Pictured above: Jonathan Lees, Managing Director of Good Company with Mark Nuti, SCC Cabinet member for Health and Communities and Co-chair of Surrey’s Health and Wellbeing Board.
Good Company are delighted to share that Surrey County Council have published the Surrey Health and Well-being Board/Surrey Integrated Care Partnership approved Foundation Framework for a Whole System Approach to Poverty | Healthy Surrey, which we were asked to help develop as part of our ongoing partnership with them.
14.3% of children live in relative low-income families in Surrey after housing costs; in Canalside, that figure rises to 35.5% (Health and Wellbeing Strategy Index | Surrey-i)
Mark Nuti, SCC Cabinet Member for Health and Communities and Co-chair of the Board said ‘Surrey is generally thought of as an affluent county but there are many in our communities that are finding it tough in this current financial climate. This framework is both a guide for organisations now and a basic blueprint for our future anti-poverty activities, to ensure no-one is left behind’.
This framework builds on Good Company’s work with the councils, the University of Surrey and the voluntary sector to improve health outcomes to reduce health inequalities for amongst Surrey residents including through our research collaboration with Surrey HDRC.
Good Company is committed to working with local councils to help shape decisions on tackling poverty. This is especially important during the coming year of local government re-organisation, which brings both challenges and opportunities.
Jonathan Lees, Managing Director of Good Company said, “We hope that this framework will provide an invaluable resource for the East Surrey and West Surrey Councils coming into place by early 2027 currently being established. It will help to keep poverty high on the agenda.”
At Good Company, our mission is to see a community free from poverty, where everyone can afford life’s essentials. Over the past 12 months we’ve provided food, essentials and support to over 6,500 people. This is a 37% lower than 2023 and we believe we this can be attributed to the work we’re doing with partners to address the root causes of hardship.
Over the past year it’s also the case that more than 500 people have turned to our foodbank for the very first time. This highlights the ongoing challenges many people in our community continue to face and reminds us that there is still much work to do.
By taking a whole-system approach, we can work together to reduce the need for foodbanks in the long term. By connecting our services, strengthening partnerships, and providing earlier support, we are building a stronger social safety net that helps prevent people from reaching crisis point and ensures they can access the right help when they need it most.
