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| Sheffield's Fairness Commission has its work cut out | Sheffield's Fairness Commission has its work cut out |
| (30 days later) | |
| A fifth of households in Sheffield are living in poverty and the city now has 11 food banks dispensing free food for families struggling to pay for bare essentials. Two years ago, there were just three. | A fifth of households in Sheffield are living in poverty and the city now has 11 food banks dispensing free food for families struggling to pay for bare essentials. Two years ago, there were just three. |
| These are just a couple of the jarring headline findings from Sheffield's Fairness Commission, set up a year ago to examine the 'nature, extent and impact of major inequalities' in Sheffield and to make recommendations about how to address them. | These are just a couple of the jarring headline findings from Sheffield's Fairness Commission, set up a year ago to examine the 'nature, extent and impact of major inequalities' in Sheffield and to make recommendations about how to address them. |
| An 84-page report with 90 recommendations is a weighty contribution, but where to begin? | An 84-page report with 90 recommendations is a weighty contribution, but where to begin? |
| Commissioners – 23 of them, drawn from academia and the public and voluntary sectors – can be forgiven for being daunted by the task. They have spent the past year meeting groups, poring over published research and encouraging submissions from interested parties. | Commissioners – 23 of them, drawn from academia and the public and voluntary sectors – can be forgiven for being daunted by the task. They have spent the past year meeting groups, poring over published research and encouraging submissions from interested parties. |
| The 'nature and extent' of inequality across the city is massive. Around 50,000 people in Sheffield (around a tenth of the city's population) are claiming out-of-work benefits, with 45,000 classed as long-term unemployed. A similar number of households, 42,000, are living in fuel poverty, while nearly half the people in three of Sheffield's inner-city wards – Burngreave, Firth Park and Manor Castle – receive housing benefits. | The 'nature and extent' of inequality across the city is massive. Around 50,000 people in Sheffield (around a tenth of the city's population) are claiming out-of-work benefits, with 45,000 classed as long-term unemployed. A similar number of households, 42,000, are living in fuel poverty, while nearly half the people in three of Sheffield's inner-city wards – Burngreave, Firth Park and Manor Castle – receive housing benefits. |
| There are hidden problems too. The commission reckons there are more than 2,000 under-16s with caring responsibilities. Troublingly, in a majority of cases their schools do not know about their domestic situation. These child carers have an average age of just 12. | There are hidden problems too. The commission reckons there are more than 2,000 under-16s with caring responsibilities. Troublingly, in a majority of cases their schools do not know about their domestic situation. These child carers have an average age of just 12. |
| While lingering economic gloom and public spending cuts are combining to mix-up a lethal cocktail for cities like Sheffield, the roots of the city's various inequalities run deep. The recessions and major industrial job-shedding of the 1980s still casts a pall. Although many of the heavily-industrialised parts of the city have been replaced by business parks and leisure and retail centres, a human cost remains. | While lingering economic gloom and public spending cuts are combining to mix-up a lethal cocktail for cities like Sheffield, the roots of the city's various inequalities run deep. The recessions and major industrial job-shedding of the 1980s still casts a pall. Although many of the heavily-industrialised parts of the city have been replaced by business parks and leisure and retail centres, a human cost remains. |
| Life expectancy – perhaps the most potent measure of inequality - remains stubbornly unequal, with a gap of nine years between men living in the richest and poorest parts of the city, a figure that has improved not a single jot over the past decade. | Life expectancy – perhaps the most potent measure of inequality - remains stubbornly unequal, with a gap of nine years between men living in the richest and poorest parts of the city, a figure that has improved not a single jot over the past decade. |
| It's scarcely better at the other end of the age range. For a city with two big universities, the low number of young Sheffielders from poorer backgrounds going into higher education was long anomalous. | It's scarcely better at the other end of the age range. For a city with two big universities, the low number of young Sheffielders from poorer backgrounds going into higher education was long anomalous. |
| In David Blunkett's Brightside and Hillsborough constituency, the number increased rapidly between 1997/8 and 2008/9, jumping by 159 per cent – one of the biggest rises anywhere in the country. That was then. A mixture of graduate unemployment and the prospect of racking-up tuition fees is likely to stem this advance in future years, putting a lid back on exactly the type of trend that is needed to narrow inequality for people coming from the poorest parts of the city. | In David Blunkett's Brightside and Hillsborough constituency, the number increased rapidly between 1997/8 and 2008/9, jumping by 159 per cent – one of the biggest rises anywhere in the country. That was then. A mixture of graduate unemployment and the prospect of racking-up tuition fees is likely to stem this advance in future years, putting a lid back on exactly the type of trend that is needed to narrow inequality for people coming from the poorest parts of the city. |
| Of course the point of inequality is that the poor 'yin' must have a prosperous 'yang'. The outer suburbs of the city, stretching into the Derbyshire countryside, are a million miles from the bleakest parts of the inner-city. A third of Sheffield's boundary lies in the Peak District National Park, making the 'Steel City' England's greenest too. Yet inequality here also includes the environment. The Tinsley district, adjacent to one of the busiest junctions of the M1, has some of the worst air pollution in the country. | Of course the point of inequality is that the poor 'yin' must have a prosperous 'yang'. The outer suburbs of the city, stretching into the Derbyshire countryside, are a million miles from the bleakest parts of the inner-city. A third of Sheffield's boundary lies in the Peak District National Park, making the 'Steel City' England's greenest too. Yet inequality here also includes the environment. The Tinsley district, adjacent to one of the busiest junctions of the M1, has some of the worst air pollution in the country. |
| If the 1980s recessions represented a crisis for Sheffield's private sector, specifically its manufacturing and steel industries, what is currently happening is much more akin to a crisis of the public sector. Indeed, a wave of council service cuts announced last month, including closure of the iconic Don Valley Stadium, comes as council chiefs are struggling to find £50 million of spending cuts from April, on top of £140 million of cuts they have made since 2010. | If the 1980s recessions represented a crisis for Sheffield's private sector, specifically its manufacturing and steel industries, what is currently happening is much more akin to a crisis of the public sector. Indeed, a wave of council service cuts announced last month, including closure of the iconic Don Valley Stadium, comes as council chiefs are struggling to find £50 million of spending cuts from April, on top of £140 million of cuts they have made since 2010. |
| Even in places like Nick Clegg's Hallam constituency – said to have the highest number of residents with a Phd in the country – cuts at the teaching hospitals and universities mean even the more prosperous middle-class dwellers are starting to feel the pain too. | Even in places like Nick Clegg's Hallam constituency – said to have the highest number of residents with a Phd in the country – cuts at the teaching hospitals and universities mean even the more prosperous middle-class dwellers are starting to feel the pain too. |
| The frustration is palpable. Sheffield's Labour council leader, Julie Dore, says "it is not right that so many people have to bear such hardships in Sheffield today". She wants everyone in the city to "step up to the mark" in a bid to change things and make Sheffield "the fairest city in the country." | The frustration is palpable. Sheffield's Labour council leader, Julie Dore, says "it is not right that so many people have to bear such hardships in Sheffield today". She wants everyone in the city to "step up to the mark" in a bid to change things and make Sheffield "the fairest city in the country." |
| Professor Alan Walker, a social policy expert from Sheffield University who has led the Fairness Commission, says it is "vital" that the city is galvanised behind the report, "otherwise this opportunity will be lost." | Professor Alan Walker, a social policy expert from Sheffield University who has led the Fairness Commission, says it is "vital" that the city is galvanised behind the report, "otherwise this opportunity will be lost." |
| To this end, the council promises to spend £1 million implementing the commission's final report. But with so many ingrained problems the amount feels hopelessly inadequate. | To this end, the council promises to spend £1 million implementing the commission's final report. But with so many ingrained problems the amount feels hopelessly inadequate. |
| Wisely, the emphasis of the report is on investing in preventative measures like better health promotion, encouraging more food banks to open and improving access to credit for poor families. There are also lots of emphatic promises to co-ordinate better between different agencies and the voluntary sector. | Wisely, the emphasis of the report is on investing in preventative measures like better health promotion, encouraging more food banks to open and improving access to credit for poor families. There are also lots of emphatic promises to co-ordinate better between different agencies and the voluntary sector. |
| Aptly, the report was launched at Sheffield Credit Union. Given that between 20,000 and 30,000 Sheffielders are estimated to have turned to payday lenders, doorstep loan companies and even illegal loan sharks over the past couple of years, it provided a fitting setting to discuss one of the many tasks at hand. | Aptly, the report was launched at Sheffield Credit Union. Given that between 20,000 and 30,000 Sheffielders are estimated to have turned to payday lenders, doorstep loan companies and even illegal loan sharks over the past couple of years, it provided a fitting setting to discuss one of the many tasks at hand. |
| Kevin Meagher is a journalist and campaigner based in Sheffield. He Tweets here. | Kevin Meagher is a journalist and campaigner based in Sheffield. He Tweets here. |
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