Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Strategy (Draft update)

We know how important it is to give people the power to make the most of their money and their lives, to give people a fair chance and reduce the stress faced by people moving between welfare support and work. An essential part of this is to tackle inequality so people of all ages have a fair chance and receive an income sufficient for healthy living.   

Every Gateshead resident should have a good standard of living, including healthy food, decent housing, and digital services, to meet their essential needs. We know that living in poverty has a significant negative long-term impact on health outcomes including reduced life expectancy and experience of living with ill health earlier in life. 

The action we will take

We will:

• commission and provide advice, information and guidance which is local and meets individuals needs 

• promote the real living wage and agile and flexible working to employers 

• maximise household income, including through take-up of eligible benefits, and improve financial skills to increase financial wellbeing across all age groups including pensioners 

• encourage the availability of Credit Union facilities for all our communities / address the impact of the poverty premium for our vulnerable residents and advocate for change to improve access to finance and provide support to prevent and reduce debt 

• support community-based initiatives and diverse forms of home ownership, that aim to ensure a more sustainable community approach to living 

• advocate for vulnerable people and communities to reduce differences in access to local services, developing a more co-produced approach and enabling delivery through neighbourhood health plans and community based support. 

• embed the socio-economic duty (Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010)  

• address food and fuel insecurity, and its negative impact, for our most vulnerable residents 

We will deliver this through:

• Tackling Poverty Together Partnership Strategy and Action Plan (in development) 

• Gateshead Strategic Partnership 

• North East Combined Authority Child Poverty Strategy  

• North East Combined Authority Child Poverty Reduction Unit 

• Local VCSE organisations 

• Gateshead Food Partnership  

• Fuel Poverty action plan 

• Strategic Housing Board 

We will know we have made a difference when:

• all working age residents receive a living wage that considers the true cost of healthy living 

• reduced need for financial crisis support across our households and families 

• the number of children living in poverty is reduced 

• the number of residents living below the poverty line or in deep poverty is reduced 

• individuals and families are supported to have the best possible financial wellbeing, to access debt and welfare advice, to maximise household income and improve financial management skills