| Income from social security benefits | Baseline 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| P4 - P7 pupils are free school meal registered | 13.4% | 14.4% | 15.3% |
| % of all children living in families have received child tax credit | 14.5% | 14.1% | not available |
| Number on Child Protection Register | 64 | 45 | 36 |
| Working/mixed households with children | 87.4% | 84.6% | not yet available |
| Homeless applications | 653 | 741 | 366 |
Supporting local people in Angus to improve their quality of life by claiming their entitlements has led to a significant outcome over the past 12 months. From this the partners have been able to increase the engagement with local people as trust is built.
Within the Angus Citizens Survey, we asked about access to services with 97% of respondents advising services were easy to get in touch with. This work is being expanded with a pilot project to create a one stop shop for women looking to access services from Women’s Aid to financial support this will be co-produced with local people to ensure it improves access even further.
For 2021/22 a number of actions have been identified to support this work further including:kl
- Family Nurse Partnership
- Families in receipt of Free School Meals received a direct payment for October/December school holidays to supplement the cost of child lunches from the Holiday Food and Fun allocation.
- Mediation and Conflict Resolution service implemented in October 2020 – referral pathway recently revised and awareness raising ongoing to increase referrals.
- Temporary accommodation standards will be reviewed in line with recommendations from Ending Homelessness Together and new statutory requirements.
- Review of the Angus Mental Health and Wellbeing Network to increase coordination of services and therefore support for local people.
- Welfare Rights Service and NHS Tayside Health Visitors - Direct referrals for income maximisation checks and debt advice from NHS Health Visitors will include financial inclusion discussions at 4 interventions points (8 week post-natal/13-15m/27-30m and pre-school).
- Child poverty and financial inclusion training to be delivered by Public Health & Welfare Right Services across pre-birth and early years networks.
- Education & Lifelong Learning - Long Term Pupil Absence Free School Meal Provision - head teachers will refer eligible families (who have a child off on long term absence) for a direct payment/supermarket voucher allocation.
- Raising Awareness - Trauma informed workforce- Staff awareness sessions on language around poverty.
- Recruit a Project Midwife to work closely with Public Health & partners to drive forward activity and service improvement to address Child Poverty in Tayside.
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