Poverty and public health: taking local action – agenda

Time

Title of talk/session

Speakers

10:30

Welcome

Kevin Fenton, Faculty of Public Health (FPH)

William Roberts, Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH)

Maggie Rae, Royal Society of Medicine (RSM)

10:45

Child poverty: building a healthier future

Session Chair: Kevin Fenton

10:45

Prioritising child poverty – helping Scotland to reach the 2030 child poverty reduction targets

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 set four ambitious income-based targets for Scotland to reduce child poverty by 2030, this included interim targets. This placed a duty on the Scottish Government to develop a series of National Action Plans and for Local Government and NHS Boards to work together to develop and deliver annual Local Child Poverty Action Reports. The Local Action Reports are now in their 7th year, and the third and final National Action Plan is underdevelopment. The UK Government are also working on a UK Child Poverty Strategy.

Recognising the importance of reducing child poverty for improving health and reducing health inequalities, public health have been working locally and nationally to support Scotland achieve these targets. Despite signs of positive change, in March 2025 it was confirmed that despite progress Scotland has missed the interim target.

This presentation will reflect on the contribution public health has made to reducing child poverty in Scotland over the last 8 years and where attention should be focused to help Scotland reach the 2030 targets.

Rachel McAdams,

Public Health Scotland

11:00

Developing a strategy to reduce the impact of child poverty

In this presentation, Hannah will outline how the local Council developed a strategy to reduce the impact of child poverty in Blackburn with Darwen.

Hannah Dean,

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

11:15

The Start for Life Fund (SFLF) – a safer sleeping and home safety intervention for babies and children aged 0-5yrs impacted by poverty

The intervention address’ some specific impacts of poverty on babies and children aged 0-5yrs, where families cannot afford to buy safer sleeping and home safety equipment for their children.

The intervention is evidence based and provides resources families need including cot, mattresses, bed, bedding packs, to promote safer sleeping and stairgate, corner covers, socket covers, TV strap, to promote home safety, all delivered to the family home on the basis of professional referral.

We have worked with Durham University to evaluate the first year of intervention delivery where the SFLF supported 679 families and in total 988 children in County Durham and we will share the finds of our mixed methods quantitative and qualitative evaluation.

Julia Bates,

Durham County Council

Helen Ball,

Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University

11:30

Q&A

Speakers

11:45

Break

12:00

The housing crisis and public health

Session Chair: William Roberts

12:15

Housing and health: Back to the future

This talk will focus on the housing work being done in Wales, as seen through a public health and poverty lens. Gareth Morgan will consider issues like indoor warmth, as well as housing quality, affordability and insecurity.

Gareth Morgan,

Hywel Dda University Health Board

12:30

What role can local and combined authorities play in improving housing in the short term?

During this talk, Abi will share some tangible examples of how local and combined authorities are able to better leverage their immediate power and resources to improve housing conditions locally. This requires working from the top-down and bottom-up, the latter meaning engaging directly with communities impacted by the housing crisis both to understand first-hand the deep impacts it has, but importantly to co-produce solutions via democratic people-led policy making.  

Abi O’Connor,

New Economics Foundation

12:45

Cold Homes, Costly Consequences: Tackling Fuel Poverty for Better Health

Fuel poverty affects millions of households in the UK, worsening health outcomes and straining healthcare systems. This presentation shares details of the Warm Homes, Healthy Futures programme: a nationally coordinated network of local services connecting the dots between health, energy and housing and supporting tens of thousands of people to stay warm, safe, and healthy at home. Led by NEA, the programme presents a model for integrating fuel poverty support into public health strategies, improving energy efficiency, preventing illness, and reducing the burden on health services.

Danielle Butler,

National Energy Action  

13:00

Q&A

Speakers

13:15

Lunch

14:15

The NHS and the Prevention agenda

Session Chair: Maggie Rae

14:15

Shifting from Treatment to Prevention – How can we achieve this and not leave anyone behind!

The current policy in the UK is to make a shift from an ill health population to a healthier one and shift from a focus on treatment to a focus on prevention. This talk will ensure that participants have the latest information about policy and evidence to enable and action these policy shifts.

Maggie Rae, RSM

Justin Varney-Bennett, OHID, DHSC and NHSE

14:30

Mitigating the impact of poverty on health: the role of the NHS and taking action in the patient pathway

Within the Yorkshire and Humber School of Public Health, work has been ongoing to understand and address poverty as public health issue, and the role of the whole health system in the response required. This project specifically explores the unique role and opportunities of NHS providers in this space, presenting a framework for understanding and taking action on the impacts of poverty across the patient pathway, and a practical toolkit of interventions to enable NHS organisations and professionals to take action in their settings.

Rachel Westbourne

NHS Yorkshire & the Humber

14:45

Using the Poverty Proofing© method in maternity care, where childhood poverty is amongst the harshest in the UK

Alongside process mapping of the whole maternity booking pathway with a digital inclusion, health literacy and Poverty Proofing© perspective, feedback and insights were gathered from over 200 clients and staff to propose a series of recommendations to improve access and experience of care. Alongside the local area's collaborative plan, the learning is enabling the development of the NENC action plan to improve standards for access to maternity care.

Becca Scott

NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB

15:00

Q&A

Speakers

15:15

Poverty, health and the health and care system: Awareness, action and advocacy

Over the last few years, The King’s Fund has been developing its interest and activity around poverty and its impact on health and the role of the health and care system in mitigating, reducing and preventing poverty. This session will share some of our findings and reflections, and look to the opportunities and challenges that recent and upcoming policy changes present for the contribution of the health and care sector to poverty and its effects on health, directly and indirectly.

David Buck, Julia Cream

The King’s Fund

15:35

Closing remarks, final Q&A, future actions

Kevin Fenton (FPH)

William Roberts (RSPH)

Maggie Rae (RSM)

16:15

Close