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Have Your Say: East Lothian's Poverty Plan
Description
We are inviting you to shape East Lothian's Plan for tackling poverty over the next three years. We promise to listen to what you tell us and shape our activities based on your experiences. We will report back on how what you have said has shaped the plan.
East Lothian Partnership’s plan to tackle poverty focuses on 4 key outcomes that focus on getting more cash in people’s pockets, living in resilient communities that are ready for the future. This includes:
• Good jobs that pay fairly, where we support people to gain the skills and training needed to find and maintain work, in flexible jobs that pay fairly.
• Enough money from benefits, our social security system should provide people with a fair income, but millions of pounds go unclaimed each year. We will support people to claim the income that they are entitled to.
• Cost of living support, daily essentials can be a financial burden that drives people into poverty. We will provide advice and support to those who are struggling with high living costs.
• Climate change ready, climate change will impact vulnerable and low income communities the hardest. We will take preventative action to protect and support these communities.
Additional information
The way we will work will promote these outcomes.
• Making sure that poverty is everybody’s business, and that actions to tackle poverty are part of every service plan. We will make sure that those making budget decisions understand how poverty affects people in East Lothian.
• Working in a way that is stigma- and trauma-informed. We have heard very clearly that stigma is preventing people from reaching out for support. We will make sure that our services are approachable, discreet and offer dignity and choice. We will help our workforce understand the impact of trauma and poverty.
• Working effectively as a partnership, we will build on our existing strong partnership in East Lothian. We will share data, resources and knowledge more effectively, and work towards a collective vision for East Lothian.
This will be underpinned by specific improvements we need to make to our current ways of working. These include actions around our housing, transport, childcare, and economy. It will require changes in the ways we work with people with lived experience of poverty, how we evaluate our projects, share our data and shape our places. It will also shape how we deliver our services, communicate about our work, and advocate for East Lothian residents.
Participating in the community climate action movement should be made accessible to those experiencing poverty.
Improving insulation in homes is something that benefits everyone, reduces costs, and benefits the environment.
Accessibility to things like active and sustainable transport (e.g. via bicycle-borrowing schemes), in addition to incentivising participation in community led climate action, will help us tackle the climate and biodiversity crises while increasing community cohesion and resilience. We all need to work on this together, and those experiencing poverty must be prioritised in a just transition.