East Sussex is home to some of the most deprived areas in England, with one in five children growing up in a low income household. Yet, across the county, over £162 million in benefits go unclaimed each year, often due to stigma or a lack of awareness about available support for essentials like bills, rent and food.
While councils were eager to help, a major challenge stood in the way: data was fragmented. Benefit eligibility data sat across different district and county council systems, making it difficult to see the full picture of need or run joint campaigns effectively.
The first step: Eastbourne’s success with LIFT
Eastbourne Borough Council took action in 2023 by adopting Policy in Practice’s LIFT platform. Their goal was to tackle pensioner poverty and child hunger.
Using LIFT’s data driven insights, Eastbourne launched two successful campaigns that helped:
42 pensioners claim £151,346 in Pension Credit and Cost of Living Payments
36 families claim £15,400 in Healthy Start support
These results were promising, but more needed to be done across East Sussex. Other district councils were also seeing rising financial pressure on services due to the cost of living crisis.
Meanwhile, at the county level, the lack of a clear, joined up view of poverty trends prevented East Sussex County Council from identifying region wide solutions.
Recognising LIFT’s potential, an officer from Eastbourne championed the approach to East Sussex County Council. If used across the region, LIFT could provide a data led way to identify at risk residents, increase benefit take up, and support residents at scale.
