THE LEADER of the council believes there is no place for poverty in the borough.
Cllr John Halsall, said: “Regardless of whatever statutory benchmark used to analyse poverty levels across the borough, Wokingham is one of the lowest in the country. But that doesn’t mean we’re complacent. It is certainly not okay. Even if one person or one child does not have fair and equal opportunity in our borough, that is one too many. We already have a wide net of support for low income families and are introducing even more. We’ll be discussing our approach to our Anti-Poverty Strategy, which will encompass all of these, at a forthcoming executive meeting.”
Cllr Halsall said: “Wokingham borough is one of the best places to live and work in the UK and as such what poverty we do have, it has no place in the borough.
“We are unswerving in our mission to fight and work with our partners to drive up the living standards and drive out poverty for all our residents.”
Responding to the negative effects of the pandemic, the borough council has worked with partner organisations to launch a range of initiatives.
These include flexible repayment plans for council tax and funding the One front door via Citizens Advice Wokingham.
The council says it will also be introducing Eco-Flex and Green Home Grants schemes to help tackle fuel poverty, and will hire a full-time debt management worker.
A spokesperson from the council said: “The causes and effects of low income are wide ranging and damage standards of living and accessibility to health and wellbeing – in particular mental health and social inclusion.
“Poverty level trends are driven by changes in the employment rate, earnings, benefits and other income such as pensions, and housing costs.
“Although these factors cannot always be influenced locally, and might be restricted by central Government policy, local council knowledge of its residents is crucial knowing where best to target support.
“Depending on which definition of poverty is used – whether based on before or after housing costs are taken into account — Wokingham Borough has consistently been one of the least deprived unitary authority areas in England, ranking least deprived in 2019 Indices of Multiple Deprivation.
“But people and families on low incomes do exist in the borough so the council has a number of measures in place to ensure the borough’s opportunities can be accessed by everyone.”
It comes as research from Loughborough University stated there were 5,649 children in poverty across the borough between 2018/19.
The number is calculated by analysing the number of children living in relative poverty, as researched by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), combined with housing costs.
This would suggest one-in-six children were living in poverty in 2018/19.
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