Thanet District Council’s Cabinet was asked to adopt a new Tackling Poverty Strategy at its meeting on 27 August 2026, with the council’s papers describing the district as ranking 45th out of 296 local authorities for highly deprived neighbourhoods.
A new Tackling Poverty Strategy was put before Thanet District Council’s Cabinet for adoption at its meeting on 27 August 2026. The report to Cabinet states that the 2025 Indices of Deprivation rank Thanet’s wards within the bottom 10% of the most deprived local authority districts in England.
The report was brought forward by Penny Button, Head of Neighbourhoods, under Councillor Heather Keen, Portfolio Holder for Community, and its adoption was classified as a key decision.
Scale of deprivation
The papers presented to Cabinet set out the extent of poverty in the district. They record that 26.3% of children in Thanet live in relative low-income families, 14% of households face fuel poverty, and male life expectancy in the district is three years lower than the South East average. Thanet is described as ranking 45th out of 296 local authorities for highly deprived neighbourhoods.
What the strategy would do
The strategy provides what officers describe as a single strategic point of reference for integrating poverty reduction efforts across the council and with external partners. It would establish a new Tackling Poverty Strategy Network, meeting six times per year — three sessions online and three in person — to co-ordinate council work with partners including the Thanet Health Alliance and Kent County Council Public Health.
The strategy covers multiple categories of deprivation including income, employment, education, health, crime, housing, child poverty and the living environment. Annual progress reports would be delivered to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel, with oversight provided by the Corporate Management Team and day-to-day implementation managed by the council’s Health Improvement Officer.
Links to wider frameworks
The papers note that Thanet will operate within the Kent Marmot Coastal Region framework, launched by Kent County Council on 13 March 2026. Officers say the strategy builds on existing initiatives including the award-winning RISE partnership, and describe Thanet as the location of the UK’s first Marmot Coastal Region initiative.
Officers state that the strategy primarily consolidates existing work programmes and does not require additional resources beyond officer and member time for network meetings. No new budget commitment is identified in the papers.
Alongside adoption, Cabinet was asked to agree that the strategy’s provisions be incorporated into other council policies, including the Health in All Policies framework considered at the same meeting, and to note the establishment of the Tackling Poverty Strategy Network.
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so Cabinet’s decision on the strategy is not yet on the public record.
Sources
- Cabinet Report — Tackling Poverty Strategy (Thanet District Council, 27 August 2026)
- Tackling Poverty Strategy 2026 — Annex 1 (Thanet District Council)
- Thanet District Council — Cabinet, 27 August 2026 (agenda and papers)
Top image: illustrative, computer-generated. Illustrative AI-generated image. This is not a photograph of Thanet or any real location.