The North East Mayor Kim McGuinness will invest £28.6m to tackle child poverty across the region in plans to be approved today.
The Action Plan will drive the most comprehensive and coordinated regional intervention of its kind in England, fulfilling Mayor Kim’s promise to put tackling child poverty at the heart of her mission to make the North East the home of real opportunity.
The plan aligns the impact of mayoral backed programmes with joint commitments from regional partners ensuring every initiative contributes to a unified effort to break the cycle of poverty and create lasting change.
The Action Plan includes:
- Testing a new North East health in pregnancy grant to support expectant mothers in the area on low incomes/in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) with additional costs in their third trimester
- Trialling the expansion of baby boxes filled with essentials like room thermometers, playmats and stimulating books and toys to first-time families in receipt of UC or assessed as benefiting from this support
- Expanding specialist youth provision and access to year-round, low and no cost activities for older young people, including support towards work through pre-apprenticeship training.
- Extension of a scheme which provides young people leaving care with free public transport to age 25, alongside a commitment to extend the Mayor’s £1 fare cap for all young people up to age 21.
Today Mayor Kim pledged the North East Combined Authority she leads would also work with partners in the region on a wider programme of interventions to benefit hard-up families.
This includes a collective commitment with social housing providers to make sure all their customers’ children have their own bed, work with schools and charities to make sure every child has a school uniform, and the creation of a North East Warm Homes Taskforce to make rented homes warmer and cheaper to heat.
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: “Tackling child poverty is my number one priority as Mayor, and today we will agree the biggest action plan of interventions in England as we take-on that challenge.
“We have unacceptable child poverty levels in our region and I can’t stand by and watch a generation be held back by hardship.
“That’s why our work has already started with the pilot of new childcare grants for parents getting back into work and my commitment as Mayor to a £1 flat fare on bus and Metro up to age 21.
“Today we will go much further, leading the way in England with £28.6 million of new projects that will be felt by our children and their parents even before they are born.
“We cannot start early enough to make a difference for our children, which is why we’ll be supporting pregnant mams with a new grant, delivering hundreds more baby boxes and making sure young people have a place to go with year-round free and low-cost activity programmes to inspire and prepare them for skilled apprenticeships and work.”
The Child Poverty Action Plan, backed by £28.6 million of new investment, is set to be agreed by the Cabinet of the North East Combined Authority later today. This investment will deliver new interventions which support families to maximise their incomes, break down the barriers to opportunity that poverty can bring, and create the infrastructure of opportunity, alongside the Combined Authority’s existing programmes in skills, job creation, positive employment, housing and transport all focused around the Mayor’s mission to tackle child poverty.
It is the biggest dedicated programme set out by a strategic authority in England and comes as the Government prepares to set out its own plans to tackle child poverty in the autumn.
Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education and MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, said: “Tackling child poverty is absolutely crucial if we are to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child across every part of our country.
“This task cannot be achieved by national Government alone, and I am proud to see the North East leading the way on addressing this issue at a regional level – driven forward by Mayor Kim McGuinness and her determination to both invest in children and families, and to bring together cross-sector partners in what has to be a collective endeavour.
“Doing this in a way that aligns and will add value to our work at a national level puts the North East Combined Authority area in a great position, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Kim and regional partners on this issue.”
Beth Farhat, Chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said: “Child poverty is not only damaging the development and future prospects of tens of thousands of children, it is holding the whole of the North East back.
“It is so important that this has been grasped by Mayor Kim McGuinness with an action plan that not only recognises the importance of collectively investing more in babies, children and young people, but sets out why this matters to the whole region.”
The Action Plan warns that one in three babies, children and young people – about 120,000 in total - in the North East Combined Authority area are growing up poor with their life chances limited as a result.
It sets out how tackling the problem of child poverty will support the region’s plans for economic growth now and in the long term.
The Action Plan, which will be delivered with partners between 2025 and 2030, is based on extensive engagement and evidence gathering that began with the North East’s first Child Poverty summit which saw Mayor McGuinness bring people from business, education and the voluntary sector with experts in the field to discuss practical solutions.
Learn more about the North East Child Poverty Action Plan and download a copy here.