Addressing the “constant cycle of crisis”

Sarah Clayton and Andy Freeman were able to attend and speak to the Finance and Performance Committee of Sheffield City Council this week, as part of our continued work of embedding the recommendations of the Poverty Truth Commission.

The Committee was having an in-depth look at poverty and its implications and making recommendations to respond with higher crisis payments and improved responses for people in poverty. It heard about the “constant cycle of crisis” that many face and the variety of contributing factors that mean that 46.1 % of children aged 0 to 15 in Sheffield live in income deprived families.

It’s tough to try and summarise poverty in an afternoon but the meeting took seriously what they heard from the Commission, but also from representatives of the Citizens Advice Bureau and Manor and Castle Development Trust.

You can read the two papers submitted to the committee, see a video and read the recommendations at the Council website - Finance and Performance Committee 19 October.

Andy was also interviewed by the Sheffield Star - https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/politics/sheffield-cost-of-living-pressures-leave-families-constant-cycle-of-crisis-9296315