Call for Sheffield Council to support work of commission on tackling poverty
Sheffield Labour councillors are calling for support for a city commission which is looking at issues of poverty that affect around one in four Sheffielders.
They are urging a meeting of the full city council next Wednesday (October 1) to agree support for the Sheffield Poverty Truth Commission. The commission was set up a year ago and is bringing out an initial report focusing on early years and children, mental health and ‘the system’ in October.
The motion, to be proposed by deputy council leader Coun Fran Belbin and Coun Nabeela Mowlana, says that “around one in four people in Sheffield live in poverty, which is above the national average and includes 24% of children”.
It says that 2023 saw the biggest percentage increase nationally in child poverty since 1982.
The motion states that the commission is part of the Poverty Truth Commission Network, which works on the principle that “nothing about us, without us, is for us”. The network campaigns to ensure that people with lived experience of poverty are central to shaping the solutions.
Community commissioners, who have direct experience of poverty, have been working with civic commissioners drawn from the council, South Yorkshire Police and the health, education and business sectors.
Entrenched
The work also follows on from Sheffield director of public health Greg Fell’s 2024 annual report published in February 2025, which focused on tackling poverty. He said that poverty is “moving in the wrong direction” and is becoming more entrenched.
The motion says that “tackling poverty requires addressing root causes through secure jobs, affordable housing, quality education, and strong health and welfare services” and that “poverty has complex causes and cannot be solved by a single organisation or policy”.
It adds: “Partnership working is essential, with people with lived experience as equal partners.”
The motion welcomes government action including increases in the minimum wage, expanded free childcare, free breakfast clubs and “next year’s expansion of free school meal eligibility lifting 100,000 children out of poverty”.
The motion supports lifting the two-child benefit cap “at the earliest opportunity”. It also says that the government will deliver its own child poverty strategy this autumn.