On Saturday 11th July The Equality Trust hosted its largest and liveliest Local Groups Day yet. We welcomed around 30 representatives from 17 groups across the country, from Newport in the west to Cambridge in the east and from Cumbria in the north to Hampshire in the south.
The main theme for the day was our new locally-focused campaign Make My Council Fair which aims to provide practical help to anyone who wants to get their council to bear down on inequality and poverty where they live. We know from all the public events that we take part in that people often find inequality a very large and daunting subject and we often hear the refrain “yes, but what can I do about all this?”. Well, plenty actually, as our wonderful local groups have shown over the years: from getting employers and councils to adopt the Living Wage, to trimming the pay of council chief executives and from convening local fairness commissions to raising awareness among the public by direct engagement.
Although we live in austere times, councils can still do a lot to make people’s lives better. As was pointed out at Local Groups Day, a better paid local population will likely need less recourse to council services. And it’s not all about pay, sometimes it’s about doing the right thing, like having a 20mph speed limit in residential areas, or helping your residents avoid payday lenders in favour of credit unions.
We all have a council, so we can all make a difference!