A Fairer Future
A Fairer Future engagement is now closed and our strategy is available Our Fairer Future engagement is now closed and our strategy is available here. We are continuing to work on actions to address poverty in Cheshire West and Chester. We know that many people are worried about the rising cost of living. Please see the Council’s website for some useful information Cost of living support (cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk) Engagement on the Fairer Future Strategy Thank you to everyone who took part in our engagement. We have prepared a report that summarises the feedback from this, and other engagement activities, which is available here. We have used this feedback, together with the latest data we have about poverty and hardship, to develop a draft strategy called, ‘A Fairer Future’. The strategy was considered by the Council’s Cabinet on 16th March 2022 and was approved. Information about this meeting can be found here. What you told us has made a significant contribution to our work. The feedback will not only support the Fairer Future strategy, but our work on poverty for years to come. To give a flavour of how your response has shaped the strategy, we have prepared a short table showing how the key messages from the feedback have been reflected in the Fairer Future Strategy. This can be found here. |
Help us build a fairer future, where everyone can afford the essentials
Anyone can find themselves in a situation where they struggle to make ends meet. Events such as bereavement, family breakdown, redundancy, a cut in employment hours, poor health and the rising cost of living can cause financial hardship and other difficulties.
We know there are people in our borough that don’t have enough money to be able to buy the essentials, such as food, heating, housing, transport or to connect digitally. Sometimes this is a temporary situation, sometimes this can be longer term. Some groups of people are more at risk of long-term hardship than others.
In Cheshire West and Chester, we want to make a permanent difference. We want to…
- Take urgent action to tackle the immediate consequences of hardship and poverty
- Listen to the voices of people experiencing financial hardship and poverty
- Transform how we do things to tackle the root causes of poverty.
Please tell us how you think we can all play our part to develop a fairer future for everyone.
The closing date for responses is Sunday 9 January 2022.
Once our engagement exercise is closed, we will collate and summarise all the responses and use them to help us develop our draft Fairer Future Plan, which will be considered by the Council’s Cabinet in March 2022.
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Scenario 1 - Ellie
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this linkYour name is Ellie and you’re 16 years old.
Your Mum is struggling due to mental health issues. She can’t look after you and your younger brother and sister, and your Dad is not around. Your Nana says you can stay with her; however, her flat is very small and there is not enough room for you all.
You decide to stay with a school friend, sleeping on her sofa. Her family is different from yours and you don’t think they would really understand what is going on in your life. You know that your friend’s parents don’t really want you there and don’t want their daughter to ‘hang around’ with you.
You miss your brother and sister, who are staying with Nana, and wish you were all living together. You know money is tight and you worry that they haven’t got the essentials that they need, including food and clothing. You walk to school instead of getting the bus, and normally only have one meal a day to save money. Every day you feel sick with worry.
You’re doing well at school and you really shine in Maths and Science. Your teachers are advising you to stay on to study A’ Levels and consider going to university, but you feel this is just a pipe-dream and you should get a job as soon as possible to support your family.
What would you do next if you were Ellie?
What do we need to do to support Ellie improve her situation?
4 comments
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Scenario 2 - Carlos
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this linkYour name is Carlos and you are 52 years old.
For seventeen years, you worked in a security job but were made redundant about a year and a half ago. You live with your partner who works full time as a care assistant in a care home. Your children have grown up and now have families of their own.
You knew they were laying people off at work and it seemed like just a matter of time before you would lose your job too, so you had been keeping an eye out for other jobs, but there wasn’t much available. You received a small amount of redundancy pay, but it wasn’t enough to cover your car finance or your credit card. It was hard for you to manage with all your bills, and in the end, you had to give your car back to the finance company.
You have been able to claim Universal Credit, but the jobs you can apply for are limited, as you have to rely on public transport or positions that are really close to home. You haven’t had much experience of using computers and you are finding it hard to search and apply for jobs using your phone.
As COVID-19 hit, it has become even more difficult - there don’t seem to be many jobs for someone with your skills. It’s hard to stay positive at times and you feel like you are letting your family down.
What would you do next if you were Carlos?
What do we need to do to support Carlos improve his situation?
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Scenario 3 - Mary
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this linkYour name is Mary and you are 65 years old.
You live with your husband in a small town. You have worked since you left school, apart from a few years while your children were young. However, you retired early due to poor health, after having a stroke four years ago.
You can cope just about ok, but sometimes day-to-day tasks can be hard work and your husband has to do a bit more around the house than he used to.
You are both retired and manage on your pension without any other savings.
The cost of living seems to have gone ‘through the roof’ these days, and sometimes it’s a case of choosing between heating and eating.
You were given vouchers for the local foodbank by the council due to your financial hardship. The first time you went to the foodbank you walked straight past the entrance. You couldn’t bring yourself to go through the door; you never expected to be in this position after working for most of your life. Eventually you went in and it wasn’t as bad as you had expected, everyone was nice, and someone helped you carry a couple of bags of food home. Even though people were supportive, you still feel very depressed about having to use the foodbank; you feel like you’ve been robbed of your dignity and worry about what the future holds.
What would you do next if you were Mary?
What do we need to do to support Mary improve her situation?
4 comments
Who's Listening
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Cheshire West and Chester Council
