identified in the needs assessment as relevant factors

4 HMRC, August 20095 Brewer, M., Browne, J. and Joyce, R. (2011) Child and Working Age Poverty from 2010 to 2020. Institute of Fiscal Studies6 Based on ACORN Classification Tool7 The Red Book: impact of UK Government spending decision on children, young people and families (2011) Action for Children

Figure 1 - Notable findings from the City Region Child and Family Poverty Needs Assessment

Why we need a CityRegion Child Povertyand Life ChancesStrategyGiven the current financial landscape andcomplex nature of poverty it is questionablehow much impact one individual or organisationcan have by working in isolation. It makes sensethat we build on our strong local and CityRegion partnerships to address child and familypoverty. In 2010, the City Region Cabinetendorsed the establishment of a Liverpool CityRegion Child Poverty and Life ChancesCommission to bring together leaders from thethird, private and public sectors. Its primary roleis to act as a conscience on matters relating tochild poverty and life chances, and tocommission activities that will enhance the work of local authorities.

Councils have a statutory duty to complete alocal Child Poverty Strategy and this City Regionapproach is over and above this statutoryresponsibility. There is a further duty for specificnamed partners to co-operate in tackling childpoverty in local areas, and this is partiallydelivered through the City Region level Commission.

In summary, this strategy:

• Sets out the Commission’s strategic aimsand key actions

• Complements local child povertystrategies and action plans by focusing onthe big issues that are common acrosslocal authority areas

• Highlights the crucial importance of theearliest years of a child’s life in determiningtheir life chances

• Confirms the need to work with parentsand future parents to ensure they knowthat they are the most important driversof their children’s life chances

• Identifies the need for businesses to workwith a range of partners to supportflexible and accessible work

• Provides a platform for raising policy issuesto MPs, central government, and Europeangovernment

• Joins up interventions on cross-boundarychallenges such as employment andtransport

• Underpins, and is supported by, other CityRegion strategies such as the Employmentand Skills Strategy and the ApprenticeshipStrategy

Developing the strategyThe data underpinning our strategy is set out inthe Liverpool City Region Child and FamilyPoverty Needs Assessment (extracts from theNeeds Assessment are included in subsequentsections). Our strategy has also benefited fromthe insights of children and families, communitygroups and organisations from across the CityRegion (Annex 1 details the consultationexercises that have taken place and informedour approach). We have also carefullyconsidered the findings from a number ofimportant independent reviews, which areidentified in Section 4.

Our approachAcross the Liverpool City Region there are lotsof examples of excellent and innovativepractices addressing child and family poverty at alocal level. This strategy does not replace thework already underway, nor does it attempt toaddress every challenge; instead it identifies areaswhere we can add value through interventionson a City Region scale.

We recognise that a sustainable solution to childand family poverty must involve a dual approachthat addresses both income deprivation andbroader child wellbeing. Therefore in developingour strategy we have considered how we canbest utilise the City Region arrangements toenhance efforts to improve the current financialsituation for families in poverty. Complementingthis, we have explored opportunities to build onefforts to improve the outcomes of childrenliving in poverty so they have a better chance ofescaping poverty in later life; ending theintergenerational transmission of poverty.

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Aims and actions Two strategic aims have been agreed to ensurethat we are successful in delivering our collective vision.

Section 2 of this strategy looks at each of theseactions in detail and explains why they areimportant, what our evidence base says, andwhat activities will be undertaken to add valueto local work. There is of course significantoverlap between these strategic actions. For example, programmes which aim to improvethe quality of early years services will also helpto reduce the gaps in educational attainment.Our delivery plans are being developed througha coordinated approach to ensure that allactivities are aligned and complementary, furtherdetails on the delivery plans is provided inSection 5.

Tackling the multiple factors that drive povertyand limit life chances will not happen in a week,month or even year. An effective approach willrequire long-term and sustained commitmentfrom all partners. Therefore our strategy will rununtil 2020 and be refreshed every three years.This timeframe coincides with the duty placedon government by the Child Poverty Act (2010)to eradicate child poverty by 2020.

These are underpinned by seven strategicactions which will be the focus of theCommission’s efforts:

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Vision

“Working together as City Region partners we will reduce child and family poverty and maximiseopportunities for children and young people in their life chances.We will achieve this through a dual strategy which ensures an ever growing proportion ofchildren and young people are ready for school and life whilst maximising family resources.”

Aim 1

Ensure the best possible start in life for children andyoung people to improve their life chances

Aim 2

Maximise family income

Action 1Supporteffectiveparenting,families anddriveimprovementsin FoundationYears services

Action 2Enhancechildren’s socialand emotionaldevelopmentand reducegaps ineducationalachievement

Action 3Promoteprevention andearlyinterventionapproaches toreduce healthinequalities

Action 4Influence animprovement inthe quality ofplace andsupport strongcommunities

Action 1Improve accessto suitablefinancialservices andsupport familiesto make goodfinancialdecisions

Action 2Optimiseemploymentopportunitiesby removingbarriers togood qualityand sustainableemployment

Action 3Supportparents toprogress in theworkplace

Figure 2 - Child Poverty and Life Chances Strategic Aims and Actions

Cost of not changingAs well as there being a moral imperative forreducing poverty and its impacts, there is also astrong economic case for ensuring that childrenin poverty today do not become the parents ofpoor children in the future. An in-depth study bythe Joseph Rowntree Foundation8 cautiouslyestimates that child poverty costs the publicsector between £12 billion and £22 billion ayear. These estimates relate to governmentspending that deals with the immediate fallout ofchild poverty, including expenditure by socialservices, school education, police and thecriminal justice system.

However, child poverty also has long-termeconomic costs to society. Children who growup in poverty are less likely to work as adultsand often receive relatively low earnings if theydo. The annual cost of below-averageemployment rates and earnings levels amongstadults who grew up in poverty is about £13 billion, of which £5 billion represents extrabenefit payments and lower tax revenues; theremaining £8 billion is lost earnings to individuals,affecting gross domestic product. Whilstcalculations of this nature cannot be exact, theestimates serve to highlight the growing urgencyto address child and family poverty collectivelyand particularly given the increasing pressures onpublic finances.

There are benefits to applying early interventionmodels9, considering alternative sources ofinvestment10 and a different performanceregime11. These interventions and approaches allhave their place, and it remains important toensure that the right approaches are adopted inthe right service areas.

Child Poverty and Life Chances guidingprinciples A number of principles have steered our actionplanning process. These capture the various waysthat the Commission can enhance the impact oflocal child and family poverty initiatives throughuse of the City Region arrangements:

• Ensure the City Region voice is at theforefront of policy development,highlighting issues with local MPs, centralgovernment and European government

• Evaluate and disseminate examples of bestpractice in order to raise the effectivenessof programmes across the City Region andto set national benchmarks

• Promote changes to incentives and widerbehavioural approaches where these arefound to have positive impacts

• Identify and pilot new approaches toaddressing child poverty and improving lifechances in areas with high levels of need,and roll these out on a wider scale

• Support the involvement of service usersin the design and delivery of services

• Promote City Region wide programmesand projects, on issues that are commonacross local areas or are cross-boundarychallenges

• Establish strategic agreements withorganisations operating on a largegeographical scale

• Promote early intervention approacheswhere they are beneficial and evidenced

• Support organisations in encouraging theinvolvement of volunteers

• Lead communications and develop awidespread understanding of the childpoverty and life chances agenda across theCity Region

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8 Hirsh, D., 2008. Estimating the cost of Child Poverty. York: JRF9 Allen, G., 2011. Early Intervention: Smart Investment, Massive Savings. London: Cabinet Office10 Liebman, J.B. 2011 Social Impact Bonds. Washington: Center for American Progress; Mulgan G. et al., 2011. Social impact investment: the opportunityand challenge of social impact bonds. The Young Foundation; Haldenby, A. et al., 2011. It can be done. London: Reform

11 Brien, S., 2011. Outcome based Government: How to improve spending decisions across government. London :Centre for Social Justice

It is evident that public services on their own willnot be able to deliver this strategy, and this willrequire a response from the whole community,and probably one that is different to what hasbeen previously delivered12. Private, communityand voluntary and public sectors will haveimportant roles, as well as individuals, familiesand communities. Public services will lookdifferent in the medium term13, and so, hopefully,will the need for them.

What this strategydoesn’t cover and whyThis is a City Region level strategy and as suchdoes not include detailed Council level actionplans: these sit within individual Council andpartner strategies. However, this documentdoes set out a broad set of priorities for action which will be reflected in delivery plans elsewhere.

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12 Bertrand, M. and Shafir, E. A, 2004. Behavioral-Economics View of Poverty; American Economic Review, 94(2), pp.419–42313 Cabinet Office, 2011. Open Public Services White Paper. London: TSO; Bassett, D. et al., 2011. Reformers and wreckers. London: Reform; Parker, S.2011. Next localism: 5 trends for the future of local government. London :NLGN

Why it is importantIt is unacceptable that the economiccircumstances in which a child grows up, stillheavily determines their future life chances andwellbeing. An increasing number of studiessuggest that early years interventions canmitigate against the impacts of growing up inpoverty and help children to develop the socialand emotional bedrock they need to secure apositive future.

What the evidence says The Foundation Years (from pregnancy to age 5)are a time of rapid development andexperiences during this age can have a majorimpact on future life chances. Studies show thatchildren who achieve well in their earliest yearsare much more likely to be successful in futureeducation, and in later life. Until recently, the key importance of the quality of parenting hasbeen underplayed. What parents do for theirchildren can be more significant than theirincome status and can provide a protectivefactor against poverty.

An example of this can be found within the UKChinese community where children from poorfamilies as a group do better at GCSEs than allother better off children (except better offChinese children). In many cases, this can beattributed to parental aspirations and attitudes.In addition, effective parenting has been shownto reduce the impact of genetic predispositionstowards particular character traits14.

The quality of attachment between a child and aparent is also highly important, as it has beenshown that attachment patterns correlatestrongly with school performance and can helpto predict the quality of relationships later inlife15. This attachment is formed within the firstyear of a child’s life. This suggests that it is notabout the quality of the interactions orstimulations that is important, but the continuityand sensitivity in care giving relationships: it ismore important who parents are rather thanwhat they do16. The risk of an insecureattachment is linked to insecure, chaotic orunstable environments17.

Aim 1: Ensure the best possible start in life for childrenand young people to improve their life chances

Action 1: Support effective parenting, families and driveimprovements in Foundation Years services

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14 Scott, S., 2011. Is character formed by nature or nurture? In The Character Inquiry, ed. Lexmond, J. and Grist, M. Demos15 Sroufe, L. A., Egeland, B., Carlson, E., & Collins, W. A., 2005. The Development of the Person: The Minnesota Study of Risk and Adaptation from Birth toAdulthood. New York: Guilford Publications

16 Rutter M. and O'Connor T.G., 1999. Implications of Attachment Theory for Child Care Policies. In Cassidy J, Shaver PR. Handbook of Attachment:Theory, Research and Clinical Applications. New York: Guilford Press. pp. 823–44

17 Kraemer, S., 2011. How does insecure attachment impair character development? In The Character Inquiry, ed. Lexmond, J. and Grist, M. Demos

2. Child Poverty and Life Chances Key Actions

“It [school] makes you smart so you can get a better job that pays youmore.” (Girl aged 6, 2010)

High quality early years services are also critical.Frank Field’s review18 found that children whobenefited from good quality early educationwere on average four to six months ahead interms of cognitive development at school entrythan those who did not. These findings are alsosupported by Graham Allen’s review into earlyintervention, and by the initial evidence from thenational evaluation of Sure Start LocalProgrammes19. The length of time that a childattends early education also matters. Researchsuggests these effects are lasting but thosechildren who are most likely to benefit fromsuch support are the least likely to access it20.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile21 is anassessment of children’s achievement at the endthe academic year in which they turn five. It isused to assess children’s development against arange of measures such as personal, social andemotional development, communication andlanguage and literacy. Scores for the City Regionshow that 53% of children achieved a good levelof overall achievement compared to 56% ofchildren in England.

What the existingprovision looks likeSurestart Children’s Centres were firstintroduced by the previous Labour Governmentin 1998 to improve outcomes for pre-schoolchildren and their families, with a particular focuson the most disadvantaged. However, evidencefrom the Field review suggests that the Centres,whilst providing an excellent service, are notachieving their original purpose and beingutilised by the most disadvantaged families. In response to such findings, some Children’sCentres are now looking at their organisationalarrangements linked to the development ofPayment by Results for their services22.

Local evidence23 suggests that the reasons whysome families may not access Children’s Centresincludes lack of awareness of SureStart and whatservices are available and mistrust of Surestart.However, some parents perceive it to be moretrustworthy than other forms of childcare.

There is an important role for communitygroups and community and voluntary sector(CVS) organisations to refer people to moreformalised provision. An example in Wirral isthe close links that have been developedbetween a voluntary Parents and Toddlers groupand the local Children’s Centre.

Parents learn about parenting primarily throughtheir own parents, as well as friends andprofessional advice and information24. However,formal parenting support is often fragmentedand inconsistent.

Midwives and Health visitors have a vital role infacilitating initial access to SureStart. Howeverthe level of information shared between healthprofessionals and SureStart Centres varies.Where information is limited it can impact on aCentre’s ability to effective engage and supportchildren in their catchment area25.

Private childcare providers are experiencingtensions between keeping childcare feesaffordable and delivering a high quality service.Recent research suggests that all childcare staffshould be qualified to a minimum of NVQ Level2, and in the future NVQ Level 3. However, itmay be difficult for providers to allocatesufficient funds to pay the salaries of higherqualified staff and to pay for NVQ Level 3training.

A number of independent reports26 haverecommended that all childcare staff should bequalified to a minimum of NVQ Level 2 at themoment, and Level 3 in the future. However,consultations suggest that private childcareproviders are experiencing tensions between

16

18 Field, F., 2010. The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults, London: Cabinet Office19 Department for Education, 2010. The impact of Sure Start Local Programmes on five year olds and their families: Research Brief. London: DfE20 Ben-Galim, D. 2011. Parents at the Centre. London: IPPR21 Achievement of at least 78 points across the Early Years Foundation Stage with at least 6 in each of the scales in Personal Social and EmotionalDevelopment and Communication, Language and Literacy (2010)

22 Department for Education, 2011. Press Notice: Government sets out vision to support parents and families. Available at:http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a00192408/government-sets-out-vision-to-support-parents-and-families [retrieved 23 August 2011]

23 Pharaoh, R., Harris, K. and Basi, T., 2010. Family Case studies in Knowsley. London: ESRO24 Lexmond, J., Bazalgette, L. and Margo, J., 2011. The Home Front. London: Demos 25 LCR Child Poverty and Life Chances Strategy consultation feedback26 Tichell, C, 2011, The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning

keeping childcare fees affordable and delivering ahigh quality service. It may be difficult forproviders to allocate sufficient funds to pay thesalaries of higher qualified staff and to pay forLevel 3 training.

What don’t we knowSchool Readiness - there are someassessments available through the Early YearsFoundation Stage but these are not directlycomparable with educational attainmentassessments. There is anecdotal evidence tosuggest that less children than previously areready for school on their first day: theCommission is undertaking some research in thisarea to assess this assertion.

What we will do to addvalue to local workOur strategy to support effective parenting anddrive improvements in Foundation Years serviceswill involve the following actions:

• Gather data from each Sure StartChildren’s Centre in the City Region toassess to what extent each project hasmade, and developed contact, with thepoorest families in their respectivecatchment area. This information will beused to better target services to the mostvulnerable families

• Launch a campaign with Councillor leadsfor Children’s Services to raise awarenessabout the importance of early languageand communication skills amongst parents,practitioners and providers of FoundationYears services, building on the work ofvolunteers

• Pilot a school readiness index to provideobjective evidence on the effectiveness ofFoundation Years services in ensuring thata greater proportion of children are readyfor school: this will be initially focused oncollating existing data but work will bestarted with the University of Cambridgeon options for a new measure

• To assess whether the readiness for schoolindex can be used as part of payment byresults for Children’s Centres

• Support development of referral pathwaysto speech and language therapy

• Support effective parenting by seeking toremove the stigma attached to parentingclasses and promoting their take up as wellas exploring proposals around mentorsupport for families: this will includeworking closely with community groups toresource them to support effectiveparenting

• Encourage adults into informal learning tosupport their parenting development

• Consider the role of grandparents andassess what support might be beneficialand available

• Ensure that linkages are made betweencommunity development, social andeconomic strategies

17

Case StudyUsing Ethnography to Generate Insight Through its Child Poverty Programme, KnowsleyCouncil has learnt the value of ethnography as atool for developing deep and meaningful insightinto the quality of people’s lives. Ethnographicresearch involves spending time with people andbecoming immersed in their world to understandthe rationalities and realities behind their choicesand decisions. The insight gleaned from studieswith families in the North Kirkby and StockbridgeVillage areas of Knowsley has revealed that familycircumstances can increase the risks of childpoverty, but it can also provide a protective factoragainst its impacts. These findings provide avaluable tool to inform strategy and service design.

Why it is importantChildren’s life chances are inextricably linked totheir educational achievement and social andemotional development27. Parents are andremain their children’s first educators, but it isclear that the school system can aid or hinderchildren and young people in their development.Children in poverty often lack the circumstanceswhich can help them to develop skills in theseareas. There is a body of evidence whichindicates that working together good parenting,a supportive home learning environment andhigh quality school education can help to reducethe gap in outcomes between pupils in povertyand those in higher income households28. An effective school can make the difference inthe attainment of a child or young person29.Education can be the way in which youngpeople escape the generational disadvantagethat blight so many.

What the evidence saysFree School Meals (FSM) eligibility can be usedas a limited proxy measure of child poverty. AtKey Stage 2 (age 10/11) the achievement gapbetween City Region pupils eligible for freeschool meals and their peers is around 18%. AtKey Stage 4 (age 15/16) the attainment gap haswidened further to a staggering 31%. This showsthat there is a link between poverty andattainment, although it is complex30.

Educational disadvantage continues to limityoung people’s opportunities in early adulthood.Around 24% of young people in the City Regionwho are from FSM backgrounds gain a level 3qualification at age 19 compared to 46%31 oftheir peers and only 12% progress to highereducation compared to 34% of young peoplefrom non-FSM backgrounds32.

Looked after children (sometimes called childrenin care) are at a particularly high risk of poorattainment and development outcomes whichcan contribute to poorer outcomes inadulthood. For example, in the City Region just12% of all looked after children gain 5+ GCSEsat grades A*-C including Maths and English,compared to 52% of all children33.

In general, consultations suggests that positivityand aspiration tends to be strongest in youngchildren (below age 12), however it thenappears to dissipate in the teenage years, andthose teenagers living in deprived areas havemuch lower aspirations than those living inwealthier areas34. This is often because youngpeople do not feel they have the opportunities,means or ability to make those aspirations areality. One young person hoping to study atuniversity conveyed: “At the end of the day it’sall coming down to money”35. Supportingyoung people to be able to plot out theachievement of their aspirations is imperative.

18


Action 2: Enhance children’s social and emotionaldevelopment and reduce gaps in educationalachievement

“If you don’t go to school when you go to the shop you won’t know if youhave the right change” (Boy aged 10, 2010)

27 Lexmond, J. and Reeves, R., 2009. Building Character, London: Demos; Hirsch, D., 2007. Chicken and Egg: child poverty and educational inequalities.London: CPAG

28 Field, F., 2010. The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults, London: Cabinet Office 29 Melhuish, E. et al., 2006. The Effective Pre-School and Primary Education 3-11 Project (EPPE 3-11): The Effectiveness of Primary Schools in England inKey Stage 2 for 2002, 2003 and 2004. London: DfES / Institute of Education, University of London

30 DfES, 2009/1031 DfES, 2009/1032 DfES, 2007/0833 DfES, 2009/1034 The Prince’s Trust, 2011. Broke, not broken: tackling youth poverty and the aspiration gap. London: The Princes Trust; Cabinet Office, 2008. Aspirationand achievement amongst young people in deprived communities: a discussion and analysis paper. London: Cabinet Office

35 Cordes, C., 2010. Knowsley Child Poverty Consultation. The Young Foundation

The City Region has made significant progress inreducing the proportion of all young peoplewho are not in education, employment ortraining (NEET). Levels have dropped from10.9% to 8% over the past four years. However, there are fears that cuts to theeducation maintenance allowance (EMA), risinguniversity fees and the ending of youthemployment schemes such as Future Jobs Fundcould reverse this positive trend36.

High transport cost is a growing concern formany young people across the City Regionwanting to progress onto further education orto access a school that specialises in a field thatthey are interested in, but is not located in theirlocal area37. A member of the Liverpool School’sYouth Parliament voiced: “I am half way throughmy 6th form course and if I lose my free buspass my parents can’t afford bus fare to send meto school. What will happen? Am I expected togive up my course?”

What the existingprovision looks likeSchools will become increasingly autonomousfrom local authorities through the Government’sFree Schools programme and AcademiesLegislation. Free schools and academiesessentially have more freedom than traditionalstate schools over their finances, the curriculum,and teachers' pay and conditions.

In April 2011, a Pupil Premium was introducedto provide schools with additional funds totackle educational inequality by raising theattainment of children from low income ordisadvantaged backgrounds. Transparency onhow schools have used this funding to supportpupils and outcomes achieved will be critical toits success. There is a key role for schoolgovernors in ensuring that this happens.

In addition to schools, there are a range ofcommunity groups and public sectororganisations providing alternative educationschemes and supporting children to achievegood emotional wellbeing. Examples include theTranmere Community Project in Wirral that

works with young people who are disengagedand finds new ways to help them develop theiremotional literacy. Merseyside Police also worksclosely with young people through variousschemes such as the Safer Schools Initiative andKICKZ programme to provide safety advice andraise awareness on subjects such as substancemisuse and gang violence.

What don’t we know? • How effectively the pupil premium

will be targeted - it is not clear at themoment what schools plan to spend theirPupil Premium funding on, nor the plans tomonitor the impact of this.

• Effectiveness of parent / schoolrelationships - the proportion of schoolswho effectively engage parents in homeschool relationships nor the number ofparents who engage in these.

What we will do to addvalue to local workOur strategy to enhance children’s social andemotional development and reduce gaps ineducational achievement will involve thefollowing actions:

• Schools to report on how Pupil Premiumfunding is being used to benefit the mostdisadvantaged pupils in individual schools

• Pilot a programme on data sharingbetween primary and secondary schoolsto ensure pupils’ transitions to schools takeplace effectively

• Schools to appoint a lead Governor for lifechances

• Work with schools to improve social andemotional development of pupils,particularly during the transition stages inyears 6 and 11

• Capture and promote effective practiceon the engagement of parents in homeschool relationships

1936 Tai, S., 2011. Child Poverty and Transport Report, Liverpool Schools Parliament37 Knowsley Young People’s Commission, 2010. Unlocking the Potential of Young People in Knowsley. 4Children

• Reflect the importance of parenting in allsubjects in the secondary curriculum

• Assess the impact of performance atsecondary school by reporting on thenumbers of school leaver not in education,employment and training

• Ensure that parenting support for youngparents addresses career hopes andaspirations and results in a credible careerplan

• Review the performance framework ofschools to ensure that all pupils aresupported to the best of their ability

• The Commission to report on the best 6 practices in the City Region Councilsaimed at raising aspirations of children

• Schools to report annually on theattainment gap between pupils eligible forfree school meals and all children at ages5, 11 and 16 in individual schools

• Capture and promote best practice insupporting attainment of children in care

• Develop foster care friendly manifesto foremployers

20

Case StudyImproving Take Up of Free Schools Meals Free school meals play an important role intackling child poverty as they provide pupils withthe opportunity to have a nutritious meal and itrelieves some of the financial pressures faced byparents. However, many families miss out on theirentitlement and fail to claim this benefit. LiverpoolCity Council has significantly improved the takeup of free school meals by integrating theapplication and processing of free school mealswithin its Housing and Council Tax Benefitprocess. Alongside this a pro-active campaign wasinitiated that involved the interrogation of itsrevenue and benefit system to identify potentialqualifiers. Potentially qualifying households werenotified and advised that unless they chose to optout, their details would be shared with theChildren Services department, to attempt toaward free schools meals.

This process has enabled 771 children fromfamilies on Income Support to receive theiraward and a further 603 children from familiesclassed as on a low income to also gain theirentitlement.

Why it is importantChildren from lower income households aremore likely to experience worse healthoutcomes across a range of indicators. This is acritical issue as health inequalities experienced inchildhood often continue in later life, limitingchildren’s chances of escaping poverty inadulthood. However, cycles of deprivation and illhealth are not unbreakable, early interventionsand preventative approaches can help childrento overcome the effects of poverty and achievebetter health and wellbeing. There is much goodwork underway38 but the challenge must be touniversalise the best.

What the evidence saysManaging on a low income can have a negativeimpact on maternal health and health-relatedbehaviours. The following section outlines someof the key health issues affecting children andyoung people living in poverty in the City Regionat key stages in their development:

Pregnancy and birth• Data shows that more babies are born toteenage mothers in the City Regioncompared to the England average (44.9per 1000 females aged 15-17 vs. 38.2females aged 15-17)39. Babies born toteenage mothers have been shown toexperience poorer health outcomes thanbabies born to mothers aged 20-3940.

• Maternal smoking during pregnancyremains the greatest cause of foetal illhealth and death. In the City Region, areaswith elevated levels of smoking at time ofdelivery (SATOD) also experience highlevels of social deprivation. Overall 18.6%of women are known to be SATOD in theCity Region, compared to 14.0% ofwomen across England41.

Pre-school and school years • The region has lower than averagebreastfeeding rates, meaning more babiesin the City Region are missing out on theshort and long term health benefits ofbeing breastfed.

• Inequality in the take up of vaccines canworsen any social inequalities that alreadyexist. The City Region take up rates ofMeasles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR)vaccine at 24 months and 2 doses at 5 years42 exceed the national average;however, they fail to meet the WorldHealth Organisation target of 95%.

• The overall smoking rate is higher in theCity Region than nationally. Second-handsmoke has a major impact on the health ofchildren, particularly infants and toddlers.Research shows that children who areexposed to secondhand smoke are twiceas likely to suffer from bronchitis andpneumonia43.

21


Action 3: Promote prevention and early interventionapproaches to reduce health inequalities

“People say that buying healthy food is cheap but they are wrong...Maxeats a lot of crap, I know that. But I can’t afford anymore and I shop at thedirt cheap places....” (Mother, 2010)

38 Nathanson, V, (2011) Social Determinants of Health – What Doctors Can Do. British Medical Association39 Under 18 conception rate, 2009, ONS / Teenage Pregnancy Unit 40 DoH & DCSF, 2008. Getting Maternity Services Right for Pregnant Teenagers and Young Fathers. London: DoH & DCFS41 DoH, 2010/1142 Health Protection Agency, 2010/1143 Helpwithsmoking.com. Available at: http://www.helpwithsmoking.com/passive-smoking/passive-smoking-and-children.php [retrieved 20 September2011]

• There is growing concern that children’sdiets contain too much sugar, salt,saturated fat and too few vegetables. Thisis a contributing factor to region’s higherthan average rates of obesity amongstchildren at 4-5 years and 10-11 years44.

• The average rate in the City Region foralcohol specific hospital admissions forthose who are under 18 years old is morethan double the England rate (149.02 per100,000 vs. 64.5 per 100,000). Estimatesfor risky drinking behaviours across thecity region are also higher than thenational average45. This is a concern asalcohol misuse amongst adults can have anadverse impact on children and family life.

Poverty also has a complex relationship withdisability. Parents who have a disabled child, orhave disabilities themselves are more likely to bepoor as they experience barriers toemployment, high living costs, and low wages. At the same time, people with less money aremore likely to become disabled because of theclose association between poverty and poorhealth46. Nationally 23% of individuals in familieswith at least one member is disabled are inpoverty, compared with 16% of families with nodisabled member47.

What the existingprovision looks likeUnder Public Health Reforms, PCT clusters arebeing established across the country to sustainmanagement capacity; these arrangements alsoprovide opportunities to strengthencollaborative working between local districts. In the City Region, Halton and St Helens, Sefton,Knowsley and Liverpool PCTs form aMerseyside Cluster. Wirral PCT has beenclustered with Cheshire and Warrington.

The City Region benefits from an award winningpublic health network ‘Cheshire and MerseysidePartnership in Health’ (ChaMPs) that throughthe Cheshire and Merseyside Directors of PublicHealth (CM DsPH), provides strategic supportand public health expertise to Cheshire andMerseyside PCT Clusters, Councils, the NHSand Clinical Commissioning Consortia. ChaMPslead on a set of collaborative lifestyleprogrammes that support the PCT Clusters andCM DsPH to deliver their public health targets.These include tobacco control, alcohol, healthyweight, health inequalities and more.

Heart health charity, Heart of Mersey, iscurrently working in an advisory role for healthyeating, providing advice and support to localpartners. HoM has advocated for healthier dietsfor pre school children and has supported thisby the delivery of training to nursery cooks inKnowsley and Liverpool (with HM Partnerships,Heart of Mersey’s social marketing enterprisepartner). The Pre School Nutrition Project inKnowsley received a North West Public Healthaward in 2010.

Health Visitors form a key part of thegovernment’s approach to improving the healthof the most vulnerable. It has committed torecruiting an additional 4,200 Health Visitors by2014 to support families as part of a wider focuson support in the Foundation Years48. HealthVisitors will extend coverage of the HealthyChild Programme (HCP)49 for all families,including the most disadvantaged and engagewith communities. Alongside this, thegovernment aims to double the places availableon the Family Nurse Partnerships50 by 2015;several of these schemes are currently deliveringsuccessful outcomes in the City Region.

22

44 National Child Measurement Programme, 2009-1045 Local Alcohol Profile for England, 2008-0946 Preston, G., 2006. A route out of poverty? Disabled people, work and welfare reform47 Disability Rights Partnership, 2011. End of a lifetime? Ending Disability Living Allowance to introduce Personal Independence Payments48 Department for Education, 2011. Supporting Families in the Foundation Years. London: DfE49 The HCP is a public health programme for children, young people and families, which focuses on early intervention and prevention. It offers auniversal programme of screening tests, immunisations, developmental reviews, information and guidance on parenting and healthy choices

50 The Family Nurse Partnership is an intensive evidence-based programme that improves outcomes for vulnerable children and families

What don’t we know? In depth information on poverty anddisability -The self declaration of disabilitystatus is not fully robust, limiting our ability toappropriately support families affected bydisability. This has been identified as an issue inthe Equality Impact Assessment for this strategy.Mitigation measures include working closely withCVS disability support and information groupsto help us identify and engage with families inneed of additional assistance.

What we will do to addvalue to local workOur strategy to promote prevention and earlyintervention approaches to reduce healthinequalities will involve supporting ChaMPs on anumber of public health priorities:

Smoking in pregnancy and protectingchildren from smoke

NHS led: • Develop joint initiatives to reduce smokingin pregnancy, this will include exploring acity-regional maternal stop smokingservice to accommodate pregnantwomen’s utilisation of hospital services

All partners: • Develop and support a joint campaign onreducing risks to children of secondhandsmoke in homes and cars

Local Authority led:• Support implementation of a voluntarysmokefree code within play areas of parks

Obesity prevention including promotingbreast feeding

Local Authority led:• Work with parents, Children Centres andschools to promote physical activity forchildren

• Consider regulating and limiting thenumber of takeaway food outlets nearschools through supplementary planningguidance

All partners:• Local Children’s Trusts and publicorganisations to implement the UNICEFBaby Friendly Initiative at a local levelaround schools

Access to universal services forvulnerable children includingimmunisations and health checks

NHS led:Support ChaMPS to deliver its Vaccination andImmunisation Plan that will include:

• Ensuring robust and clear leadership isin place for vaccination andimmunisation across the City Region,particularly from Public Health andPrimary Care Commissioning

• Lobbying government to change thefinancial incentives structure so thatgeneral practices are rewarded forincreasing immunisation rates to 95%(the current national Directly EnhancedService (DES) incentive ceases once90% is achieved)

• Ensuring that the national standards forimmunisation training are met

Local Authority led:• Ensure access to and take up of thehealthy child programme throughsupporting closer working between healthvisitors, Children’s Centres, School NursingTeams and Schools

23

The impact of adults on young childrenfrom alcohol misuse

NHS led:• Reduce alcohol misuse amongst youngpeople through supporting effectiveparenting. One way we will do this isthrough an innovative train the trainerprogramme for front line staff in the Fireservice and police to provide parents withbrief advice on alcohol

Local Authority led:

• Ensure children and adults health agendasare integrated through the Health andWellbeing boards

• Introduce via a bylaw a minimum price foralcohol of 50 pence per unit to reducealcohol related harm

24

Case StudyWorking with Volunteers to IncreaseBreastfeeding In response to poor breastfeeding rates andknowing the immense health and well-beingbenefits that breastfeeding brings to bothmothers and babies, NHS Wirral commissionedHomestart Wirral to provide breastfeeding peersupport to 500 women during 2010-11.Breastfeeding protects babies from infectionsincluding gastroenteritis and urinary tractinfections and protects women from certainforms of cancer. Armed with this knowledge,Homestart Wirral recruited local womenvolunteers with personal experience ofbreastfeeding to support new mothers tobreastfeed. NHS Wirral funding was used toemploy one full time co-ordinator, anadministrator and 14 peer support volunteers, allof whom completed Breastfeeding Network andUNICEF training, local hospital induction and coreHomestart induction before starting to supportmothers.

The irrepressible passion and enthusiasm ofeveryone involved resulted in 769 women beingsupported, 34% living in the most deprived areasand 53% still breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks. Thisachievement has led to the contract beingextended from 2011-13, with further funding toincrease the number of volunteers and increasedcapacity to support more women. An addedbonus has been that many of the womensupported by the team have gone on to becomepeer supporters themselves.

Why it is importantThe physical and social environments thatchildren grow up in can influence theiraspirations, outcomes and prospects of breakingintergenerational cycles of poverty. In terms ofthe built environment, poor quality housing andunsafe neighbourhoods are experienced bymany families living in poverty, this is supportedby research that shows children from poorerbackgrounds are five times more likely to die inan accident and 15 times more likely to die in afire at home than children from wealthierfamilies51. Socially, there has been a tendency forpolicy discourses to describe deprivedneighbourhoods as problematic and segmentedplaces which nurture behaviours that deviatefrom social and cultural norms. However, thisview fails to acknowledge the relationships andcommunity resources within low-incomeneighbourhoods that can provide a valuablesource of support and form a protective factoragainst the impacts of poverty52.

What the evidenceshows Housing quality is an issue for parts of the CityRegion, overall 40% of owner occupied and 55%of privately rented homes fail to meet theDecent Homes Standard53. This can negativelyaffect children’s physical and mental health.

Cold and inadequate housing, without a warmplace to study also makes it difficult to completehomework and undertake extra curricularactivities. Social housing has an important role inproviding quality and affordable homes for low-income families. The current shortage ofhousing across the City Region is creating manyproblems for families with children who cannotaccess or afford a mortgage. The number onsocial housing lists has increased by around6,400 since 200754.

Road traffic collisions affect all neighbourhoods,however low income communities suffer from ahigher incidence of pedestrian casualtiescompared to more affluent areas. In Merseyside,children from the 10% most deprivedneighbourhoods are 2.45 times more likely to bekilled or seriously injured in a collision than thosefrom outside the deprived areas55. Nationalstudies suggest that this effect is becausechildren from deprived areas are more exposedto traffic dangers. They are less likely to have aback garden or access to safe open green spacesand are more likely to play on the streetunsupervised. Their parents are also less likely tohave access to a vehicle and are therefore morelikely to make journeys on foot56.

Crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB)disproportionately impact on deprivedcommunities. Geographical analysis byMerseyside Police suggests that there is aparticularly strong correlation in Merseysidebetween areas with high concentrations of child

25


Action 4: Influence an improvement in the quality of placeand support strong communities

“I want a new house, ours is falling apart. Water is coming through theroof.” (Girl aged 12, 2010).

51 End Child Poverty, 2011. Why End Child Poverty? The Effects. Available at: http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/why-end-child-poverty/the-effects[[retrieved 13 September 2011]

52 Bashir, N. et al., 2011. Living Through Change in Challenging Neighbourhoods: Thematic Analysis. York: JRF 53 Liverpool City Region, 2009. Multi Area Agreement54 Liverpool City Region, 2009. Housing Strategy: Annual Monitoring Report55 Merseyside Road Safety Partnership, 2009. (Note data does not capture Halton)56 Grayling, T. et al., 2002. Streets ahead - safe and liveable streets for children. London: IPPR

poverty and the occurrence of domesticoffences57. Household chaos has been found topredict behaviour problems and lower IQ scoresover and above parenting approaches58. There islittle evidence to say that poverty itself is directlycausing this effect, however research suggeststhat poverty can make it more difficult toachieve effective family relationships and it cancreate conditions in a community that hinderssocial control59.

Social networks (for example ties with friends,family and neighbours) can operate as referencegroups and set benchmarks for what can beachieved and what is acceptable to othermembers of the community. In somecircumstances this can have a negative impact onyoung people’s aspirations. A study by theKnowsley Young People’s Commission foundthere is a “fatalistic narrative of low expectation”.According to a mother “It’s like they don’texpect kids from Knowsley to go to university”.

However social networks and strong family tiescan also help to mitigate the daily impacts ofpoverty by providing sustained and committedsupport that enables families to manage dailypressures60. Mobilising and supporting theseassets within the community can bring hugebenefits.

What the existingprovision looks likeThere are 16 Housing Associations covering95% of the social housing stock in the CityRegion that have signed up to a Compact totackle worklessness amongst their residents. Allsocial housing is required to meet a DecentHome Standard, to meet the standard aproperty must have modern facilities, be warmand weatherproof.

Across the City Region there are excellentexamples of projects that are utilisingcommunity resources and knowledge to address

child poverty. Such work includes the KnowsleyVolunteer Family Mentor Project which createda team of local volunteers to encourage thecommunity and local services to work togetherto improve outcomes for families in persistentpoverty. This initiative supports the localeconomy not only through volunteers movinginto employment and the reduction of familieslonger term reliance on services and benefits,but also through increasing communityawareness and capacity.

A variety of education and training initiatives forvulnerable young road users are delivered by allLocal Authorities across Merseyside. This work issupported by the activities of Merseyside Police,the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership and the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. In recognition of the benefits of generatinghigher levels of safe walking and cycling,measures have been identified in Merseyside’s3rd Local Transport Plan (LTP3) to provide roadsafety skills training for vulnerable youngpedestrians and cyclists. In further support ofthis agenda, LTP3 also places a strong emphasison reducing vehicle speeds by extending thenumber of 20mph speed limits in residentialareas and introducing a range of engineeringmeasures to improve the safety of pedestriansand cyclists across Merseyside’s road network.

Merseyside Police places strong emphasis oncrime prevention through early engagementwith children and young people in the mostvulnerable communities. There are a multitude ofprogrammes delivered in partnership with thecommunity and public services to make youngpeople safer and to empower them to makepositive life choices. Successes include theStronger Communities Initiatives that operate inareas with high levels of crime and ASB, and takea holistic approach to making areas safer forresidents by working with partners to improveschool attendance, increase communityconfidence, reduce worklessness and reducecrime and disorder.

26

57 Liverpool City Region, 2010. Child and Family Poverty Needs Assessment58 Coldwell, J., Pike, A. and Dunn, J., 2006. Household chaos – links with parenting and child behaviour. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47, no1; Deater-Deckard, K., et al., 2009. Conduct problems, IQ, and household chaos: a longitudinal multi-informant study. Journal of Child Psychology andPsychiatry 50:10, pp 1301-1308

59 Hay, C et al., 2006. The Impact of Community Disadvantage on the Relationship between the Family and Juvenile Crime. Journal of Research in Crime& Delinquency, Vol. 43 No. 4, pp326-356

60 Pharaoh, R., Harris, K. and Basi, T., 2010. Family Case studies in Knowsley. London: ESRO

On a national scale, intensive family interventionsare at the heart of the government’s plans foraddressing the causes of disadvantage. Thegovernment aspires ‘to try and turn everytroubled family in the country’ that experiencesmultiple problems. It estimates that 120,000families need targeted interventions becausethey may have health problems, be addicted todrugs or alcohol, have never worked or cannotcontrol their child’s behaviour.

What don’t we know? • How to effectively engage with and

influence all private landlords - theRugg Review recommended that acompulsory private landlord accreditationscheme be introduced to regulate lettingagents and improve standards, howeverthis proposal was not adopted by thecoalition government. Some City Regionareas have developed local non-mandatory accreditation schemes,although a proportion of landlords stillchoose not to engage.

• The impact of budget cutsexperienced by casualty reductionagencies - Widespread reductions inrevenue and capital funding across allcasualty reduction agencies have thepotential to hinder the recent progressmade in reducing the number of roadtraffic casualties. Although the extent ofthis effect is as yet unknown, it is likely thata range of road safety activities will benegatively affected by these resourcereductions.

• The impact of housing benefitreforms - the housing benefit system isundergoing radical changes. Taken together,plans to cap housing benefit based on thesize of a property, the recalculation ofLocal Housing Allowance and thereduction in non-dependent allowancescould make it difficult for some familieswith limited finances to stay within theirexisting homes61. There is a prospect thatthese reforms could induce involuntarymovement, which may affect social andfamily networks.

What we will do to addvalue to local workOur strategy to influence an improvement in thequality of place and support strong communitieswill involve the following actions:• Encourage partners to prioritiseneighbourhoods that have a StrongerCommunities Initiative (SCI) to test outprojects that aim to raise the aspirations ofchildren and young people

• Maintain a comprehensive and multiagency approach to tackle anti-socialbehaviour, reducing its impact throughproblem solving, supporting vulnerablevictims and dealing effectively withperpetrators, including restorative justiceoutcomes

• Work with Merseytravel and HaltonBorough Council to capture anddisseminate local evaluated best practiceon how to improve road safety inresidential areas with high levels of childpoverty

• To work with Councils and locally basedgroups to proactively mitigate the impactof the forthcoming welfare reforms

• To maintain housing standards within arent framework that remains affordable forlow income households

• Work with private landlords to raise thestandard of privately rented homes

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Case StudyWorking with the Third Sector andEmpowering Young People to makePlaces Safer Merseyside Police has strong collaborativepartnerships with the third sector and works withgroups such as ‘Clapperboard’ to make youngpeople safer. Young people engaged on thisprogramme have developed resourcessupporting ASB reduction and firework safetythat have been rolled out for use in schools andwith young audiences. The Police Force also has astrong Volunteer Cadet commitment and has runa programme for six years. A re-structured Cadetprogramme will re-launch in late 2011 and will beactive in all local authority areas. This will seeapproximately one hundred 16 year olds from avariety of backgrounds become part of theextended police family.

61 Ian Cole et al., 2011. Low income neighbourhoods in Britain. York: JRF

Why it is importantFamilies in poverty often experience difficulty inaccessing mainstream financial services such asbank accounts and affordable credit. As a resultmany turn to alternative and more expensivesources to finance purchases. Put simply,spending costs more for those who have theleast income.

Financial exclusion can also act as a barrier toemployment, for example through having nobank account into which a salary can be paid.Additionally those in debt may be concernedabout funding the cost of moving into work,such as finding the money to bridge the gapbetween benefits stopping and their first pay day.

What the evidence says The development of children is correlated tothe levels of income within the household, andthis is more pronounced in the early years.Research suggests that the effect of income onthe development of children reduces as childrenmove from early years to adolescence62. There is a negative impact on the developmentof children and young people linked to incomeinequalities.

There is evidence to suggest that due to a lackof affordable credit, the use of high interestshops, expensive catalogues and unlicensedmoney lenders is endemic in some communities.Consultation exercises suggest that:

• Families go into debt to buy materialgoods. In some cases parents feelpressured to buy their children the latesttoys and gadgets63. This chimes withresearch undertaken by UNICEF64 whichsuggests that Britain has some of thehighest levels of material inequalities, whichcauses poorer families to feel that theymust struggle to buy their children itemsthat are equated to social status. Its reportalso suggests that children want to spendmore time with their parents, and that thiswould have a better impact on overallchild wellbeing than expensive consumergoods.

• There is limited knowledge of whatfinancial help is available. Whilst there is anawareness of credit unions there is littleunderstanding of what they offer : “I usedto just put their stuff in the bin! It looks likeany of the other loans people give, exceptI don’t know them do I” (parent,Knowsley)65.

• Those in debt can feel embarrassment andworry about the perceptions held byothers66.

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Aim 2: Maximise Family Income

Action 1: Improve access to suitable financial servicesand support families to make good financial decisions

“[Zia] Has debts that she can just manage but they are troublesome nonethe less and certainly go a long way toward mopping up any spare cashshe might be able to save….In order to address some of her debtproblems, Zia took a loan from a small loans provider, however therepayments are high”. (Researcher, describing a mother’s financialsituation, 2010)

62 Duncan, G. J.; Yeung, J.; Brooks-Dunn, J.; & Smith, J., 1998. How much does childhood poverty affect the life chances of children? American SociologicalReview, 63(3), pp. 406-423; Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J., 1997. The effects of poverty on children. Future of Children, 7, pp55-71 (261).

63 Cordes, C., 2010. Knowsley Child Poverty Consultation. The Young Foundation64 UNICEF, 2011. Child Poverty Perspective: An Overview of Child Well Being in Rich Countries, Report Card 7. The United Nations Children’s Fund65 Pharaoh, R., Harris, K. and Basi, T., 2010. Family Case studies in Knowsley. London: ESRO66 Pharaoh, R., Harris, K. and Basi, T., 2010. Family Case studies in Knowsley. London: ESRO

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Families in poverty also pay more for gas andelectricity as they cannot access cheaperpayment tariffs like Direct Debits. There aregrowing concerns that financial exclusioncombined with rising fuel costs will push manymore families into fuel poverty67 over the next12 months. This may have a particularly severeimpact on families who have a disabled memberand are dependent on electrical equipment forcare. Of all the regions in England the NorthWest already has the highest number ofhouseholds with children living in fuel poverty(242,500)68, it is imperative that partnerscontinue to monitor this situation.

There are also wider issues on this matteraround low financial capability and literacy, suchas people’s ability to understand financial termsand plan their finances. Financial capability willbecome even more important when UniversalCredit is introduced in 2013. The UniversalCredit System will merge a range of ‘in-work’and ‘out-of-work’ benefits into one lump sumwhich will be paid direct to claimants. This willinclude housing benefit, which is often currentlypaid direct to landlords. Therefore claimants willneed good financial management skills in orderto pay their rent and avoid debt and arrears.

What the existingprovision looks likeThere is a wealth of advice and support availableto individuals, which includes Citizens AdviceBureaux (CAB), Councils, Housing Associationsand voluntary groups. However it can bedifficult for individuals to understand whatsupport is available for them, in addition to thecourage that is required to admit that you needsupport on this matter.

Families with debt issues may receive advice andsupport on debt and financial managementthrough referral from other services. An initialreview of Family Intervention Projects69 showedthat debt concerns had been reduced across thecohort during the time that the family wasreceiving support. This confirms the need forfront line workers to be able to signpost familiesto more specialised support as appropriate.

Credit Unions provide a straightforwardapproach to saving and loans, and some are nowbeginning to offer basic bank accounts forindividuals to use. They do have capacity issuesbut these are not widely publicised orunderstood. The majority of individuals who areat risk of being financially excluded will live insocial housing, and there is much goodoperational work being carried out by HousingAssociations70. Support could be offered toCredit Unions to improve their efficiency andeffectiveness of operations through more joinedup work71.

There are wider issues about the confidencethat individuals have in accessing bank accounts.Anecdotal evidence from Credit Unions andfinancial advisers is consistently identifying thatpeople have bank accounts but they are notusing them to their maximum. National researchalso identified that low income families did notconsider that there was an appropriate savingsaccount for them72.

The role of the high street banks needs furtherwork and challenge to consider what they couldbe doing. Additionally, other providers offinancial products (such as supermarkets) couldimprove their offer in this area.

67 A household is described as being in fuel poverty when it has to spend more than 10% of its income keeping warm68 National Energy Action, 2009. Fuel Poverty: A briefing for Children’s Trust Policy Coordinators in the North West of England69 National Centre for Social Research, 2010. ASB Family Intervention Projects: Monitoring and Evaluation. London: DfE70 Chartered Institute of Housing, 2011. Improving financial inclusion and capability in social housing. Coventry: CIH71 Jones, P.A. and Ellison, A. 2011. Community finance for London: scaling up the credit union and finance sector. Faculty of Health and Applied SocialSciences, LJMU

72 Dolphin, T., 2011. Designing a life course savings account. London: IPPR

What don’t we know• Exactly who is providing which

services - local partnerships have varyingknowledge and understanding of who isproviding financial inclusion and adviceservices in their district. Therefore we donot have a full picture of the range ofvoluntary and statutory organisationsoperating in the City Region. Given thedifficulties identified in accessing financialadvice services, it is considered that weneed to create as many opportunities aspossible for people to access them.

• Which services are effective - there isa need to better understand what hasworked in combating financial exclusionwithin the City Region and also nationally.

What we will do to addvalue to local workOur strategy to improve access to suitablefinancial services and support families to makegood financial decisions will involve the followingactions:

• Develop a City Region Financial InclusionForum to share best practice and furtherexpertise: this could include a guide forfront line workers in signposting individualsto specialist support

• Councils to report on the scope andeffectiveness of benefit take up campaignsand to promote the effective practice

• Work closer with high street banks andsupermarkets to improve their offer in thisarea. This may involve encouraging highstreet banks to better promote basic bankaccounts and supermarket FinancialServices to expand their offer

• Work with credit unions to betterpromote services and encourage take-up

• Work with credit unions based in the CityRegion to support them in theirorganisational development

• Identify and promote effective practice ondigital inclusion

• Ensure that budgeting advice is offered toindividuals at different points, throughwork with CAB, credit unions, schools,local authorities and others

• Facilitate a City Region review into utilitiescompanies and their approach to offeringtariffs

• Work with schools across the City Regionto ensure financial issues are coveredwithin the curriculum

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Case StudyTackling Debt and Financial Exclusion Partners from both the statutory and voluntarysector in Halton have worked together for manyyears to help the poorest and most vulnerableresidents maximise their income, tackle multipledebt problems and address housing andemployment issues. A range of services areoffered including mobile outreach and eveningadvice surgeries.

One success story is a Budgeting Officer workingin Halton’s thriving Credit Union, who in 2009/10worked with over a hundred clients and helpedthem to save/ write-off a total of £749,444 ofdebt. 98% of these clients were parents withdependent children.

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Why it is importantParental employment is the best route out ofincome poverty. Not only does being insustainable and well paid employment providefamilies with the financial means to move out ofpoverty, it can also contribute towards positivehealth, build resilience and social networks andimprove confidence and self esteem.

What the evidence says In the City Region the vast majority of childrengrowing up in poverty live in a ‘workless’73

household (85%) as opposed to a householdwhere one or more of their parents is in lowpaid work and is deemed to be in ‘in-work’poverty. There are particularly high rates of out-of-work poverty amongst lone parent families(79.5% of children in out-of-work poverty in theCity Region live in a single parent household).For these parents, balancing work and childcareresponsibilities presents major challenges. Findingsuitable employment opportunities will becomeeven more pressing in October 2012 whenreforms to the welfare system will require loneparents with children aged 5 and above to claimJobseekers Allowance and look for work.

It is often the combined impact of many factors(such as debt, low confidence and complexitiesof the benefits system) that can make workseem unattainable for some parents. Our localanalysis suggests that the most dominantbarriers to employment for parents in the CityRegion include:

Childcare - Generally most parents prefer touse family members to look after their children;where this is not an option, the most frequentlycited problems with formal childcare areinaccessibility and high costs. For some families,childcare can consume around a third of theirhousehold income74. In addition, parents haveidentified the method of payment for childcare(and associated deposits), a lack of flexibility onopen times (particularly outside of 7am-7pm)and reduced provision for children withadditional needs as being significant barriers. The quality of childcare available is as importantas its affordability and accessibility. Supportingparents to volunteer in childcare can be a routeto skills development and employment in thelonger term. However, there are emotionalreasons for choosing to stay at home and notuse childcare, with the recent study by Sigman75

identifying some reasons as to why this might bethe case.

Employment and Skills - One in five adults in the City Region have no qualifications. A mismatch between skills of jobseekers and the requirements of the jobs on offer also makesit difficult for many parents to find work.

Whilst there are fewer children experiencing in-work poverty than out-of-work poverty inthe City Region, it still remains a concern asmany families in ‘in-work’ poverty are trapped incycles of ‘low-pay, no pay’. This is because thosein ‘in-work’ poverty are more likely to work ininsecure employment and have low skills which increases their risk of cycling between ‘in-and-out-of-work poverty’. The nationalCommission on Vulnerable Employment


Action 2: Optimise employment opportunities by removingbarriers to good quality and sustainable employment

“I’m bored and I just want to get out and go back to work. Because Ihaven’t done anything for so long I’ve forgotten everything… I’m really notgood friends with anyone anymore.” (Mother, 2010)

73 This definition is based on DWP data and includes those working less than 16 hours per week on average74 Liverpool City Region, 2010. Child and Family Poverty Needs Assessment75 Sigman, A., 2011. Mother Superior? The Biological Effects of Daycare. The Biologist 58(3): pp 28-32

highlighted that there are particular sectorswhich are prone to vulnerable and lower levelsof pay including; care, hospitality and facilitiesmanagement: these are sectors which arestrongly represented within the City Region’seconomy. One of the main findings from a studyinto work in deprived communities in the NorthEast76 found that the biggest challenge was thelack of accessible and relevant job opportunities:this contributed towards a significant low pay, nopay cycle and recurrent poverty. Previousresearch77 also identified the need for morework to be undertaken with employers and onjob creation, rather than just on getting peopleready for work.

Job availability is an important and underlyingissue on employment. In the City Region it isestimated that there are 7.7 job seekers chasingevery unfilled vacancy notified to Jobcentre Plus(July 2011). This is compounded by increasingnumbers of redundancies, particularly in thepublic sector and the expected flow of peoplefrom Incapacity Benefit to Jobseekers’ Allowancefollowing their reassessment. Without asignificant increase in the flow of new vacancies,changes to the welfare system are unlikely tohave a positive effect on employment andworklessness is likely to increase.

The predicted number of job losses in the publicsector is likely to impact most on women; manyof whom will be the primary carer to theirchildren. Those who are low paid, low skilled orin part-time employment are expected to be hithardest; this may have a disproportionate impacton children and young people whose families arein in-work poverty. The level of femaleunemployment in the City Region reached itshighest rate in August 2011 since September1996. The introduction of the Work Programmefor those who are long term unemployed, andthe mandating of people onto this, may have animpact but it would depend upon jobs beingavailable for people to access.

Many parents also feel strong tensions betweenspending quality time with their children,

especially in the early years, and providing fortheir family financially78. Family friendlyrecruitment practices and employment policiesare key to helping parents maintain a positivebalance.

Welfare reforms - Recent evidence79 hashighlighted the detrimental impact that welfarechanges have had on working families. Over thepast year we have seen a reduction in childcareallowances through the tax credit system from80% to 70%, the freezing of child benefit andchanges to the rates at which tax credits arewithdrawn as earnings increase. These changesmay mean that working families have to earn20% more in 2011than in 2010 just to maintainthe same standard of living. Commentators areconcerned that these changes will act as adisincentive to work for many families.

Transport - The City Region has mobility richand mobility poor communities. Researchcarried out in disadvantaged areas shows that59% of households in these areas do not haveaccess to a car and 78% of disadvantagedhouseholds do not have access to a bicycle. Forlow income groups, bus transport remainscritical for many in ensuring good access toservices and job opportunities. However,affordability remains an issue and a range ofimprovements will be required around fares,ticketing and information. Bus fares onMerseyside have more than doubled over thelast 10 years with a 10% increase in the last yearalone. Nearly half of all trips in disadvantagedareas are less than two miles reflecting the lowtravel horizons of disadvantaged groups, whichlimits the number of job opportunities andservices available to them. Further to this, risingfuel prices may further widen the gap between the mobility rich and mobility poor. A combination of low incomes, low carownership and the affordability of publictransport fares are clear contributors to socialexclusion and the isolation of some areas fromservices and opportunities80.

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76 Shildrick, T., MacDonald, R., Webster, C. and Garthwaite, K., 2010. The role of the low pay, no pay cycle in recurrent poverty. York: JRF 77 North, D., Syrett, S., Etherington, D., and Vickers, I., 2008. Interventions to tackle the economic needs of deprived areas. York: JRF78 Britain Thinks, 2011. The Modern British Family: Research for the Labour Party. Britain Thinks79 Hirsh, D. A minimum income income standard for the UK in 2011. JRF80 LTP Support Unit, 2010. Merseyside Disadvantaged Communities Study

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What the existingprovision looks likeChildcare• Parents of all three and four-year-olds arecurrently entitled to 15 hours of freechildcare which must be spread over 3days81. The government plans to extendthis offer to all disadvantaged children by2013. Working parents may also qualify forWorking Tax Credit which includes achildcare element designed to helptowards the cost of childcare. However, aspreviously highlighted, the amount thatparents can claim to assist with childcarefees has reduced from 80% to 70%.

• Some childcare providers report thatthere are issues with the funding levels forthe free childcare places for three-and-four-years-olds. A proportion are having tosubsidise ‘free’ places so that parentsreceive them which is impacting on thesustainability of their business82.

• Even with the childcare entitlement andtax credits, it is not always more financiallyrewarding to be in work (particularly forthose with more than one young child andlone parents).

• Deprived areas generally have lessdemand for childcare and less supply83. This could be reflective of market forcesas profit for providers can be relatively lowand demand is suppressed by parents’inability to afford the childcare on offer.Recent research identified that cost is amajor barrier to parents accessingchildcare, particularly for those living insevere poverty84.

• There are limited choices for families whoare economically active for the provisionof before school care, after school careand holiday care. This is a particularproblem for shift workers who workoutside the hours of 7am-7pm.

• Reliable before and after school care will

become important to many more parentswhen reforms to the Welfare Systemprogress.

• Lone parents face a greater burden ofchildcare costs: this is pertinent as weknow 77% of children living in poverty inthe City Region live in a one parenthousehold85.

• Early Years Childcare providers commonlycharge a significant deposit prior tochildren commencing care - this can makechildcare inaccessible to lower incomefamilies, or to parents moving frombenefits into training or work.

• Before and after school childcare andholiday childcare does not meet the needsof parents with disabled children in someareas. This correlates with nationalresearch, which indicates disabled childrenare more likely than their non disabledpeers to live in poverty as parents areunable to work due to caringresponsibilities86.

• The additional funding required to care forchildren with disabilities to pay forspecialised equipment and sufficientlyqualified staff is cited as a barrier toexpanding services for children withdisabilities87.

Employment and Skills• There are projections of an additional130,000 jobs to be created over the next10 years across the City Region in 4growth sectors (Knowledge Economy,Culture and Visitor Economy, Low CarbonEconomy, Superport and Logistics), andbusinesses are working with colleges andlearning providers to ensure that the rightskills are available at the time thatbusinesses require them. These jobs will beat a range of skill levels, and support willbe provided to those seeking work todevelop their skills. This is a key piece ofwork assigned to the Liverpool CityRegion Employment and Skills Board

81 The government plans to increase the flexibility of when childcare hours can be used, to help parents plan their childcare to fit around working hours.This is likely to be implemented by September 2012, following a consultation

82 National Day Nurseries Association, 2011. Available at www.ndna.org.uk 83 Liverpool City Region, 2010. Child and Family Poverty Needs Assessment84 Daycare Trust and Save the Children, 2011. Making Work Pay – The Childcare Trap. London: Daycare Trust and Save the Children85 Liverpool City Region, 2010. Child and Family Poverty Needs Assessment86 Child Poverty Action Group. Policy Brief: At Greatest Risk of Poverty. Available at: http://www.childpovertytoolkit.org.uk/At-Greatest-Risk-of-Child-Poverty [retrieved 13 September 2011]

87 Daycare Trust, 2007. Listening to the Parents of Disabled Children about Childcare, London: Daycare Trust

through their Skills for GrowthAgreements, in support of the broaderCity Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

• There remains a need to improve thetargeting of employment and skills servicesto parents seeking work. There is a wealthof support on offer through mainstreamagencies, but the challenge is to ensurethat parents understand what that supportis and how it can be accessed. The CityRegion Employment and Skills Board has astrategic project focused on this function.

• Additional activity has been fundedthrough the European RegionalDevelopment Fund to work withbusinesses to support their job creationand then to link those to people living indeprived areas. This has been generallyeffective but needs more focus to ensurethat this is targeting the right people.88

There is more that can be done to bringtogether employers and jobseekers89.

• 16 Housing Associations covering 95% ofthe social housing stock in the City Regionhave signed up to a Compact to tackleworklessness amongst their residents90.

• The national Child Poverty InnovationPilots showed the effectiveness of arelationship between a trusted individualand a jobseeker, and that this tended to bemore effective when it was not somebodyfrom formal public services.

TransportThe Merseyside Local Transport Plan (LTP) 3and Halton LTP 3 are the main mechanisms forensuring equality of travel opportunities forthose living and working in the City Region. The Merseyside LTP 3 identifies that:

• Although the region has a comprehensivetransport system, people need to be mademore aware of the travel opportunitiesthat are available to them. Whilst there is alot of information available, it is often notalways in a form that is easy to access andunderstand.

• Planning decisions and service-relocationschemes can help to reduce socialexclusion, but accessibility is not alwaysfully considered by those outside oftransport.

• Transport affordability remains an issueand a range of improvements are requiredaround fare costs and ticketing systems.

• Low cost travel options such as cycling andwalking should be better promoted andencouraged.

Partners are currently considering a newpackage of accessibility based on good practicefrom elsewhere and locally such as our Let’s GetMoving programme91.

What don’t we know• Up to date figures on children living

in poverty - official HMRC in-work andout-of-work child poverty figures arealready two years old when they are firstreleased: this is an issue of particularconcern given the rapid changes to thewider economic context.

• The extent of hidden poverty - due tothe economic downturn there will be anumber of households where one parenthas become unemployed throughredundancy, whilst the second parent is stillin work. Although these families are stillbenefiting from one salary, they could stillexperience material and incomedeprivation due to high mortgagerepayments. However these families willbe hidden from the child poverty data, asthe official measure calculates poverty‘before housing costs’ are deducted fromthe household budget.

• The impact of the Work Programme -the Work Programme commenced in June2011, replacing virtually all nationalunemployment programmes. It is managedand delivered by a combination of private,community and public sector organisations.

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88 Interim Evaluation of Merseyside Supported Links to Employment Programme (2010) Liverpool City Employment Strategy89 Employment Working Group , 2011. Creating Opportunity, Rewarding Ambition. London: Centre for Social Justice90 Department for Education, 2011. Local Authority Child Poverty Innovation Pilot Evaluation Report. London: DfE 91 Lets Get Moving programme (2006-10) was an innovative programme providing transport solutions to workless residents in Merseyside to accessemployment opportunities. It assisted over 15,000 workless Merseyside residents during its life time

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The programme aims to ensure goodvalue for money by funding providers on a‘payments by results’ basis. At this earlystage it is not clear how sufficient theprogramme will be in meeting the needsof unemployed parents.

• The Full Family Impact of the WelfareReforms - the changes to welfarepayments introduced by the CoalitionGovernment in 2010 and 2011 are alreadybeginning to have an impact e.g. reductionin childcare tax credit has led to reductionin numbers of places available. In addition,the move towards Universal Credit from2013 should simplify the system but thereis a significant risk of unintendedconsequences on child and family povertydue to the confluence of existing benefits.

• The impact of changes to childcare- a number of early years and out ofschool childcare providers areexperiencing difficulties and reducingprovision due to financial and demandchanges. The eligibility of ‘mini jobs’ of lessthan 16 hours per week for childcare taxcredits will also have an impact on theamount of support available given that thebudget for Tax Credits is fixed.

• Economic Outlook - the City Regionhas not fared as badly in the recession asother areas but the recovery appears tobe sluggish. Analysis suggests economicrecovery will be a slower process for theCity Region than elsewhere due to thecomposition of the economy, thuscompounding our relative disadvantage.

What we will do to addvalue to local workOur strategy to optimise employmentopportunities by removing barriers to goodquality and sustainable employment will involvethe following actions:

• Develop a measure of child poverty usinglocal data sources

• Promote flexible client designed workclubs that meet personalised needs andare delivered in settings that are accessibleand welcoming to parents

• Ensure that Jobcentre Plus and otherwelfare to work provision focuses on theneeds of parents, particularly those withmultiple needs

• Work with appointed contractors for ESFfunded support for Families with MultipleDisadvantage to ensure that this istargeted on parents

• Provide market stewardship to thechildcare and out of school markets,ensuring a balance between supply,demand, quality and affordability

• Pilot a bicycle hire scheme

• Provide travel advice to those seekingwork

• Support Merseytravel and Halton BoroughCouncil in the delivery of their SustainableTransport schemes to ensure that parentscan get to work locations

• Work with the providers of transport inthe City Region to ensure that theyremain aware of the issues faced bychildren and young people

• Work with employers to promote thebenefits of flexible working

Why it is importantThroughout the City Region much work is donewith individuals to get them into work andacross the assessed poverty line. This is helpfulbut there is a challenge to support individuals toachieve their full economic potential andprogress through developing skills and securinghigher paid work. There is evidence to suggestthat this will also support greater social mobilitythrough the raising of individual aspirationswithin the family unit. The benefits system doesnot always provide incentives for this but theplanned introduction of Universal Credit shouldaffect behaviour change in this respect.

Universal careers advice and guidance servicesare available for adults through the Next Stepservice, to support individuals in making careerchoices, moving people back into work andsupporting individuals who are in work. In thepast this service has not always been sufficientlypromoted or widely understood within thewider adult population. In previous times, widersupport to promote advancement might havebeen offered through extended family networks,and there still remains a desire to seecommunities strengthen further their capabilitiesto promote the available support, or indeed toprovide this sort of information and supportthemselves.

What the evidence says Activities focused on work retention and in-work progression can be highly effective insupporting individuals to stay in work andprogress. This can have an impact in reducing thelikelihood of poverty for families with children.However, this area of work remains considerablyunderdeveloped and leaves considerable scopefor improvements to lift working parents andtheir children out of poverty92.

Additional support may be needed to enablepeople to progress in work. Research by theJoseph Rowntree Foundation93 found that thenotion of progressing at work did not accordwith everybody, and is linked to wider issues onconfidence, aspirations, and social mobility.Advice and guidance should be offered topeople to move to sustainable work, which was also found in the evaluation of Pathways to Work94.

Earlier reports95 suggested that the children infamilies assessed to be in in-work poverty haveparents who are working part time or whereone parent is self employed. To avoid in-workpoverty, support is required to encourageparents to access full- time work and to facilitateprogression wherever we can where this wouldmake a family better off financially. This hasobvious linkage with the need to improve themarket for childcare support.

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Action 3: Support parents to progress in the workplace

“She left school young but went and studied to become a beauty therapistfor 3 years. She spent a year looking for a job, taking her qualificationseverywhere looking for employment but found nothing and eventually wentand worked in the Jacob’s factory for 4 years”. (Researcher describing amother’s experience of the job market, 2010)

92 Browne, J. and Paull, G., 2009. Parents’ work entry, progression and retention, and child poverty: Research Report 626 London: DWP93 Ray, K., Hoggart, L., Vegeris, S. and Taylor, S. 2010. Better off working? Work, poverty and benefit cycling. York: JRF94 Dixon, J. and Warrener, M., 2008. Pathways to work: qualitative study of in-work support. London: DWP95 Kenway, P., 2009. Addressing in work poverty. York: JRF

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What the existingprovision looks likeNext Step Adult Careers Service is deliveredacross over 150 delivery locations in the CityRegion. Co-location of Information, Advice andGuidance (IAG) provision has been secured in20 Jobcentre Plus (JCP) offices across the CityRegion, supporting the Skills Funding Agency/JCP joint planning commitment. As the PrimeContract holder for face-to-face guidanceservices for both young people and adults(branded Next Step) Greater MerseysideConnexions Partnerships is currently able todeliver an integrated approach to the provisionof Information Advice and Guidance across allages - a key priority of the City RegionEmployment and Skills Strategy. Due to theimpending changes affecting services for youngpeople nationally, as well as the introduction ofthe new National Careers Service from April2012, this integration and coherence may notoccur to the same degree in the future.

The City Region has benefited from theprovision of strengthened support for employers and individuals, including partnersworking closely with Jobcentre Plus to supportthose facing redundancy situations (for example,Burton's, Wirral and Knowsley Councils,Knowsley Housing Trust, CML Wirral) andinward investment opportunities (for example,Jaguar Land Rover recruitment, various Tesco stores).

Unionlearn aims to help unions to becomelearning organisations, with programmes forunion reps and regional officers and strategicsupport for national officers. It will also helpunions to broker learning opportunities for theirmembers, run phone and online advice services,secure the best courses to meet learners' needsand kitemark union academy provision to aquality standard.

The City Region has identified four areas of theeconomy which it feels are best placed todeliver significant economic growth over thelonger term. These are:

• Culture and Visitor Economy, building onthe legacy of Capital of Culture

• Low Carbon Economy

• Superport and Logistics, linked todevelopments at the Port of Liverpool andLiverpool John Lennon Airport

• Knowledge Economy, linked to thedevelopments at Daresbury Science andInnovation Park and capitalising on thedevelopment of a Knowledge Quarter inLiverpool

These sectors have the potential to create130,000 jobs over the next 10 years and thechallenge will be for City Region organisations tosupport businesses in this and to ensure thatresidents are equipped with the skills thatbusinesses identify they will need.

What don’t we know • Effective practice - it is difficult to knowwho is accessing the current Information,Advice and Guidance provision, nor whichforms of advice are most effective insecuring progression in work. In addition,there is little evidence to show whichinterventions are proven to aid jobretention amongst those moving offbenefits and into work.

What we will do to addvalue to local workOur strategy to support parents to progress inthe workplace will involve the following theactions:

• Establish a procurement clause to ensure aliving wage96 for all public sector deliveredcontracts

• Work with the Liverpool City RegionEmployer Coalition to consider theimplementation of a living wage across theCity Region and to receive a report backwithin a year

• Work with Connexions to promotebenefits of Information Advice andGuidance and the opportunities of thelifelong learning account to supportprogression

• Work with the Liverpool City RegionEmployer Coalition to promote the bestemployment practices

• Encourage individuals and businesses toinvest in skills development

• Provide targeted support to SMEs toenable them to develop and implementflexible approaches to employment

• Task the Employment and Skills Board towork with colleges and training providerson skills development, the provision oflearner support to promote access andbetter outcomes where appropriate, andthe introduction of FE loans for those noteligible for full fee remission

3896 A living wage is an hourly wage rate that is sufficient enough for workers to provide their families with the essentials in life. According to calculationsby the Centre for Research in Social Policy, the National Living Wage (outside London) for 2011 is £7.20 per hour

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Levels of poverty within the Liverpool CityRegion are unfortunately not new. There havebeen significant levels of poverty and incomeinequality for many years, linked to the economiccontexts in which so many people foundthemselves and the historical imbalance betweenthe South East and the rest of the country. Thiswas exacerbated by the changes in industrialcomposition from the 1960s onwards and thedeindustrialisation seen in manufacturing and thedocks from the 1970s into the 1980s. There wasan increase in confidence and employmentthroughout the 1990s and 2000s, although it was2003 before the number of jobs returned to thepre 1980 figure.

Examples of this progress are:

• Between 1996 and 2006 the LiverpoolCity Region (excluding Halton) economygrew from just over £8,000 per capita toover £13,600 per capita. This is a growthof 64.2% over the entire time period –greater growth than both the UK (61.8%)and North West (57.3%).

• Between 1995 and 2006 growth in theCity Region‘s business density (VAT-registered businesses per 1,000) wassignificantly higher than across the rest ofthe UK, at growing at a rate of 21.3%compared to the national rate of 13.5%.

3. The Extent of Child and Family Poverty in the City Region

“Every family should be together and happy. It’s not the way it goes, but itshould be.” (Grandmother, August 2010).

Figure 3 - Job availability trend

Job availability

England

Wider Liverpool City Region

The City Region favoured relatively well in the2008 recession but the recovery has laggedbehind that of other areas: there have been 28%more unemployed people per registeredvacancy in the City Region as against the nationalposition since January 2009. The projectionsthat the level of jobs would be returned by 2016now appear optimistic. There are parts of theCity Region which are still dealing with thedecline seen over previous decades, despitemany years of effort and concomitant funding.Some of the issues being experienced today,particularly with aspiration and a workingculture, can be traced back to those times. This does not excuse the current cultures andbehaviours but perhaps goes some way toexplain them and put the issues into context.

The City Region has worked together withbusiness and Government bodies to identify theareas which it is considered are best placed todeliver significant and sustained economicgrowth. These sectors are Knowledge Economy,Culture and Visitor Economy, Superport andLogistics and Low Carbon Economy: together itis projected that they will create 130,000 jobs by2020. The emergent Local EnterprisePartnership for the City Region will have a keyrole in delivering this.

The Liverpool City Region Child and FamilyPoverty Needs Assessment provides a detailedpicture of the drivers and outcomes of childpoverty and life chances in the City Region. Ithas been informed by quantitative data sets aswell as qualitative evidence from children,families and partners. The qualitative research isa vital component of our evidence base as itprovides valuable insight into the causes andimpacts of poverty that is often not revealed byquantitative data and statistics. This sectionprovides an overview of the most salient findingsfrom our analysis.

Measuring child andfamily poverty There is some debate on the most appropriatemeasure of child and family poverty and what this means for different services areas. The measures consider the different dimensionsof child and family poverty and its severity: moredetails can be found in Annex 2. It is clear,however, that for whichever measure is used, therates of child and family poverty within the CityRegion are too high, and only concerted andjoined up effort will address this.

The most recent official figures on child andfamily poverty97 indicate that on 31 August 2009,91,355 children in the City Region were living inpoverty - around 27% of all children. Thisexceeds the levels of child poverty across theNorth West (23.1%) and England (21.3%).Levels of child poverty are particularly high inKnowsley (32.3%) and Liverpool (34.4%).

The following points provide a snapshot of theextent and nature of Child Poverty:

40

Children in All Children in Poverty under 16 Poverty

Number % Number %

Halton 6,950 28.0 7,990 27.2

Knowsley 10,170 33.1 11,850 32.3

Liverpool 27,800 35.1 32,460 34.4

Sefton 9,950 21.0 11,665 20.3

St. Helens 8,560 26.3 9,775 25.2

Wirral 15,335 25.9 17,615 20.9

LCR 78,765 28.8 91,355 26.8

North West 310,680 23.7 357,615 23.1

England 2,131,350 21.9 2,429,305 21.3

97 HMRC, October 2011

Figure 4 - Number and proportion of children inpoverty in the City Region

• The majority of children in poverty(69,500) live in lone parent families(76.1%), higher than the England averageof 67.7%. 71% of these lone parents areover 25 and 97% are women, this is in linewith national trends

• Most children living in poverty (85.0%) livein households claiming Income Support(IS) or Job Seekers Allowance (JSA). The remaining 15% live in families who areclaiming Working Families Tax Credit(WTC) and for Child Tax Credit (CTC)and have an income below 60% of themedian income

• The majority (78,780 or 86.2%) ofchildren living in poverty are under 16years of age and 54,950 (60.1%) are underage 11

• The City Region has a higher proportionof lone parent families on IS / JSA benefit(79.5%) than England (74.2%)

Distribution of povertyFigures presented at a local authority level cansometimes mask the depth of child and familypoverty in certain pockets or neighbourhoods.

For example, the average child poverty rate inSefton (20.3%) is much lower than in Liverpool(34.4%). However, we can see from the mapthat both areas have neighbourhoods wherethere are severe concentrations of child andfamily poverty.

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Figure 5 - Percentage of children living in households earning below the 60% median national incomeacross the City Region, by Lower Super Output Area (LSOA).

45% to 73%30% to 45%20% to 30%10% to 20%0% to 10%

This map is reproduced from OrdnanceSurvey material with the permission ofOrdnance Survey on behalf of theController of Her Majesty's StationeryOffice © Crown copyright. Unauthorisedreproduction infringes Crown copyrightand may lead to prosecution or civilproceedings. (Knowsley MBC)(100017655) (2011)

All children in poverty

SEFTON

LIVERPOOL

KNOWSLEY

ST HELENS

HALTON

WIRRAL

Changes over time Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)has provided four years of official child povertydata at the small area or Lower Super OutputArea (LSOA). This provides an opportunity to look at the change in poverty over time. In overall terms, more neighbourhoodsexperienced an increase in poverty, than adecrease, during this period (2006-09).

‘In-work’ poverty has decreased in the majorityof neighbourhoods; however ‘out-of-work’poverty has risen, demonstrating thatworklessness remains a significant challenge forthe City Region.

At greater risk of child poverty Some groups in society are over-representedamongst families in poverty. However, themajority of these groups are not revealed in the overall official HMRC child poverty figures.The following section highlights some of the risk factors associated with poverty and poor life chances98:

Population Groups • Children in one parent families

• Children in black and minority ethnicfamilies

• Children in families with a disabledmember

• Children with disabilities

• Children in large families

• Young people leaving care

• Young people who have been involved inthe criminal justice system

• Children who have a parent in prison

• Traveller and Gypsy Children

• Asylum seeker families

• Children of teenage parents

Geographical Areas

• Children growing up in areas with highconcentrations of social housing

• 10% most deprived LSOAs

People and families are multi-dimensional andmay experience multiple risk factors, this canmake it all the more difficult to escape povertyand achieve positive outcomes. In line with early intervention and prevention principles, wewill target our approaches towards those whoare in poverty and are also at risk of povertyand disadvantage.

Social and economicdeprivation Poverty is of course broader than incomedeprivation, it is also connected to wider issuesof child and family wellbeing. Social classificationdata such as ACORN (A Classification OfResidential Neighbourhoods) can be used tomodel general social and economic wellbeing,rather than poverty in its simplest form.

ACORN analysis suggests economic and socialdeprivation is widespread across the City Region,almost one in three households can becategorised as ‘Hard Pressed’. There areparticularly high concentrations of thesehouseholds in Knowsley and Liverpool. ‘HardPressed’ parents will typically face limitedopportunities to improve their circumstances astheir qualifications and skills are likely to be low.

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98 Child Poverty Action Group. Policy Brief: At Greatest Risk of Poverty. Available at: http://www.childpovertytoolkit.org.uk/At-Greatest-Risk-of-Child-Poverty [retrieved 13 September 2011]; DWP and DfE, 2011. National Child Poverty Strategy: A New Approach to Child Poverty: Tackling the Causesof Disadvantage and Transforming Families’ Lives. London: DWP and DfE

Drivers of the crossgenerational cycle of povertyThe following diagram attempts to capture some of the main drivers of poverty and lifechances in the City Region, and illustrate howthese operate in a cycle that can lead to cross-generational poverty. It is not inevitablethat disadvantage in Foundation Years will lead tolower income, or less wellbeing in later life, butwithout the right interventions it is more likely.

The gap between theCity Region and theNational AverageA great deal of data is available that has somebearing on the current state of the CityRegion in terms of poverty and life chances. The essential message, however, relates to thegap between the City Region and the nationalaverage. The following table simplifies some ofthe data to illustrate the percentage differenceon a number of the most critical indicators. The significant gaps in some of the FoundationYears indicators such as breastfeeding are most notable.

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Figure 6 - An illustration of the drivers of the cross-generational cycle of child and family poverty

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Drivers ofoutcomes Indicator % Gap Commentary

Pregnancy Teen 11.6% worse Babies of teenage mothers often experienceconceptions poorer health outcomes and suffer

developmental disadvantage

Birth Low birth weight 5.6% worse Babies of a low birth weight are most at risk of dying young or suffering health related problems

Infant mortality 2.1% worse Children in deprived families are twice as likely to die at birth or infancy, compared to children in richer families

Breastfeeding 28.8% worse Breastfeeding promotes health and prevents disease in both the short and long term, for both infant and mother

5 years Tooth decay 37.4% worse Tooth decay levels tend to be much higher amongst children from disadvantaged backgrounds, making it strongly associated with social deprivation

Obesity Primary 16.3% worse An overweight or obese child is at greater risk Reception of developing ill-health now or in the future

Primary years Obesity Primary 16.9% worse As aboveYr 6

Secondary Attainment at 7.4% worse Success in acquiring formal qualifications years Key Stage 4 bolsters children's self-esteem, and enhances

development of self-identity

Transition to Achievement at 18.6% worse Young people who have grown up in poverty adulthood 19 years old start their adult life at a distinct disadvantage

in the labour market

Young people 20% worse Those who progress to higher education are age 15 from FSM more likely to secure well paid employmentbackgrounds whoprogress toHigher Education

NEET 27.8% worse NEET is a major predictor of unemployment, low income and poor mental health in later life

Figure 7 - The gap between the City Region and the national average on several key life chancesindicators

The National Context The commitment to tackling child and familypoverty and improving life chances has cross-party support. The CoalitionGovernment’s approach builds on work of theprevious Labour Government which concludedwith the Child Poverty Act 2010.

Child Poverty Act 2010This landmark legislation enshrines in law theGovernment’s pledge to eradicate child povertyby 2020. It also requires the government topublish a national strategy every three years tomeet child poverty targets and report annuallyon progress (Annex 2 outlines the national childpoverty targets). The Act also places a numberof statutory duties on local authorities and otherlocal delivery partners to work together totackle child poverty. Specific duties include:

• Completion of a local Child PovertyNeeds Assessment

• Development of a partnership wide localChild Poverty Strategy

• Establishing arrangements to promote co-operation between local partners tomitigate the effects of child poverty

Independent Reviews In the Coalition Government’s first months inoffice in 2010, it commissioned the Field andAllen reviews to inform its thinking about childand family poverty and approaches to tackle it.These are considered here along with othersthat are important.

The Foundation Years: Preventing PoorChildren Becoming Poor Adults(December 2010, Frank Field) “We have found overwhelming evidence thatchildren’s life chances are most heavilypredicated on their development in the firstfive years of life. It is family background,parental education, good parenting and theopportunities for learning and developmentin those crucial years that together mattermore to children than money”.

The Field review concluded that the UK needsto address poverty in a fundamentally differentway to make real change to children’s lifechances as adults. The central recommendationsfrom the review have been welcomed bygovernment, which involve:

• Establishing life chances indicators tomeasure equality in life outcomes for allchildren

• National and local government to givegreater prominence to the earliest years,establishing the ‘Foundation Years’(pregnancy to age five) as equal status andimportance as primary and secondaryschool years

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4. Policy Background

Early Intervention: The Next Steps(January 2011, Graham Allen)“Early Intervention is an approach whichoffers our country a real opportunity tomake lasting improvements in the lives of ourchildren, to forestall many persistent socialproblems and end their transmission fromone generation to the next, and to makelong-term savings in public spending.”

Allen calls for all political parties to make a long-term commitment to Early Intervention toprovide children with the essential social andemotional security they need to realise their full potential. Allen goes on to suggest thatdespite its merits, the provision of successfulevidence-based Early Intervention programmesremains persistently patchy and is hindered byinstitutional and financial obstacles. He makes anumber of recommendations to encourage theroll out and adoption of proven cost effectiveearly intervention programmes. A second reportwas published in July 2011, which challenged HMTreasury to gradually rebalance Governmentspending towards early intervention in the nextcomprehensive spending review and establish afund that will raise £200m from privateinvestors.

Review of the Early Years FoundationStage (March 2011, Dame Clare Tickell)The Early Years Foundation Stage was welcomedby practitioners when it was implemented in2008 with the intention of providing aframework to deliver consistent and high qualityenvironments for all children in pre-schoolsettings, recognising the importance of thisperiod in a child’s life. This reviewrecommended a reduction of the learning goals,the provision of more consistent information toparents and raising the profile and skills levels ofpeople working within the sector.

Fair Society, Healthy Lives (February2010, Sir Michael Marmot)The Marmot Review into health inequalities inEngland was published on 11 February 2010. It suggests reducing health inequalities are amatter of social justice and proposes a widerapproach than purely health to close the healthinequality gap. To improve health for all of us

and to reduce unfair and unjust inequalities inhealth, relevant action is needed across allgroups in an approach described asproportionate universalism.

Health and Social Care Bill (2011)The Government’s proposals build on previousinitiatives - GP fundholding in the 1990s andpractice-based commissioning in the last decade- which enabled groups of GPs to take onresponsibility for commissioning some serviceson a voluntary basis. However, they go muchfurther by making membership of GP consortiacompulsory and giving them full budgetaryresponsibility for commissioning the majority ofservices. The Bill goes much further thanprevious reforms in applying market-basedprinciples to the provision of health care. Theaim is to increase diversity of supply, promotecompetition, and increase choice for patients.

The Bill extends the role of local authorities inthe health system by creating Health andWellbeing Boards and giving them responsibilityfor public health. The aim is to strengthendemocratic legitimacy and ensure thatcommissioning is joined up across the NHS,social care and public health.

The National Child Poverty Strategy A New Approach to Child Poverty:Tackling the Causes of Disadvantageand Transforming Families’ Lives

The first national child poverty strategy waslaunched in April 2011, it forms theGovernment’s response to the Allen and Fieldreview and provides a framework for endingchild poverty by 2020. It centres on tackling thecauses of poverty, not the symptoms. It entails astrong focus on:

• Supporting Families to achieve FinancialIndependence - Ensuring that families whoare in work are supported to workthemselves out of poverty, families whoare unable to work are not entrenched inpersistent poverty, and that those who canwork but are not, are provided withservices that will address their particularneeds and help them overcome tobarriers

46

• Supporting Family Life and Children’s LifeChances - Intervening early to improvethe development and attainment ofdisadvantaged children and young peoplethroughout their progression to adulthood

• The role of Place and Transforming Lives -Increasing emphasis on places anddelivering services as close to the family aspossible, by empowering local partnersand ensuring that local diversity can berecognised and developing strong localaccountability frameworks

The Child Poverty Strategy was launchedalongside the Government’s Social MobilityStrategy; ‘Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers’. The strategies bring together the government’ssocial policy interventions. The Governmentasserts that ongoing progress in delivering socialjustice and supporting social mobility is essentialfor transforming families’ lives, improving lifechances and ultimately ending child poverty. A Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commissionwill be launched to further align these agendas.The Commission’s role will be to monitorprogress against a range of indicators and reportits findings to Parliament.

Wider policy context The National Child Poverty Strategy is also setagainst the backdrop of a challenging SpendingReview. The Government has made it clear thatits central priority is to reduce the financialdeficit and has launched a programme of taxincreases, welfare reforms and public spendingreductions. In total, £81 billion has been cutfrom public sector spending over four years. For Local Authorities nationally, this means a28% reduction in funding which will affect theservices that are delivered to children andfamilies. This is expected to have adisproportionate impact on areas with higherlevels of deprivation such as the Liverpool CityRegion: the latest estimates suggest that the CityRegion could lose up to 40% of funding in theSpending Review period.

The localisation of Business Rates willdisproportionally affect lower tax baseauthorities and their ability to grow their taxbase to fund services, especially across theLiverpool City Region. Furthermore, over theyears the links between funding and relativeneeds will become more disparate. There isplanned to be a 10% national cut of £5bn ofCouncil Tax benefit to be made in 2013-14,which is circa £16m for the Liverpool CityRegion at current levels of uptake. Authoritieswill need to decide their local criteria to makethe 10% cuts or absorb the benefit reductionwithin current resources.

According to Government reports the SpendingReview will have no measurable impact onprogress towards meeting its child povertytargets over the next two years. Howeveranalysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS),suggests that families with children will be hithardest by the reforms99.

Within this tightening fiscal environment, acollective approach through the City RegionChild Poverty and Life Chances Commission can help partners to maximise the impact oflimited resources by aligning efforts undercommon goals and sharing knowledge andeffective practice.

Welfare reformThe Government has an ambitious programmeof welfare reform across a number of majorareas. The centrepiece of this is the introductionof Universal Credit100 which seeks to streamlinea range of different welfare benefits into oneoverall payment. This is due to be introduced inOctober 2013, and is designed to ensure thatchoosing to work always pays. There remainsignificant challenges in implementing this reform, not least of which being to fullyunderstand the impact it will have on thesupport provided to families: this detail isinevitably still being worked through.

4799 Spending Review 2010. Institute for Fiscal Studies 100 DWP, 2010. Universal Credit: Welfare that Works. London: DWP

There are other more immediate changes towelfare benefits brought in as part of theGovernment’s desire to reduce the deficit, whichis balanced with a clear focus to support peopleinto work. These include reductions to childcareelement of Working Families Tax Credit, a freezein the rate of Child Benefit and reductions in theamount of Local Housing Allowance. These arephased over the lifetime of the ComprehensiveSpending Review and their impact will need tobe closely monitored.

City Region policycontext City Region Local Authorities have a strong trackrecord of working together in partnership onshared strategic priorities and have signed up tothe long term vision “to establish our status as athriving international City Region by 2030”.

City Region partners recognise that failure tobreak the intergenerational transmission ofpoverty will mean that many children growingup in poverty today will become parents ofchildren in poverty tomorrow and underminethese long-term objectives. The Liverpool CityRegion Cabinet identified child and familypoverty as a priority and commissioned thedevelopment of a Child and Family PovertyFramework to join up effort to reduce child andfamily poverty across the City Region, bothstrategically and in terms of delivery.

Key elements of the framework include the CityRegion Child and Family Poverty NeedsAssessment, the establishment of the ChildPoverty and Life Chances Commission and thisCity Region Child Poverty and Life ChancesStrategy.

The City Region Child Poverty and LifeChances Commission

The Child Poverty and Life ChancesCommission first met in January 2011. Its purpose is to advise the City Region Cabineton approaches to tackling poverty and make

recommendations for their approval. TheCommission utilises the skills and expertise ofleaders from a range of fields to find practicalways to overcome challenges that transcendlocal authority boundaries or are commonacross a number of areas.

The Commission is chaired by Frank Field,Labour MP for Birkenhead and leader of theNational Independent Review of Poverty. Othermembership includes Councillors, academics andrepresentatives from voluntary, community,private and public sectors. This arrangementhelps to ensure that all local authorities have arepresentative to raise issues and communicatekey messages; there are also thematic linkageswith Local Strategic Partnerships through thepresence of health, police and transport. For thefull list of members and terms of reference referto Annex 3.

The Commission has considered a range ofevidence to formulate the first Child Povertyand Life Chances Strategy for the City Region. Itfocuses on the areas that the Commissionbelieve it can make the biggest difference totackling child and family poverty using the CityRegion arrangements. The Strategy is not astand alone document it complements localchild poverty strategies and also supports, andwill be supported by, other key City RegionStrategies, including:

• The City Region Employment and SkillsStrategy (2010)

• The City Region Apprenticeship Strategy(2011)

• Merseyside Local Transport Plan 3 (LTP3)and Halton LTP3101

• Liverpool City Region Economic GrowthSector Plans (2010, 2011)

Annex 4 illustrates the interdependenciesbetween the City Region Child Poverty and LifeChances Strategy and supporting documents.

48101 Merseyside LTP3 and Halton LTP3 are separate documents; however they have been prepared jointly to ensure that they are consistent and

supportive of respective transport needs

LeadershipThe Liverpool City Region Child Poverty andLife Chances Commission will oversee thesuccessful implementation of this Strategy andreport progress periodically to the City RegionCabinet. The Commission will receiveoperational support from officers through theLiverpool City Region Child Poverty Advisory Group.

Implementation The success of this strategy depends onindividuals, groups and organisations to deliverchange on the ground. Most supporting actionswill already be in local partner delivery plans, butsome will need to be revisited. This strategy asksthat organisations consider their approach in anumber of areas and refine or revise this. As mentioned earlier, a large number of littlechanges will make a significant impact on thelives of children and young people across theCity Region. This section sets out some of thekey roles for a number of groups and individuals.

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5. Delivery of the Strategy


Parents • To set learning culture within the home and positive attitude towards school and education

• To ensure secure attachment with all children and young people

Schools • To pilot a school readiness assessment, working with the University of Cambridge

• To report on how Pupil Premium funding is being used to benefit the most disadvantaged pupils in individual schools

• To report annually on the attainment gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and all children at ages 5, 11 and 16 in individual schools

• To reflect the importance of parenting in all subjects in the secondary curriculum

• To assess the impact of performance at secondary school by reporting on the numbers of school leavers not in education, employment and training

• To pilot a programme on data sharing between primary and secondary schools to ensure pupils’ transitions to schools take place effectively

• To appoint a lead Governor for life chances

Health providers • To increase immunisation rates for all children and young people • To report on the 6 best projects undertaken to improve the health of

children in each Council area• To work with Government, GP Commissioning Consortia and Primary

Care Trusts to increase the number of midwives and health visitors in the City Region

• To ensure those working with children and young people understand the emotional and social development of children and young peopl

Employers • To establish a working party through the Employer Coalition to report within one year on the implementation of a living wage throughout the City Region and to develop a business case for adopting a more flexible approach to employment

50


Councils • To use all contact with parents to support them as parents to achieve strong attachment with their children

• To report on the numbers of children individual Sure Start Children’s Centres have contact with within their catchment area and to explain and justify the range of activities they undertake

• To report on the 6 more effective practices in the six local authorities aimed at raising aspirations of children and similarly to report on the 6 most effective projects they undertake in supporting parents

• To introduce a 50p minimum unit price and bylaw to reduce alcohol related harm

• To facilitate a City Region review into utilities companies and their approach to offering tariffs

• To encourage adults into informal learning to support their parenting development

• To consider implementing supplementary planning guidance on take away provision around schools

• To report on the scope and effectiveness of benefit take up campaigns and to promote the effective practice

Housing • To increase the use of credit unions facilities by Housing Association residents

• To work with Councils and locally based groups to proactively mitigate the impact of the forthcoming welfare reforms

• To maintain housing standards within a rent framework that remains affordable for low income households

Credit Unions • To work with partners to promote services and encourage take-up

JobCentre Plus • To monitor the targets the government has set for the Work Programme private sector providers in placing unemployed claimants in to work

• To ensure that Jobcentre Plus and other welfare to work provision focuses on the needs of parents, particularly those with multiple needs

• To work with employers to promote the benefits of flexible working

Early Years providers • To promote Work Clubs within nursery settings and Children’s Centres to support parents in the journey back to work

• To gather and share information on the level of engagement with the poorest families

Police • To maintain a comprehensive and multi agency approach to tackle anti-social behaviour

• To encourage partners to prioritise neighbourhoods that have a Stronger Communities Initiative (SCI) to test out projects that aim to raise aspirations

Transport • To pilot a cycle hire scheme within the City Region• To provide travel advice to those seeking work• To deliver Sustainable Transport schemes to ensure that parents can

get to work and education locations• To share best practice on improving road safety across the City Region

Community groups • To support those with children and young people to be effective parents including running quality parenting courses

• To raise profile and importance of involvement in early language development

National Government • To change the incentives structure for immunisations • To assess whether the readiness for school index can be used as part

of payment by results for Children’s Centres• To support and then adopt the work on the healthy development

check • To consider changes to the Tax Credits system to better reflect the

needs and aspirations of families

Figure 8 - Key actions for strategy delivery partners

Delivery planningIn addition a number of overarching deliveryplans are being developed for the strategicprojects outlined in this strategy to helpcoordinate efforts and ensure that progress ismade. The delivery planning process beganduring the summer 2011 with a series of wellattended partner workshops. Each plan willidentify a strategic owner (this may be amember of the Commission or a senior leaderin the City Region), inputs, timescales andoutcomes.

Impact We have agreed a suite of high level indicators to monitor the impact of this strategy and the effectiveness of our deliveryplans. Where possible, we have identifiedmeasures that are monitored through existingprocesses, however there are some gaps wherewe will need to develop new meaningfulindicators; full details are provided in Annex 5.

Cost effectiveness This strategy has been developed at a time ofmajor and ongoing financial reductions; manypublic and third sector organisations are underincreasing pressures to find ways of working thatare not just efficient at reducing costs, but alsoare effective in reducing the demand and needfor services. We will support partners to deliverthe best possible outcomes at low cost byemploying an evaluation framework to monitorstrategic projects, promoting early interventionapproaches where they are beneficial andevidenced, and we will also test out a costbenefit analysis model to inform the futuredeployment of scarce resources.

Arrangements for review This strategy will run until the national 2020deadline to eradicate child poverty. We willhowever refresh the strategy every three years,to ensure that we remain focused on presentneeds as identified by complementary CityRegion Child and Family Poverty NeedsAssessment. Progress against strategy deliveryplans and performance measures will bereported by the Child Poverty and Life ChancesCommission to the City Region Cabinet on anannual basis.

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Centre for Social Justice

Cheshire and Merseyside Partnerships forHealth

Demos

Forum Housing Wirral

Fun 4 Kidz

Halton Borough Council

Heart of Mersey

Homestart Wirral

Institute for Public Policy Research

Jobcentre Plus

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Liverpool City Council

Liverpool City Region Children’s ServicesDirectors Group

Merseyside Police

Merseyside Road Safety Partnership

Merseytravel

NHS Halton and St Helens

NHS Knowsley

NHS Liverpool

NHS Wirral

One Vision Housing

Plus Dane Group

Rainhill Community Nursery

Reform

Resolution Foundation

Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council

Skills Funding Agency

St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council

The Child Poverty Unit

Trades Union Congress

Tranmere Community Project

University of Durham

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Wirral GP Commissioning Consortium

This strategy draws on research and expertise from a number of groups and organisations. We wouldlike to thank all those who have supported this work from across the City Region and wider, namely:

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Acknowledgements

53

A wide range of child poverty consultation andengagement exercises have taken place acrossthe City Region to better understand the natureof poverty and how it can be successfullyeliminated. Some of these exercises have beencommissioned by the City Region Cabinet;others have been led by local partners. This listdetails the events and exercises that haveinformed the development of the City RegionChild Poverty and Life Chances strategy.

‘A Brighter Future’ partner consultation eventsOver the summer of 2010, formal consultationevents were held in each of the six localauthority areas to gain an insight into theperceived barriers and opportunities to tacklingpoverty locally and across the City Region.Events were attended by Councillors and localservice delivery partners including those in:health, economic regeneration, financial services,welfare to work, housing, education and training,cultural services and transport.

Halton Neighbourhood ManagementEmployment focus groupEight focus groups were carried out withunemployed residents across Halton to gatherqualitative data on their knowledge andexperiences of the New Deal Programme,where they go for support in finding work, theirperceived barriers to working and factors thatwould encourage them to work.

Knowsley Child Poverty Consultationwith children and families (YoungFoundation) In August 2010, the Young Foundation held aseries of consultation events with residents ofKnowsley to expand the understanding of howchild poverty impacts on children’s lives. Thoseconsulted with include 30 children aged under13, seven teenagers, parents and frontlineservice providers.

Liverpool Lone Parent Employment andSkills Advisers Job Centre Plus (JCP) and Jobs, Education andTraining (JET) employment and skills adviserswere invited to complete a questionnaire on‘Removing the Barriers to Employment’. Theexercise revealed that some recruitment andemployment practices can put parents at adisadvantage in the labour market.

Liverpool Schools Parliament The Schools Parliament highlighted the cost ofpublic transport as a major concern for youngpeople and called a meeting in June 2011 toexpress their views to the Liverpool CityCouncil Children's Trust Partnership Managerand Merseytravel.

Merseytravel disadvantagedcommunity studyThis evidence base report was compiled byMott MacDonald collecting up-to-dateinformation on transport issues facingdisadvantaged communities in Merseyside.

Annex 1

Summary of Consultation Exercises

54

North Kirkby ethnographic research(ESRO) In March 2010, ethnographic research wascarried out by ESRO with 8 different families inthe Kirkby area of Knowsley. The familiesconsisted of five female single households andthree couple households with the average age of30 years. The research provided a qualitativeinsight into the lives of families experiencing orat risk of experiencing poverty in this area,helping to create a deeper and richerunderstanding of the issues facing Knowsleyresidents on a daily basis.

Wirral financial inclusion workshop This consultation event took place in September2010 and was attended by over 70 people froma wide range of private, public and voluntaryorganisations including Job Centre Plus, socialhousing landlords, Merseyside Fire and Rescue,Wirral Council, Wirral Credit Union andVoluntary Community Action Wirral. Thepurpose of the session was to improveunderstanding about the needs of the financiallyexcluded in Wirral and to gather views on howfinancial inclusion could be addressed collectivelyfor the benefit of Wirral residents.

Stockbridge Village ethnographicresearch (ESRO) This ethnographic research undertaken by ESROin 2011 was commissioned by Knowsley Councilto work with families living on the StockbridgeVillage Housing estate in North Huyton. ESROworked with seven families spending at least afull day with each, conducting informal interviewsand engaging in immersive participantobservation research, as well as spendinganother two days on the estate speaking to localresidents and mapping the community.

SureStart HaltonInformation on the SureStart service wasprovided by SureStart staff in Halton and givesan insight into the profile of users, how theservice is communicated, barriers to informationsharing processes between practitioners andinformation on outreach work with thoseclassed as hard to reach.

SureStart Liverpool Liverpool Children’s Services commissioned astudy in May 2011 to measure progress inservice delivery. It involved consultations withlocal families to gain their opinions on theservices provided, develop an understanding oftheir needs and generate ideas and insight onhow to meet these needs. SureStart Staff inLiverpool also provided information on theprofiling of users, communication of services,barriers to information sharing betweenpractitioners and information on outreach workwith those classed as hard to reach.

Wirral Roots and Wings child and family poverty event A consultation workshop was held in June 2011with practitioners and providers in Wirral toexplore what more could be done to reducechild and family poverty. The event was solutionfocused and resulted in practical ideas fortackling poverty which have fed into the strategydevelopment process.

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Defining poverty is complicated and has longbeen the subject of political and academicdebates102. The Child Poverty Act 2010established four national child poverty measuresand targets that focus on the economic andmaterial aspects of poverty.

National Child Poverty targetsRelative poverty - To reduce the proportionof children living in relative low incomehouseholds to less than 10%. Low incomehouseholds have less than 60% the medianincome.

This is the headline measure of poverty; it will beused to assess the government’s progress againstthe 2020 child poverty eradication target. HM Revenue and Customs produces relativepoverty data at a small area level, which allowslocal authorities to compare and monitor childpoverty in their districts. The measure assesseswhether the families with lowest incomes arekeeping pace with the growth of incomes in theeconomy as a whole.

Income and deprivation - To reduce theproportion of children who live in materialdeprivation and have a low income to less than5%. This is a wider measure of living standards.

Persistent Poverty - To reduce theproportion of children that experience longperiods of relative poverty - the target is to beset in regulations by 2015. Households inpersistent poverty have lived in relative povertyfor at least three of the last four years.

Absolute Poverty - To reduce the proportionof children who live in absolute low income toless than 5%. This measures whether the poorest families are seeing their income rise inreal terms.

Supplementary measures introduced by the Child Poverty Strategy In addition to the measures set out in the Act,the Government has adopted a number ofsupplementary indicators as recommended byFrank Field in his independent review. The newmeasures attempt to monitor the impact ofpolicy on the very poorest and also capturebroader life indicators.

Severe Poverty - the proportion of childrenliving in households with income below 50 percent of the median household income who alsoexperience material deprivation.

Family circumstances and children’s lifechances - these 10 additional indicators coverNEET, birth weight, child development,attainment gaps, progress to Higher Education,teenage pregnancy, youth offending and familystructures.

No targets have been set against thesemeasures; instead the Government will judgesuccess by positive directional improvements.This focus on severe poverty in particular is verymuch welcomed.

Annex 2

Defining Poverty

102 Saunders, P. (2009) Poverty of Ambition: Why we need a new approach to tackling child poverty: Policy Exchange. Oakley, M., and O’Brien, N. (2011)Tackling the causes of poverty: Policy Exchange. Niemietz, K. (2011) A new understanding of poverty, Institute of Economic Affairs. Sodha, S., andBradley, W. (2011) 3D Poverty, Demos

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Role and responsibilities of theCommission• To develop an integrated child povertyframework that contributes to increasinglife chances and thereby raise the longerterm economic growth rate of the CityRegion

• To commission data and analysis toidentify the extent of child poverty acrossthe City Region, ensuring consistency andclarity in relation to data and methodology(thus providing the basis thorough whichchild poverty needs assessments can bedeveloped)

• Identify geographical locations and groupsmost at risk/worst affected by childpoverty and the lack of life chances

• Report on a timely basis (to be agreed) tothe City Region Cabinet and LocalPartnerships on progress in the CityRegion towards meeting the child povertyand life chances targets

• To commission, and ensureimplementation of City Region wideprogrammes and projects, to counter childpoverty by addressing life chances

• Evaluate and disseminate examples of bestpractice in order to raise the effectivenessof programmes across the region and setnational benchmarks

• Evaluate and report on the local

effectiveness of national child poverty andlife chances policies

• Identify and test out new approaches toaddressing child poverty and improving lifechances

• Ensure the City Region voice is at theforefront of national and EU wide policydevelopment, highlighting issues withcentral government and other keystakeholders

• Establish linkages between policy andpractice, making collective representationsto Government as appropriate

MembershipThe success of efforts to tackle child povertyand improve life chances will depend largely onstrong leadership and ownership of the agenda.Membership of the Commission should includeleaders with an ability to focus on identifying andworking with key people and influencers acrossthe system that together can bring abouteffective change. Members of the Commissionwill be appointed by the City Region Cabinet. It is envisaged that membership will includesenior level representatives from each of the 6 local authorities and other key stakeholders.

Annex 3

Liverpool City Region Child Poverty andLife Chances Commission Terms ofReference

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ChairAn independent chair will be appointed for aterm of two years.

GovernanceThe Child Poverty and Life ChancesCommission will report progress to City RegionCabinet.

SecretariatThe secretariat for the Commission will beprovided by the City Region Employment andSkills Team, closely supported by a network ofofficers from the Local Authorities.

Membership of the City Region ChildPoverty and Life Chances Commission2011Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Chair

Cllr Mark Dennett, Halton BC

Cllr Graham Wright, Knowsley MBC

Cllr Jane Corbett, Liverpool CC

Cllr Ian Moncur, Sefton MBC

Cllr Eric Smith, St Helens MBC

Cllr Sheila Clarke, Wirral MBC

Neil Scales, Chief Executive and DirectorGeneral, Merseytravel

Dr Diane Grant, Liverpool John MooresUniversity

Alan Manning, TUC Regional Secretary

Helen King, Assistant Chief Constable,Merseyside Police

Frances Street, Chair, NHS Wirral

Dr Dympna Edwards, Director of Public Health,Halton and St Helens

Dr Abhi Mantgani, GP Commissioning Lead,Birkenhead

Debbie Stephens, Chief Executive, fun4kidz

Nick Atkin, Chief Executive, Halton HousingTrust

Bev Morgan, Manager, Homestart Wirral

Jill Quayle, Chief Executive, TranmereCommunity Project

Sheena Ramsey, Chief Executive, Knowsley MBC

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Annex 4

Child Poverty and Life Chances StrategyFramework

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Annex 5

Child Poverty and Life ChancesIndicatorsAction Indicator Description

Aim 1 - Ensure the best possible start in life for children and young people to improve their lifechances

Action 1 School Readiness We will explore opportunities to develop an indicatorSupport effective to provide objective evidence of the effectivenessparenting and drive of Foundation Years Services in ensuring that aimprovements in greater proportion of children are ready for schoolfoundation year’s services Effective parenting We will explore opportunities to develop an indicator

to monitor the take up of parenting classes andassess their impact

Action 2 The achievement gap The gap in achievement between children eligible Enhance children’s at Key Stages 2 and 4 for free school meals and their peers as recorded bysocial and emotional the Department for Educationdevelopment and reduce gaps in Social and emotional We will explore opportunities to develop an indicator educational development to assess the social and emotional development ofachievement children at secondary school

Action 3 Smoking in Women known to be smoking at the time of Promote prevention pregnancy pregnancy as recorded by the Department of and early intervention Healthapproaches to reducehealth inequalities Vaccination and Take up rate of the first dose of the MMR vaccine by

Immunisation 2 years of age, and take up rate of 2 doses of theMMR vaccine by 5 years of age, as recorded by the Health Protection Agency

Prevalence of obesity The prevalence of obesity in children 4-5 years andin children 10-11 years as recorded by the National Child

Measurement Programme

Alcohol-specific Children and young people under 18 submitted to hospital admission hospital for alcohol specific conditions as recorded for under 18s by the Department of Health

Action 4 Children involved in We will explore opportunities to develop an indicator Improve the quality of road traffic collisions to monitor children who are killed or seriously injuredplaces and in a road traffic collision in LSOAs with the highest neighbourhoods and levels of child povertythus minimise the impact of Victimisation Victimisation rates in LSOAs with the highest levels of disadvantage child poverty as measured by Merseyside Police

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Action Indicator Description

Youth offending Youth Offending rates in LSOAs with the highest levels of child poverty as measured by Merseyside Police

Households with The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) Category 1 Hazards is the new risk assessment procedure for residential

properties. A successful reduction in Category 1 hazards can help increase the level of decent homes in both social and private homes

Aim 2 - Maximise Family Income

Action 1 Financial inclusion We will explore opportunities to develop an indicator Improve access to to measure access and use of mainstream financial suitable financial services, as well as levels of financial capability services and support families to make good financial decisions

Action 2 Proportion of children Proportion of children in families in receipt of Optimise employment in poverty out-of-work benefits, or in receipt of tax credits opportunities by where their reported income is less than 60% removing barriers to median income, as measured by HMRCgood quality and sustainable Local measurement We will explore opportunities to draw on local data employment of child poverty sources to develop a measure of child poverty that

provides more frequent and up to date information on income poverty than the existing HMRC data which is two years old at the point of release

Out-of-work benefits The proportion of working age residents claiming out-of-work benefits in LSOAs with the highest levels of child poverty as recorded by the Department for Work and Pensions. This data provides the most up todate picture of unemployment at a small geographical level

Access by public We will measure access to key opportunities and transport, cycle and services - work, education (secondary and post 16), walking healthcare (GP surgery and hospital) and food

stores by public transport, walking and cycling for residents in LSOAs with the highest levels of child poverty using data recorded by Merseytravel and Halton Borough Council

Childcare We will explore opportunities to develop an indicator to track the take up of childcare entitlements in LSOAs with the highest levels of child poverty

Action 3 Proportion of children Proportion of children in families in receipt of out of Support parents to in poverty work benefits, or in receipt of tax credits where their progress in the reported income is less than 60% median income, workplace as measured by HMRC

Qualifications and We will explore opportunities to develop indicatorsskills to monitor the numbers of parents who access work

related training and gain skills and qualifications

LIVERPOOL CITY REGIONwww.liverpoolcitystrategyces.org.uk

T: 0151 443 3405 E: lcr.child&[email protected]

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