The first ever child and family poverty strategy for Nottinghamshire was approved by Notts County Council at its full Council meeting on 22 September 2011.

The new strategy called Building Aspiration: Working together to tackle child and family poverty in Nottinghamshire has been developed jointly with partners and is a new statutory duty on local authorities to help achieve the government goal to eradicate child poverty by 2020.

Each of the partner agencies involved with the strategy has set out a number of pledges to help reduce child poverty within its locality or field of expertise.

These pledges will ensure that the reduction of child and family poverty remains a key priority for each partner.

Leader of Bassetlaw District Council, Councillor Graham Oxby, said “Effectively tackling Child Poverty needs a broad approach. All Council services need to consider their impact on poverty and all agencies need to agree ‘what will work’ - funding is only part of it.

“For instance, the Council will work existing networks in Bassetlaw to provide advice, information and training on personal and household money management. This will focus on focusing on saving, responsible borrowing by avoiding loan sharks and financial literacy.

A1 Housing’s Financial Inclusion Strategy for its tenants is one example. Another is the multi-agency partnership formed by the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, which includes the County and District Council, 2 Shires Credit Union, Nottinghamshire County Welfare, Retford’s The Well Project and Sure Start.

“In addition to the money management and savings support, the Council will maintain its active programme of economic development to encourage new employment opportunities and retain existing jobs within the district.

On the housing front it is already encouraging people to access housing and council tax benefits and guarantees to pay these within 48 hours.

“We’ve also pledged to prevent homelessness by providing a range of housing advice and support and to increase the amount of affordable housing in the District.

“Residents in rural areas haven’t been forgotten and the Council will maintain a network of access points to help people connect with the Council and other service providers for information and support..”