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West Lothian Tackling Poverty Strategy

The Community Planning Partnership is committed to addressing poverty and believes that West Lothian should be a place where everyone has the chance of a decent and secure life free of money worries.

The Better Off West Lothian Tackling Poverty Strategy [1MB]  sets out how the Community Planning Partnership aims to address poverty at a local level. Over the five year period from 2023/24 to 2027/28, the strategy aims to:

  • protect people in West Lothian from the worst extremes of poverty, allowing them to meet their basic needs and live comfortably
  • enable and empower people to access opportunities to become financially resilient through maximising income from social security and moving people toward education, employment and training
  • change the mind sets of those who have negative attitudes toward our most vulnerable residents by re-framing how we talk about poverty and increasing understanding to reduce the stigma
  • work collaboratively with partners, and use our collective voice to lobby the Scottish and UK Government to bring about change

Community Planning Partners develop and deliver a range of activities each year designed to work towards these overall aims. These actions are aligned with four key priority areas: 


The strategy is overseen by an  Tackling Poverty Task Force, which monitors progress through a range of performance indicators. These indicators link closely with the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan, West Lothian Community Planning Partnership's long term vision for West Lothian. It sets out the local outcomes the CPP will prioritise and how the CPP will deliver on these. 

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Responsible lenders act in the best interests of the customer by providing clear terms and conditions, making sure credit is affordable and offering support to the borrower if they have difficulty with repayment. If you need to take a loan or buy items on credit, there are different options for affordable credit available from responsible lenders.
Everyone in our society should have access to food. Too many people are trapped in the grip of poverty and find themselves unable to meet one of their most basic needs; food. By working together in West Lothian, we can help individuals to access the right help and support to ensure their needs are met.
Too many families find themselves trapped in the grip of poverty and it can be difficult to find the key to unlocking a more secure financial future. Action is being taken in West Lothian to help families break free of the grip of poverty.
The Anti-Poverty Strategy partners' network works together to regularly share information and updates. This page offers details of upcoming training, events and sources of information to help people experiencing poverty.
Click the image below to navigate through the pages of the latest Tackling Poverty Newsletter
Childcare is expensive and can be a barrier for many parents/carers looking to access sustainable employment. There are a number of government offers that can help support families with their childcare costs.