Establishing the name, vision and goals

Give us your your views on proposals to change the strategy name, and refresh the vision and goals of our poverty strategy, details of which are outlined below.

Name change

Currently we deliver a Poverty Strategy to help residents avoid falling into, or lift them out of, poverty.

However, benchmarking of other local councils revealed that very few strategies were titled this way. Feedback from partners and members of the Poverty Action Steering Group also highlighted that the word 'poverty' itself can be a barrier to people accessing support. We want the work over the next four years to be more than just poverty and crisis support and create long term, sustainable opportunities for change.

With this in mind we propose renaming the strategy to the 'Financially Resilient Communities Strategy 2026 – 2030.'

Draft vision

The vision of a strategy is crucial. It provides direction and purpose to the strategy and helps to centralise the goals of what the strategy is trying to achieve.

The proposed vision for the 2026-2030 strategy is:

“A County Durham where everyone has the opportunity to thrive through financial security, early support, active participation, strong partnerships, and clear pathways to opportunity."

Suggested strategy goals

To underpin the vision, we are proposing that the strategy should be structured around five core pillars, Prevention, Protection, Pathways, Participation, and Partnerships, which provide a comprehensive framework for action.

These pillars reflect a shift from reactive crisis support to proactive, long-term empowerment, ensuring that residents are not only supported in times of need but are also equipped with the tools, opportunities, and networks to thrive.

In more detail, the five pillars are:

• Prevention - We will reduce the risk of hardship by tackling the causes of financial insecurity early.  The focus of this pillar will be early help, inclusive growth, access to skills, access to services, affordable housing and financial literacy.
• Protection - We will protect people who are in financial crisis by providing the right support at the right time. The focus of this pillar will include crisis services including food and fuel, income maximisation, homelessness/temporary accommodation and safety nets. 
• Pathway - Enable people to move from financial crisis to financial confidence and opportunity 'moving from survive to thrive'. The focus of this pillar will be developing life skills, job skills, volunteering and employability support, adult education and wraparound support for long term aspirations.
• Participation - We will empower residents and communities to shape local financial support solutions and take part in community life. The focus of this pillar will include co-produced initiatives, lived experience, volunteering, social capital and digital inclusion, the Poverty Truth Commission and our Local Network partnerships. 
• Partnerships - We will work collaboratively across sectors to build financially resilient, connected communities. The focus of this pillar will be our VCS partners, health and wellbeing board, housing, schools, data sharing and place-based working, Advice in County Durham and the North East Combined Authority.

The closing date for responses is Monday 23 March 2026.