End Poverty Pledge for Organisations

Can you and your team take the pledge?

Public agencies and charities are often the first point of contact for people experiencing financial hardship.

The way you deliver services makes a big difference to whether people can engage with them and get the support they need to survive a crisis and move out of poverty.

We are encouraging local organisations to implement the pledge by taking actions that demonstrate a commitment to working towards a poverty-free Surrey. We suggest that organisations choose at least ONE action in each of the key themes

Leadership: Providing strong and visible organisational leadership to improve the lives of people in financial hardship and support efforts to reduce poverty across Surrey

  • If you employ your own staff, then consider becoming a Living Wage Employer and think about how you could develop the skills and improve the job security of your employees. More information
  •  Provide training to your staff and volunteers to raise awareness of poverty, so they are better equipped to help those who may be struggling. Here is a staff training video put together by the Poverty Truth Commission in Leeds designed to help service providers with customer interactions.
  • Advocate for  changes to the benefits system by supporting the Trussell Trust and Joseph Rowntree Foundation Essentials Guarantee campaign to ensure the basic rate of Universal Credit is sufficient to cover the cost of essentials like food and household bills.

Culture: Raising awareness and understanding of poverty within your organisation, so that people in financial hardship are treated with dignity and compassion

  • Ensure that everyone is made to feel welcome and that service users are treated with dignity and respect, whatever their financial circumstances.
  • Start by focusing on people’s strengths, not their needs or problems, working with them to offer personalised and holistic support. More information
  • Clearly communicate the full range of support people are entitled to, and make sure they can access this support in different ways.
  • Find out about and signpost or refer people to other local services that may be able to offer additional support, if required. More information or build a relationship with a few local services that are able to offer additional support and understand how best to connect people into these services.

Accountability: Monitoring the impact of your services on those experiencing financial hardship and sharing good practice with other local organisations.

  • Collect and share data on the socio-economic characteristics of your service users and use this as a tool to monitor outcomes for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
  • For larger organisations: conduct meaningful poverty impact assessments to understand the consequences on poverty and inequality of significant new policies and practices. 
  • For smaller organisations: consider the impact of any new projects or initiatives on people in or at risk of poverty, and think about how you could adapt them to better meet their needs.
  • Involve those with a lived experience of poverty in offering feedback on your services and co-producing future strategies and policies. More information

As an organisation, we commit to do what we can to work towards a poverty-free future in Surrey:

We would love to hear from you!

If your organisation has taken the pledge let people know on social media! #EndPovertySurrey

FAQ's

The number of people coming to us for help is growing rapidly, but food banks are not a long-term solution to poverty. We can only end poverty by tackling its root causes. Together we can make a difference, if enough of us commit to doing what we can to reduce the stigma of poverty and improve the lives of those who are experiencing financial hardship.

No, this is not a fundraising campaign. We want you to focus on what actions you can take, as an individual or organisation, to reduce the stigma of poverty and improve the lives of those who experiencing financial hardship.

There are lots of ideas on the website, starting with listening to people’s stories and gaining a better understanding of the issues. We recommend that you start small, and build up from there. Even small changes can make a big difference if enough people join in. Please get in touch with us if you are a local organisation and would like to discuss this further.

No, it is up to you if you want to tell us what actions you are taking to help tackle poverty. But, if you are willing, we would like to share what you are doing, to inspire and encourage others to sign the End Poverty Pledge.

We won’t be checking whether people fulfil their pledges – that is completely up to you. We only ask that you take the End Poverty Pledge seriously and that you do your best to make a difference, as an individual or as an organisation. We cannot change the world alone. But if everyone does something, then together we can make a difference to this community.

Please use social media and any other networks that you are part of to tell others about the End Poverty Pledge and encourage them to join in.

When you sign the pledge, we will send you occasional updates on the campaign, including sharing what other local individuals and organisations are doing to tackle poverty in our community. You can unsubscribe at any time if you wish.

Basic Needs and Access:

Food

Surrey WS Food Strategy

Access

Accessibility – GOV.UK Design System (design-system.service.gov.uk)

Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Digital skills and inclusion – giving everyone access to the digital skills they need – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Digital inclusion – Citizens Online

What we mean by digital inclusion – NHS England Digital

The role of councils in tackling digital exclusion | Local Government Association

 

Warmth

Warm Welcome Venues in Surrey – Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk)

SCC Energy advice digital tool

 

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Equality Act 2010: guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

RaceAndEthnicityTerminologyGuideJune2021.pdf (centreformentalhealth.org.uk)

 

Housing

A Housing Strategy for Surrey.pdf (surreysays.co.uk)

Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care: a plan for adult social care system reform 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

People at the Heart of Care: adult social care reform (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Overview | Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness | Guidance | NICE

Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) delivery: guidance for local authorities in England – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)The impact of homelessness on health: a guide for local authorities | Local Government Association

Income/Benefits/Employment

UK Poverty 2023: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK | JRFDestitution in the UK 2023 | JRF – see recommendations

ACTION plan: How to improve socio-economic progression within the Civil Service – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home – Youth Futures Foundation.

Business Fights Poverty – Collaborations for Social Impact – Business Fights Poverty

Surrey Skills Plan

Money/Energy Advice

Fair4All Finance

Boom Community Bank | Home (boomcb.org.uk)

Lifelong Learning / Economy

Equality of access and outcomes in higher education in England – House of Commons Library (parliament.uk)

Against the odds: achieving greater progress for secondary students facing socio-economic disadvantage – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

National school breakfast club programme – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families Indicators 2023: Data for 2005 to 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Free school meals: guidance for schools and local authorities – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Experiences of poverty and educational disadvantage (summary) (jrf.org.uk)

 

Environment

What are Green Skills? – Business Fights Poverty

Acting on climate and poverty: if we fail on one, we fail on the other – Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment (lse.ac.uk)

PovertyAndClimateChange_72dpi_k.PDF (oecd.org)

 

Communities and Lived Experience

Turnaround: Learning from 60 years of Regeneration Policy

Launching the Lived Experience in Policymaking Guide: Reflections on the principles, behaviours, and mindsets that underpin lived experience work – Policy Lab (blog.gov.uk)

Part 1: introducing recovery, peer support and lived experience initiatives – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Lived-experience-policy-22-1.pdf (mind.org.uk)

 

General

Framing toolkit: Talking about poverty | Joseph Rowntree Foundation (jrf.org.uk)

PSC-Framework-Report-230831-Web.pdf (povertystrategycommission.org.uk)

MEASURING-POVERTY-SUMMARY-REPORT.pdf (socialmetricscommission.org.uk)

Destitution in the UK 2023 | JRF

Government response to the consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

Equality Act 2010 – implementation of section 1, the socio-economic duty

A Practical Guide for Local Authority Implementation of the Socio-Economic Duty in England (justfair.org.uk)

SED-findings-briefing-FINAL-DRAFT-002.pdf (gmpovertyACTION.org)

Socioeconomic Duty Toolkit – Revolving Doors (revolving-doors.org.uk) – for Police and Crime Commissioners

Implementing the Socio-economic Duty: learning from experience | WCPP

Maximising opportunities for health and wellbeing for people and communities experiencing socio-economic disadvantage (nhs.wales)

Supporting documents – Fairer Scotland Duty: guidance for public bodies – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

 

Anchor Institutions

Anchor Institutions And How They Can Affect People’s Health | The King’s Fund (kingsfund.org.uk)

Anchor_institutions_and_small_firms.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

London Anchor Institutions’ Network (anchors.london)

The NHS as an anchor institution (health.org.uk)

NHS England » Anchors and social value

 

Social Value

Social Value Act: information and resources – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What is Social Value? Social value definition and meanings (socialvalueuk.org)

Social value: Achieving community benefits | Local Government Association

#EndPovertySurrey

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Our campaign covers the whole of Surrey