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University works with Salford City Council on anti-poverty plan

Wednesday 22 February 2017

The University of Salford is working with Salford City Council as part of a new plan to tackle poverty in the city.

Salford is ranked as the 22nd most deprived local authority area in England. Forecasts show that 12,667 Salford children live in low income families – five per cent higher than the national average.

Last week, Salford’s City Mayor and Andy Burnham MP launched a strategy to provide extra support for those in poverty and more help to prevent people from falling into poverty in the first place.

Some of the measures suggested for supporting people in poverty include: improving access to welfare rights and debt advice, working with the Salford Credit Union to increase access to affordable credit and protecting vulnerable residents from the brunt of further cuts to services.

And plans to prevent people getting in poverty include; supporting more people into work, building more low cost rented homes, tackling poor health and encouraging more businesses to pay the UK Living Wage.

The City Mayor has also launched the Salford Anti-Poverty Taskforce, a research collaboration between Salford City Council and the University of Salford which will feed directly into the delivery of Salford’s anti-poverty strategy.

Researchers from the University will talk to families to provide detailed information about the experience of those living in poverty in the city. The Taskforce will also provide the opportunity for students to support the anti-poverty agenda in Salford through undertaking dissertations and placements.

Dr Lisa Scullion, Associate Director of the University’s Sustainable Housing and Urban Studies Unit, who has been supporting the Council to set up the Taskforce said: “Tackling a huge social problem like poverty requires an in-depth understanding of the issues involved, and we will be working to build up a detailed picture of what life is like for those affected and what problems they face on a daily basis.

“The University of Salford has a long history of engagement with the local community in Salford and we are proud to be working closely with Salford City Council to provide the robust data that is needed to create policies which will have the greatest impact possible.”    

City Mayor Paul Dennett said:  “Salford is growing, with significant public and private investment. We need to connect those in low income neighbourhoods to new jobs being created in the city.

“Seven children out of each classroom are classed as living in poverty – but this is not about statistics, there are real lives behind all these numbers. Hearing real stories from real people in poverty is heartbreaking and shows why we need to tackle this important issue.

“To tackle poverty we are providing extra support to the Salford Discretionary Support Scheme to help those experiencing hardship and developing better assessments to tackle homelessness. And strengthening links with the Salford Credit Union will provide easier access for people to get affordable credit.

“Excellent work is taking place with the third sector, faith-based organisations, welfare rights and the debt advice service.  We are also establishing a fair energy deal in the city to get people off prepayment meters and onto the best tariff for themselves. People on prepayment meters spend £7.5million more than people on direct debit payments in Salford. It’s disgusting to think they are being charged so much more for their energy usage.

“This is just the start of our plans as we challenge and influence the government to get a fairer deal for Salford people. Overcoming poverty isn’t a gesture of charity - it is an act of justice."