Moving beyond 'one-size-fits-all': why partnership is key to achieving thriving communities
Georgina Hall, Director of Corporate Affairs
| Lidl GB
Efforts to tackle deprivation are often designed nationally but felt locally. Drawing on Lidl GB’s experience in communities across Britain, Georgina Hall argues that stronger partnerships between business, local authorities and charities can ensure growth reaches the places and people that need it most
Community deprivation affects millions across Great Britain. Even in affluent areas, there are often pockets of severe deprivation. Indeed, national statistics from the government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation show that 65 per cent of Local Authority Districts across Great Britain contain at least one neighbourhood ranking in the most deprived 10 per cent.
Behind this statistic are real people facing challenges every day. For many, accessing affordable food, quality education, and secure employment is becoming harder, not easier. The Burnham government is, therefore, right to focus on good growth in every postcode.
With deprivation often being hyper-local, it’s small, grassroots organisations and charities that hold the necessary local insight to drive change. However, research from Neighbourly shows that only 3 per cent of local charities feel that donated support succeeds in serving local needs very well, and over half think efficacy is poor.
National organisations can lack insights into the specific challenges facing individual communities, while local authorities and charities often don’t have the capacity and resources to drive change alone. But by combining local insights with national scale, we have the opportunity to achieve lasting change.
At Lidl, we think a true partnership approach to tackling deprivation could achieve progress on three Government priorities:
- Improved access to affordable, nutritious food through strategic use of the planning system
- Targeted education and skills needs for young people
- Better employment opportunities for the long-term unemployed
First, access to affordable, nutritious food should be treated as an essential part of thriving neighbourhoods. Retailers and local authorities should work together to identify neighbourhoods where choice and access are limited and use planning policy strategically to unlock access to affordable food and local investment.
At Lidl GB, we sit at the heart of communities across the length and breadth of Great Britain. Almost half of our network of more than 1,015 stores serve neighbourhoods experiencing high levels of deprivation. This puts us in a strong position to support the communities that need it the most. But access to healthy and affordable food continues to be a challenge for many.
In partnership with supermarkets, local governments have the opportunity to use the planning system to improve food access, drive local investment and unlock growth. But too often, the planning system hinders rather than enables progress and some of our planning applications now take two years or more until decision. That is two years of local communities missing out on affordable food, local investment and good jobs. Purpose-driven collaboration between the public and private sectors could achieve a more effective and faster planning system that meets the needs of local communities.
Second, as the government develops its approach on devolution, we need to ensure that we’re bringing together the right expertise to solve place-based deprivation, including with regards to education and skills.
This summer, we expanded our Lidl Foodies education programme and, in partnership with the national youth charity OnSide, delivered cooking workshops to hundreds of young people during the school holidays. By using insights from Neighbourly’s Pulse tool we were able to target the workshops in areas of severe deprivation to support the most vulnerable young people with practical knowledge and skills to prepare healthy meals during the holidays. We are championing this type of targeted, hyper-local action with our community investment partner Neighbourly and I am so excited by its potential.
Our experience shows the impact of combining national scale with local insights. As devolution progresses, government should encourage collaboration between local authorities, business and communities to tackle local challenges, including education and skills needs.
Third, governments and large employers should co-create employment schemes that work for businesses, and also deliver real outcomes for local communities.
Given its size and geographical spread, retail provides entry or re-entry jobs for many. This puts us in a unique position to work with government to co-create employment schemes that are easy to implement for businesses and have the desired impact on local unemployment. This summer, Lidl GB launched a new initiative ringfencing interviews for people who have been out of work for at least six months or are being supported back into employment. To deliver the programme, we are working with local employability partners and the Department for Work and Pensions to identify and support candidates through the process. Three months in and we have already hired many successful candidates through the scheme.
Since joining Lidl GB nearly two decades ago, I have witnessed vast growth in both store numbers, and in our community impact. We are deeply committed to reducing food insecurity, improving access to employment, delivering financial support to communities, and supporting children’s health. Going one step further, we recently announced our “Better Futures” target which brings our community programmes together to support five million people across Great Britain by 2030.
The government’s focus on devolution and local growth shows a shared understanding and ambition. Together, we can build a clearer picture of community needs, combine our strengths, and deliver the tailored actions required to help our neighbourhoods thrive.
