At the recent Annual General Meeting of Council on Wednesday 24th May, Councillors on Rother District Council voted to adopt the socio-economic duty following an original motion by Councillor Sam Coleman back in September of the previous year.
Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Coleman described the moment as a “step change” for how the Council considers those in socio-economic disadvantage, stating that the Council will be “sending a message to our residents that we care.”
The socio-economic duty is addressed in the Equality Act 2010 and sets out the need for public authorities to consider the effect of their policies and actions on people who are in socio-economic disadvantage as well as actively pursuing an equality of outcome between socio-economic groups.
Seconding the recommendation, Councillor Christine Bayliss highlighted the Duty’s potential benefit in how the Council pursues future regeneration work and linked it back to the Council’s landmark anti-poverty strategy, passed in the previous year following work by the Council’s Anti-Poverty Task and Finish Group.
Councillor Terry Byrne also commented on the adoption of the Duty as a way of “putting the economic wellbeing of our citizens at the heart of all we do”, stating that the priority of the Council should first be “to the benefit of those in socio-economic need.”
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