Families First and Healthier, Wealthier Children have helped put almost £3 million in the pockets of struggling families in Renfrewshire in one year.

Families First, which provides households with health and relationship support as well as money and benefits advise, helped 191 families with a total of £1,689,926 worth of support, while Healthier, Wealthier Children generated additional income of £1.16m for families across Renfrewshire between April 2019 and March 2020.

Both initiatives receive funding from our Tackling Poverty Programme, which provides money to projects that are working to reduce child poverty and support struggling families.

The figures were revealed in Renfrewshire’s Local Child Poverty Action Report.

Developed in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, the report highlights the work the council and its partners have been doing to improve the lives of children in poverty in Renfrewshire.

The report has also revealed that the child poverty initiatives have helped to increase the number of Living Wage accredited employers in Renfrewshire to 71.

Renfrewshire’s employability service, Invest in Renfrewshire, has supported 151 clients who are part of a household with dependant children, with 25% of these progressing in to employment and a further 50% still actively working with the service.

The report also highlighted that Renfrewshire’s first participatory budgeting programme allowed over 3,000 young people to vote to fund 40 different charities that will make a difference in the lives of local young people.

At the same time, the Energy Advocacy Service secured £168,000 in ongoing savings and £66,723 in write offs and Warm Home Discounts for Renfrewshire’s most vulnerable citizens.