Cooperative Community Bank of Kindness
- November 2024
On Friday, 26 March – the GM Inequalities Commission launched its report to an audience of over 160 including GM Mayor Andy Burnham. Acknowledging that GM is leading the way to tackle inequalities on many fronts, now is the time for a step-change in its delivery.
The Recommendations focus on how Greater Manchester can both respond to the immediate challenges created by the pandemic and pivot towards a new way of doing things that puts tackling inequality at its heart. The report focuses on some key ways in which Greater Manchester could seek to shift wealth, power and opportunity to those too often denied it.
It recognises that GMCA can set goals and show leadership, but ultimately the vision will only be achieved by the whole system working together: GMCA, local authorities, health and the wider public sector, businesses and trade unions, the community and voluntary sector, and local residents. The Commission recognises that many of the big shifts needed to tackle inequality are outside of Greater Manchester’s control and sit with the national government – for instance, the urgent need to repair our social safety net by reforming Universal Credit and lifting statutory sick pay. The double hit of the pandemic and a decade of austerity has also put local authority budgets under more pressure than ever before. This makes it all the more urgent to be creative with the powers and resources that are available – targeting resources to where they are most effective and working in partnership with communities.