Category

• Emerging Local Practice

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Poverty impact

• Mitigation
• Reduction
• Awareness

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Poverty driver

• Reduce cost of living
• Provide benefit in-kind (material)
• Provide benefit in-kind (experience)
• Increase income from benefits

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Keywords

• Community Engagement
• Education
• Housing Services
• Research, Data and Evaluation
• Training

Aim

• Improve strategic alignment and readiness for engagement with the Scottish Government.
• Enhance integrated working across services with a focus on child poverty.
• Increase clarity and focus in reporting, particularly in the Local Child Poverty Action Report (LCPAR).
• Strengthen use of data and evidence to inform decision-making.
• Establish stronger governance and accountability through a new child poverty plan.
• Improve practical readiness for funding opportunities through clearly identified priorities and supporting evidence.
• Establishment & development of the Family Prosperity Network.

Summary

'Self-assessment in West Dunbartonshire’ has brought together West Dunbartonshire Council services, the NHS, charities, and community voices through the Family Prosperity Network to tackle child poverty with shared goals and clearer priorities. It has collaborated empirical data with local insights to create a new child poverty plan agreed by all key service delivery partners in the area. Policies and plans across housing, transport, education, and employment have been pooled together to provide a more streamlined support framework. This has brought together resources and allowed the facilitation of collaborating agencies to respond quickly to opportunities through a data informed targeted approach aimed at improving outcomes for families in West Dunbartonshire.

What difference does it make?

• Partners are now co-designing integrated responses through themed workstreams aligned with national targets.
• Lived experience and practitioner insight are being used alongside data to identify root causes and emerging needs.
• Feedback loops will be trialled within services to embed user experience into continuous improvement.
• Fairer futures Partnership activity will test a place-based approach that ensures supports around families in areas of highest need.
• Digital platforms and staff training will be explored to help families move smoothly through support systems.
• A draft outcomes framework aligned with national indicators is being tested and will support the Local Child Poverty Annual Report.
• Feedback mechanisms are being designed to make performance data meaningful and actionable at both service and community levels.
• The Network has established strategic oversight of all child poverty workstreams and ensures actions target income maximisation and cost reduction.
• Members are advocating for local resources and feeding learning into national policy forums.

Key take-aways

• Effective partnership working is crucial to coordinate activity and align services.
• Combining data with lived experiences has the potential to lead to better understanding of the root causes of Poverty.
• Embedding lived experience in governance structures strengthens service design.
• Aligning policies across a diversity of local and government sectors supports holistic family pathways out of poverty.
• Developing shared referral systems can improve service navigation for families and provides service cost effectiveness.

 

Organisations

• West Dunbartonshire Council (including relevant departments such as Children’s Services, Strategic Planning, and Public Health). • Family Prosperity Network Lead Group & Wider Network. Other key local service departments with a focus on: • Community Empowerment, HSPC, Children and Families Integrated Services, Housing Solutions, Money & Debt Advice, Economic Development & Employability, Crisis Support, Voluntary Sector. • The Improvement Service Child Poverty Team.

Location

Throughout West Dunbartonshire.

Contact