Like other Poverty Truth Commissions, Poverty Truth Ilfracombe seeks to discover the answer to the question, ‘what if people who struggled against poverty were involved in making decisions about tackling poverty?’
The commissioners for each Commission comprise two groups of people. Around half of the commissioners are people with a lived experience of the struggle against poverty. The other half are leaders within the town and region. Collectively they work to understand the nature of poverty, what are some of the underlying issues that create poverty and explore creative ways of addressing them.
Our Understanding of Poverty in Ilfracombe
Poverty Truth Ilfracombe Launch Video – September 2024
What is a Poverty Truth Commission?
What is the ‘relational approach’?
Half a Commission are people with personal experience of poverty, we call these ‘Community Commissioners’. They are:
- Adults over 18 years
- Personal experience of struggling against poverty / financial insecurity (see categories below)
- Live or work in the Ilfracombe area
- A willingness, with support, to share experiences of struggling with poverty at a launch event with local/regional civic/business leaders.
- The desire to build relationships with decision makers, and other people experiencing poverty, working closely with them, sharing lived experience and exploring the potential for how to implement positive change
- Able to commit to meeting twice monthly (3.5 hrs). Participants receive a free meal and expenses to attend each session
Recruitment (Oct 2023-Feb 2024)
8-12 ‘Community Commissioners’ were recruited, with direct experience of poverty, who wanted to share their testimonies to help create positive changes within organisations, services, policies and the wider system.
Phase 1 – Prepare (March-Sept 2024)
Community Commissioners met regularly (twice monthly for 3 hours) to get to know each other, explore their experiences and decide what and how they wanted to communicate about poverty to their area. They:
- Shared food together
- Got to know each other and build a supportive group
- Explored ways of communicating experiences of poverty in a safe way
- Worked together to decide which civic/business leaders we need to invite to join the commission and to co-design the launch event
This phase ends with an Opening event in Sept 2024 where Community Commissioners shared their experiences of poverty with civic and business leaders.
Civic leaders were recruited to form the other half of the commission based on the experiences and hopes of the community commissioners.
Phase 2 – Engage, Explore & Experiment (Nov 2024 – Dec 2025)
The full commission was formed (Civic and Community Commissioners) and officially began in Nov 2024. Meeting monthly, the commissioners gathered together to build relationships, create shared understanding about poverty and the system and to identify the themes they would like to address.
March-Oct 2025 – Meeting twice monthly, three themed working groups were formed to explore Housing; Adult education, and employment; Humanising services. One-to-One meetings enable commissioners to encounter and understand each other’s world. Working groups created recommendations and co-designed solutions to implement change.
This phase ended with a ‘celebration and sharing’ event in Dec 2025) to communicate the findings of the commission, including the progress made and wider learning.
Phase 3 – Embed (2026)
Commissioners decided they wanted to continue, finding ways to embed learning into the community and the organisations involved. We want to build on the momentum created by the Commission and continue the work to make further progress.
Based on the Poverty Truth Network’s experience of over 14 years, the ‘Poverty Truth’ way of working has three key distinctives that the Network seeks to harness. All three are inter-related and combine to form the approach.
- Poverty Truth starts with the direct experience of people who know what it means to struggle against poverty. It is these experiences that initiate the conversation and concerns that set the agenda. Through this wisdom, the important issues are articulated. Crucially, these concerns, experiences and wisdom remain throughout all Poverty Truth work.
- Poverty Truth builds powerful relationships between those who have experienced the struggle and decision-makers. Difficult conversations only happen when trust is built, and relationships are the soil in which trust grows. So, poverty truth insists that we take time to pay attention to one another. We listen deeply with our hearts and our heads rather than rushing to fix problems.
- Poverty Truth seeks to humanise people and systems. We meet one another as human beings not merely professionals or service users. As we do this, we will see more clearly the causes of poverty recognising that whilst they are systemic, we can find long-term solutions where we all flourish.
Those who have been part of Poverty Truth Commission’s across the UK talk about how they are changed by becoming involved as well as the changes in policy and practice that have resulted from the work of their commission.
Civic and Business leader feedback includes:
- Slowing down and listening to support more effective decision-making
- Sense of purpose by working directly with beneficiaries
- Deeper understanding of the experience and barriers to those in poverty
- Importance of building relationships as a foundation to good collaboration
- Encouraged to be the change you want to see in your own organisation and community
Community participants with lived experience feedback includes:
- Realise that your voice is meaningful and your experience has great value
- Support decision makers to improve services
- Be part of a space that values each member as a human with no hierarchy
- Relationships built on trust, shared learning and mutual respect
- Collaborate to bring about positive social change
Individual Impact
Other community commissioners have consistently spoken about how being involved has changed them:
- increased confidence
- support work skills
- new friendships
- more motivation
- fresh ways of understanding difficult problems
Organisational Impact
The organisations most impacted are, unsurprisingly, the ones that have got most involved. Commissioners take what they have discovered back to their organisations and communities. In this work we encourage people to be the change that they want to see in their own organisations and neighbourhoods
- West Cheshire, a social housing provider has reported a 75% reduction in evictions since it changed its approach to managing tenancies. The organisation moved from a reprimand approach to offering a well-being service which focuses on early intervention and supporting people to sustain tenancies.
- Wolverhampton, a Mental Health Community Partner said, “the service going forward will be person-centred. The expert is the person sitting in front of you…put the computer aside and have a conversation with the person sitting in front of you.”
Policy Level Impact
Changing policy often takes a long time and involves many people working together to bring it about. So the direct link between the work of a Poverty Truth Commission and a change in in policy is not always easy. Some of the changes we have seen happen include:
- Morecambe Bay, over 100 travellers were saved from potential eviction by working through the Poverty Truth Commission to change attitudes towards loss of a site they had lived on for over 30 years.
- Scotland, the Commission instigated a mentoring programme for civil servants through which those who have direct experience of poverty coached senior policy leaders. This programme is now being developed more widely.
Wider Societal Impact
Poverty Truth Commissions are helping to change the public debate about poverty across the UK. The expertise of commissioners is often also drawn into other events.
- Birmingham commissioners have spoken about the Poverty Premium at the 2018 Conservative Party Conference; were interviewed by The Sun; and have been featured on BBC Panorama.
- Leeds, working with True North, commissioners produced ‘Fighting Shame’ a film about their experiences of poverty. This was featured on the Guardian website and premiered at the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival.
Poverty Truth grew out of a belief that the wisdom, experience and understanding of people who struggled against poverty was vital in making decisions about poverty.
In 2009, the first Poverty Truth Commission was launched in Glasgow, Scotland
15 people stood and told stories of their struggle against poverty through drama, dance, speech and poetry. There was laughter, hope and a recognition that whilst life had been tough, they were still standing. As Public leaders reflected on what they had just seen, they acknowledged that if positive change was to be made, they needed to work with those who stories they’d heard over the coming months.
For 18 months the commissioners met regularly to consider the ‘real’ issues that people were experiencing when facing poverty. They built relationships, listened well and learned much. At the end they shared challenges for organisations, institutions, communities and society as a whole about how change might happen. They also acknowledged the ways that they had changed.
In February 2014, the first place outside of Scotland where a commission emerged was in Leeds.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation had been involved in Scotland and were now engaged in Leeds. A ‘what if’ conversation between them and people who were involved in both commissions ended up in a commitment to supporting others around the UK who might want to establish Poverty Truth Commissions where they were. Effectively, the Poverty Truth Network was born.
Between 2015 – 2020, 10 new locations hosted commissions
In 2019, the Poverty Truth Network became a separate charity
Poverty Truth grew out of a belief that the wisdom, experience and understanding of people who struggled against poverty was vital in making decisions about poverty.
In 2009, the first Poverty Truth Commission was launched in Glasgow, Scotland
15 people stood and told stories of their struggle against poverty through drama, dance, speech and poetry. There was laughter, hope and a recognition that whilst life had been tough, they were still standing. As Public leaders reflected on what they had just seen, they acknowledged that if positive change was to be made, they needed to work with those who stories they’d heard over the coming months.
For 18 months the commissioners met regularly to consider the ‘real’ issues that people were experiencing when facing poverty. They built relationships, listened well and learned much. At the end they shared challenges for organisations, institutions, communities and society as a whole about how change might happen. They also acknowledged the ways that they had changed.
In February 2014, the first place outside of Scotland where a commission emerged was in Leeds.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation had been involved in Scotland and were now engaged in Leeds. A ‘what if’ conversation between them and people who were involved in both commissions ended up in a commitment to supporting others around the UK who might want to establish Poverty Truth Commissions where they were. Effectively, the Poverty Truth Network was born.
Between 2015 – 2020, 10 new locations hosted commissions
In 2019, the Poverty Truth Network became a separate charity
What do they do?
- Each year the Network run two annual national events, one for Commissioners (up to three from each Commission are invited) and another for facilitators (up to two from each Commission)
National working groups – ‘Amplify’ local voices
Every Poverty Truth Commission is focused on how the issues they have identified might be addressed within their locality. However, sometimes issues also need to be addressed at a wider national level. Where there are themes emerging across different commissions, the Network seeks to connect these up and build relationships with regional and national decision makers. Previous developments include:
- Access to services principles for use by those planning and delivering public services
- A ‘Brown Envelope Code’ was developed by a group of Commissioners from the Poverty Truth Network to set a standard for communication around bills, debts, benefits and services
- The Double Impact Resource is a collection of stories exploring the relationship between mental health and poverty
- Housing working group document – A home I can grow and thrive in
- Neurodiversity working group – in development 2026