CHESHIRE West and Chester Council (CWAC) has come under fire from a family charity due to its lack of a Child Poverty Strategy.

Statistics released by 4Children show that 16 per cent of youngsters in the borough live in poverty and that CWAC has neither adopted the programme, set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010, or put in place a needs assessment.

Across the north west, the charity revealed 52 per cent of local authorities had failed to produce a Child Poverty Strategy, despite high levels of deprivation.

A statement released by 4Children said: “While some areas are performing well in providing children and families with the support they need to escape poverty, a number of areas within the region must substantially improve their performance.”

It added: “Producing a strategy is more than a legal requirement - it indicates that the local authority has taken the necessary first steps towards identifying who is most in need of support, what policies the council can persue to provide that support and which agencies should be involved in providing that support.

“Without a strategy in place, there is no clear indication that the local authoirty has any plans to tackle child poverty in the area whatsoever - and in many cases, a lack of strategy does indicate that poverty reduction is not a priority of the council.”

A CWAC spokesman said: “Addressing child poverty is a key priority for this council.

“It is included in the ground-breaking All Together Better Strategy in which we are taking part in a high profile, national pilot, working with central Government and local public sector partners with the aim of improving public service delivery and addressing key areas of concern such as child poverty.

“It also features in our Sustainable Community Strategy and Health and Wellbeing Strategy following a comprehensive strategic needs assessment which has been the subject of extensive consultation with the public and key stakeholders.”

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