National policy can create the conditions and provide the resources and power for localities and regions to realise their potential in driving down poverty.
Resolve Poverty’s role in national influencing is to work on areas where central government action can enable localities to do more.
This includes:
- Showing leadership and setting direction for localities and regions by creating a national plan for ending poverty. This would create the architecture for strategic and policy responses to poverty to be a priority for every level of government and across all public bodies. Local anti-poverty strategies and effective implementation of the socio-economic duty would be central to this. Resolve Poverty works with other leading organisations as part of the 1ForEquality Campaign, calling on government to enact the socio-economic duty.
- Providing adequate resources to local authorities to deliver effective local welfare provision. We have seen the positive impact additional hardship funding through the Household Support Fund has made to the ability of local authorities and partners to respond to the needs of residents in their areas. Permanent funding from government for this type of support would significantly strengthen the role of localities in fighting poverty and create space and resource for long-term initiatives.
Additionally, Resolve Poverty is part of the End Child Poverty Coalition, along with over 80 other organisations campaigning for an end to child poverty. We also support the Guarantee our Essentials campaign and work closely with the Living Wage Foundation on increasing adoption of the Living Wage.