OneKingston Child Poverty Strategy 2011-2014 Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

KINGSTON CHILD POVERTY PRIORITIES

PRIORITY 1: REDUCE HOUSING RELATED POVERTY to ensure families have sustainable accommodation arrangements and the child’s environment supports them to thrive

We will be successful if we:

Reduce the number of children living in temporary accommodation Increase the stock of social / affordable housing Prioritise families to live in Decent Homes Ensure homes are warmer and easier and cheaper to heat Provide joined up advice on housing

PRIORITY 3: IMPROVE ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS so that more families are in work that pays and have support to progress

We will be successful if we:

Reduce the number of workless households Remove barriers to work, including lack of spoken English, literacy and numeracy skills Provide parent friendly routes back to work including access to volunteering

opportunities Increase opportunities for young people to enter employment Increase take up of training and skills development by parents, targeted at gaps in the

local labour market Ensure parents living in poverty can access quality and affordable childcare

PRIORITY 2: FOCUS ACTION LOCALLY and foster community aspiration and decision-making We will be successful if we:

Enable local services and coordinated actions Achieve local ownership of issues, identification of solutions and socially entrepreneurial

developments. Give children and young people more opportunities to influence decisions about their

local area Promote and support the voluntary and community sector in addressing the needs of

children living in poverty

and foster community aspiration and decision-making

PRIORITY 5: ENABLE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE TO LEAD HEALTHY LIFE STYLES and become healthy parents with healthy children

We will be successful if we: Reduce health inequalities and in mental health Promote good health before and during pregnancy Promote children and parents’ emotional health and well-being Think Lean – more children and families engage in healthy eating and physical activities Further reduce under 18 conceptions and enhance support for teenage parents Reduce substance and alcohol misuse by families living in poverty

PRIORITY 7: RAISE ASPIRATIONS OF THE NEXT GENERATION so that poverty in childhood does not translate into poor experiences and outcomes

We will be successful if we:

Improve children’s attainment levels at all key stages Further narrow attainment gaps for those on free school meals Increase the number of children on FSM who progress to HE, FE or take up

apprenticeships Decrease the number of young people dropping out of education or training at age 17 Enhance children’s positive attitudes to learning and high self esteem Ensure all children have the opportunity to participate in positive activities

PRIORITY 4: MAXIMISE FAMILY INCOME so that financial support is responsive to families’ situations

We will be successful if we: Increase benefit take up Increase take up of free school meal entitlement Enable more families to be financially literate Provide more families with access to information and advice to support them to deal

with personal debt Increase the ability of children and young people to plan and manage their money Tackle in work poverty with partners taking responsibility for own employees

PRIORITY 6: ENSURE Partnership around the family giving every child the best start in life and intervening early

We will be successful if we:

Focus support on families with children 0-5 years living in poverty Intervene early at every stage of a child’s life Ensure that parents who require support in their parenting are able to access

appropriate parenting classes Enhance parenting skills for young people Identify and remove barriers to access for parents whose first language is not English Ensure smooth information sharing arrangements result in clear referral pathways and

access to service Work closely and proactively together to tackle the causes and effects of poverty