Category

• Emerging Local Practice

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Poverty impact

• Mitigation
• Awareness

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Poverty driver

• Non-driver - improving quality of life

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Keywords

• Children's Scorecard
• Baseline data
• Lived Experience
• Children
• Priority Families

Aim

The project aims to measure how well Perth & Kinross Council services have responded to feedback from Priority Families to determine what Council services could do differently or better to meet their needs.

Summary

The Children’s Scorecard was developed following research commissioned by Perth and Kinross Council on the lived experience of Priority Families experiencing poverty. The research, which, was conducted by the Poverty Alliance and the Scottish Poverty & Inequality Research Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University gathered information on how poverty impacted the lives of Priority Families and captured their experience as service users. Families were asked what services they needed and what services could do differently or better to meet their needs. The ‘scorecard’ was developed as a means of reporting on progress and improvements that were being delivered as a result. The scorecard identifies areas of accomplishment and areas of challenge across council services.

What difference does it make?

The project provides baseline data to measure impact and holds services to account. The scorecard provides a focal point for discussion with services which centres on what Priority Parents need and want, this enables Services to factor this feedback into their Service Improvement Plans. There is emerging evidence that the scorecard is serving as a ‘catalyst’ to prioritise child poverty and to improve practice in council services. The collection of baseline data has also allowed services to identify areas which need to be tackled e.g., the gender employment rate and pay gap.

Key take-aways

• The scorecard was developed in response to independent research with Priority Families. The scorecard reports on the progress and improvements being delivered because of this feedback from Priority Families. Mental health and wellbeing support, stigma and dignity and crisis support were identified as the three main areas of concern for Priority Families in Perth & Kinross.
• The scorecard utilises the visual of a ‘report card’ to appraise how well council services are progressing in responding to concerns raised by Priority Families.
• The data has been utilised to identify and address gaps in provision and to vire resources to those areas of most importance to Priority Parents.
• The scorecard acts as a ‘catalyst’ to galvanise actions in services and holds services to account for their responses in meeting the needs of priority parents in poverty. The areas where further work is required to meet the needs of Priority Families have been factored into ongoing work plans.
• The Children’s Scorecard has been aligned with the Council’s Service Improvement Planning process and Local Child Poverty Action Report (LCPAR) reporting cycle to provide a deadline and statutory requirement for services to supply data. This approach closes the time lag between gathering and reporting on the performance information.

 

Organisations

Perth & Kinross Council

Location

Perth & Kinross Local Authority Area

Contact