Earlier this month, we launched a new report Under the Radar looking at the changing picture of poverty and low income in Elmbridge. The report, written by New Economics Foundation, is a culmination of six months of work – analysing data, talking to partners, talking to residents. But we don’t want the work to stop there.

The report gives us an up-to-date picture of poverty and low income in our borough – who is affected, what drives poverty locally, and the challenges of living on a low income in Elmbridge.

Now we have an opportunity to use the information to explore new ways of working, to form new partnerships, and to make sure we are using all our resources as effectively as we can to support our community.

And in all these discussions and this work we must remember why we are doing it. We often talk about ‘cost of living’ but really we’re talking about people. People in our community who will suffer because of what is happening and what will happen.

At our report launch event, we heard from an excellent panel of speakers who brought ideas and experience from their own organisations for ways to innovate and drive change at a local level. It was so useful to hear real examples and to be challenged by the panel to be bold in our response to the report.

We will be sharing updates as we take the recommendations from the report forward, but in the meantime here is a round up of the key points from the interesting and thought-provoking panel discussion.

Jackie Lodge, Chief Executive