Purpose

Being able to have a comfortable, warm
night’s sleep is fundamental to children being able to learn
at school the next day. Bed poverty is one fundamentally linked to
child poverty. Currently more than a quarter of children in the UK
live in poverty; that’s 4.2 million children. Between 2021
and 2022, the number of children in poverty rose by 350,000. A
million children experienced destitution in the UK last year, an
increase of 88% from 2019. Destitution is the most extreme form of
poverty and happens when someone is unable to meet their basic
physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed.
The Safe Space to Sleep programme is a 4 year programme- split
across three separate strands:
1) Deliver a Bed and Bedding for every child who needs it in South
Yorkshire
2) Test and learn: 4 test and learn pilots in Goldthorpe,
Mexborough, Swinton and Gleadless to build a detailed
evidence base of what works at a community level
3) Evaluation: The pilots will enable the MCA and Integrated Care
Partnership to test a different way of working
at a community level as well as delivering improved health outcomes
for CYP in South Yorkshire.
Safe Space to sleep is a project funded by SYMCA to improve
outcomes for families of children under 5 living in poverty. As
part of this programme we were expected to submit a partnership
programme delivery plan detailing how the funds would be used. The
plan has been agreed and signed off by SYMCA and details the use of
some of the funds in this way.

Content

To accept the funds totalling £150,000
from SYMCA per the schedule outlined below:
January 2025 - £37,500
April 2025 - £37,500
April 2026 - £37,500
April 2027 - £37,500
To agree the planned spend, including the amount of £8,400 to
be transferred to Sleep Charity per annum

Alternative options considered

The funds are external funds for the explicit
purpose of the project. Partnerships with other organisations has
been seen as good practice and authorised by SYMCA.