Corporate Scrutiny

8 September 2025

10-year anti-poverty strategy

Summary

1. This report seeks views of Members on the draft 10-year anti-poverty strategy – Tackling Poverty Today and Turning the Tide to Create Lasting Change A Strategy and Strategic Action Plan for addressing Poverty in York 2025-2035 (Annex A).

2. The draft strategy is currently out for consultation, with a closing date of 29 September 2025. Feedback from Members is an integral part of the consultation process to ensure representation from across the city is included in its development.

Background

3. The draft strategy has been developed in partnership between the Council and a number of organisations in the city who focus on poverty and deprivation alleviation.

4. The draft strategy describes the strategic approach the city partners and council will take over the next decade to reduce the number of people experiencing poverty now, and in the future.  It is designed to act as a framework of those aspects’ city partners agree will collectively lead to a greater impact if partners share the same/similar approach.

5. The draft strategy follows the Financial Inclusion Interim Strategy 2023-2025, approved by the Executive Member for Finance and Major Projects in March 2023. 

6. As a 10-year strategy, the draft anti-poverty strategy will set a direction of travel for a significant period. It recognises that much can change during such a length of time although fundamentals around poverty will remain the same.

7. In developing the strategy, it was recognised that a key challenge in poverty reduction is that it is driven by complex issues and national policy that simply cannot be easily remedied. 

8. However, although there are many policies and powers that are outside of the control of local partners, there remains key opportunities that collectively the city can deliver to make life better for many of York’s residents who are experiencing deprivation.  It also recognises that by doing nothing, nothing will change. 

Consultation

9. The draft strategy was developed through engagement with cross-directorate Council officers and through group and individual engagement with representatives from:

a) St Michael le Belfry and One Voice Church Network 

b) Welfare Benefits Unit 

c) York Foodbank 

d) Aviva 

e) Two Ridings Community Foundation

f) Community Furniture Store

g) York CVS

h) Money and Pensions Service 

i) York Carers Centre 

j) North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership

k) Advice York network meeting 

l) Pride of Place anchor institution meeting

10. The University of York and Policy in Practice, an organisation focused on utilising data to reduce poverty, supported work around data insights for the strategy.

11. A council presentation and subsequent discussion at the Resolve Poverty Conference in March 2025 further informed the approach following insight from other local authority attendees including Manchester and Bolton Councils and the North-East Combined Authority. This was followed up with a subsequent roundtable event, hosted by the University of York, with participants from nearby local authorities, such as Bradford, who shared their experience in developing an anti-poverty strategy.

12. The public consultation on the draft strategy went live on 4 August 2025 and will close on 29 September 2025. The draft strategy and accompanying consultation survey are available on City of York Council’s website. Paper copies are available via the York library network. Copies have also been provided to Citizens Advice, York Food Bank and Community Furniture Store.

13. At time of writing, the consultation has received 84 responses.

14. Specific workshops are taking place with interest groups to enable feedback on the strategy. A schedule of currently organised meetings is found in the below table:

Date	Group
Wednesday 13 August	Ageing without Children
Wednesday 3 September	Good Place Network
Wednesday 10th September	Armed Forces Community
Tuesday 16 September	Financial Inclusion Steering Group
Tuesday 23 September	Gypsy & Traveller Working Group
Wednesday 24 September	Pride of Place
Wednesday 24 September	LGBT Forum
Thursday 25 September	York Access Forum tbc

15. Additional meetings will be organised during the consultation period.

16. Following the close of the consultation, responses will be analysed with feedback considered in the development of the final version of the strategy.

Options

17. Members are invited to provide feedback on the draft strategy.

Analysis

18. As a 10-year strategy, the anti-poverty strategy will form a direction of travel for the council and city for a significant period of time. It is therefore crucial that scrutiny has an opportunity to provide feedback.

Council Plan

19. The draft strategy aligns with the 10 Year City Plan 2022-2032, co-designed by city partners, and approved by Council in December 2022. This set a vision for the city, namely that by 2032 York will be a vibrant, prosperous, welcoming and sustainable city, where everyone can share and take pride in it its success.  City Partners identified one of the key actions they would take would be to reduce poverty:   

We will harness the capacity and capability in the city to tackle the causes of poverty. Recognising poverty and deprivation have direct impacts on health inequalities and economic opportunities, actions will focus on food, fuel, housing, financial inclusion and the resilience of the community sector. 

20. The Council Plan 2023-2027, One City for All, recognises the inequalities experienced across the city and set a vision for the council to establish the conditions that would make the city a healthier, fairer, more affordable, more sustainable and more accessible place, where everyone feels valued.   

21. Supporting this vision, the Council Plan Four Core Commitments includes a focus on “affordability”, with Full Council recognising  “lower socio-economic” communities as a protected characteristic, designed to ensure people experiencing deprivation are not inadvertently disadvantaged by council decisions. 

22. The Council Plan also contains a specific action to: “Listen to lived experience to deliver a Cost-of-Living Plan; and together with partners, develop and deliver a 10-year Anti-Poverty Strategy and Plan, including supporting young people and households reduce the cost of heating and energy bills” (p.19). 

23.  Implications

Financial The development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy does not directly incur additional expenditure. The strategy highlights areas where the council is allocating resources into mitigating poverty eg retrofit in council housing.

Human Resources (HR) There are no HR implications contained within this report

Legal There are no legal implications contained within this report

Information Technology (IT) There is a need to ensure that the Council continues digital connectivity work programme across the city/region to maintain and sustain the required levels of interest and investment, given how key access to digital connectivity/technologies is particularly to vulnerable communities and the different angles of helping to address our collective poverty challenges.

Property None, unless the strategy requires use of property assets in the future, in which case resources from Property Services would have to be utilised.

Risk Management

24.  Whilst there are no risks associated with the recommendation of this report, there are broader risks of not producing an anti-poverty strategy for the city – most pressingly, that action to alleviate poverty will not be coordinated at a city-level potentially increasing risk for vulnerable residents and failing to address a key aspect of wider city strategy development.

        Recommendations

25.  Members are asked to provide feedback on the draft 10-year anti-poverty strategy.

Reason: to ensure Member feedback is considered as part of the consultation for the strategy

Contact Details

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Samuel Blyth Head of City Strategy and Corporate Programmes samuel.blyth@york.gov.uk	Pauline Stuchfield Director of Housing and Communities
	Report Approved	ü	Date	27 August 2025
Specialist Implications Officer(s)  None
Wards Affected:					All	ü
For further information please contact the author of the report

Background Papers:

Council Plan 2023-2027, One City for All, Council Plan

Financial Inclusion Interim Strategy 2023-2025, Financial Inclusion Strategy

York 2032 strategic framework, York 2032 strategic framework

Annexes

Annex A– Draft 10-year anti-poverty strategy - Tackling Poverty Today and Turning the Tide to Create Lasting Change A Strategy and Strategic Action Plan for addressing Poverty in York 2025-2035