Portsmouth City Council, led by Tackling Poverty Strategic Coordinator Katy Ricks, has adopted a multi layered, partnership driven approach to reducing poverty and strengthening resilience across the city. This case study outlines the council’s key interventions, collaborative structures, and the challenges they are actively working to overcome.
Overview
Portsmouth City Council, led by Tackling Poverty Strategic Coordinator Katy Ricks, has adopted a multi‑layered, partnership‑driven approach to reducing poverty and strengthening resilience across the city. This case study outlines the council’s key interventions, collaborative structures, and the challenges they are actively working to overcome.
Portsmouth works with a diverse network of statutory, health, and voluntary sector partners to address poverty in a holistic and sustainable way. Their strategy recognises that poverty is multidimensional and that effective support requires coordination, data‑sharing, and community‑based engagement.
Key Actions and Interventions
1. Establishing a Tackling Poverty Partnership Group
To strengthen the city’s strategic response, the council created a formal Tackling Poverty Partnership Group. This provides governance and structure for a collaborative poverty strategy, brings together council departments, health services, and VCSE organisations and improves alignment of services and joint problem‑solving.
2. Delivering Poverty & Neglect Training
Portsmouth delivers multi‑agency training coordinated via the Portsmouth Safeguarding Children’s Board. Training is co‑delivered by the Tackling Poverty Strategic Coordinator, a lead officer in children’s services and a representative from the city’s foodbank.
Impact:
- Raises awareness of how poverty affects families
- Strengthens early identification and intervention
- Builds practitioners’ confidence in addressing sensitive poverty‑related issues
3. Partnering with Money Guiders
Through partnership with the Money and Pensions Service’s Money Guiders programme, Portsmouth ensures that frontline workers - across sectors and including volunteers - are equipped to hold supportive financial conversations, provide accurate, accessible money guidance and better support vulnerable households facing financial strain.
4. Expanding Advice Services Using the Household Support Fund
The council has used the Household Support Fund to increase capacity within local advice services and deliver outreach sessions directly in community settings such as family hubs and food larders. This approach helps reduce barriers to accessing support and meets families where they already are.
5. Increasing Benefit Uptake Through Data‑Driven Campaigns
Portsmouth adopts a targeted approach by using Policy in Practice’s Low Income Family Tracker (LIFT) to identify households likely to be missing out on entitlements. Campaigns include Healthy Start, Free childcare and Free School Meal auto-enrolment. This proactive model helps maximise household income and ensures support reaches families most in need.
6. Strengthening Digital and Telephone Support
The council operates a well-used Cost of Living Hub and helpline, offering:
- Comprehensive information for professionals and residents
- Signposting to support services
- Access to low‑cost and free activities for families—one of the hub’s most frequently visited sections
The hub plays a vital role in keeping households informed and connected to available support.
7. Using the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF)
The council plans to use CRF resources to sustain and scale ongoing poverty‑reduction initiatives and invest in new opportunities emerging from community need. The CRF delivery proposal has been formally presented at Cabinet, reinforcing its strategic importance.
Emerging Challenges and Solutions
Challenge: Data Sharing Across Agencies
A significant barrier identified is the difficulty of sharing data effectively between council teams and VCSE partners.
Impact:
- Households often have to repeat their story multiple times
- Support can be fragmented or duplicated
- Opportunities for early intervention may be missed
Action Taken: Developing Formal Data Sharing Agreements
To address this, the council is working to implement Data Sharing Agreements for:
- The Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF)
- The Low-Income Family Tracker (LIFT)
These agreements aim to improve information flow between services and reduce the burden on families enabling more holistic and timely support.
Portsmouth City Council’s approach demonstrates how coordinated partnerships, data‑driven targeting, accessible community outreach, and investment in workforce capability can collectively drive meaningful progress in tackling poverty. While data sharing remains a challenge, the work underway to address this will strengthen the city’s ability to deliver seamless, person‑centred support.
Portsmouth’s Tackling Poverty update is available online: https://democracy.portsmouth.gov.uk/documents/s59123/Tackling%20Poverty%20update.pdf