DUDLEY Council is set to launch a new strategy to promote good financial wellbeing and mitigate poverty by addressing the underlying causes.

The move comes amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures affecting Dudley residents and many people across the UK.

The local authority and its partners have acknowledged the link between financial wellbeing and health, noting that poor financial situations can adversely affect an individual's overall wellbeing and that health issues can also lead to financial hardship.

The Financial Wellbeing and Mitigating Poverty Strategy will take a whole system approach with the aim of improving quality of life for residents and alleviating pressure on public services by addressing the root causes of financial hardship and fostering economic resilience and social equity.

It will focus on three key elements: preventing poverty, helping people out of poverty and mitigating the impact of poverty.

Specific activity will include providing further support to babies in their first 1,001 days, improving school readiness and educational achievement for children eligible for free school meals, reducing tooth decay among children and reducing teen pregnancy rates.

The authority and its partners aim to improve people’s skills and employability, including increasing apprenticeship opportunities, improving opportunities for young people not in education, employment, or training and helping people to feel supported to return to work.

The strategy also aims to expand support to help people to claim benefits they are entitled to, provide funding through the Household Support Fund to vulnerable households, explore new ways to help people budget better and work towards long-term financial stability, create a sustainable food partnership which looks beyond emergency provision, reduce furniture poverty by recycling donated items and reducing waste, create a one stop energy advice hub to support with information and issues around fuel poverty.

Councillor James Clinton, Dudley Council's cabinet member for public health, said: “Dudley should be a place where everyone can experience a decent quality of life, including access to essential items, clean and safe housing, healthy food, transport, and a job that pays a living wage.

“We know issues around poverty and health and wellbeing are all intertwined. There is not one single solution to this, which is why we’ve produced this muliti-agency strategy. By working across sectors and partnerships we hope to create a way of supporting and empowering people to develop economic resilience and help them feel independent and yet supported.”