Tackling inequalities collectively
Community Resilience in Action: supporting grassroots initiatives across the city
The Council’s Community Resilience Team continues to champion impactful partnerships with grassroots organisations, strengthening the social fabric of our city through practical support, funding guidance, and shared learning:
Inclusive support at Dominion Grace Community Breakfast Club – Willenhall
Dominion Grace’s weekly breakfast club welcomes over 120 residents, offering more than a meal—it provides dignity, companionship, and purpose. A standout feature is the supported volunteer programme, where individuals with learning difficulties deliver friendly waiter service, enhancing inclusion and skill-building.
Council Officers have bolstered this initiative by:
- securing external funding to support growth
- facilitating digital connectivity through #CovConnects
- supporting public health-focused grant applications, including resources for smoking cessation
This cross-sector backing has enabled Dominion Grace to expand services, bridging social care, digital inclusion, and community wellbeing.
Empowering Neurodiverse Individuals: Autism and ADHD Advocates CIC
With guidance from Council Officers, Autism and ADHD Advocates CIC secured £20,000 from the National Lottery, empowering the organisation to extend its reach across schools, Family Hubs, and digital platforms. Their work supports individuals across the neurodiversity spectrum—those awaiting diagnosis, confirmed diagnoses, their families, and professionals.
Interactive school workshops are driving:
- awareness and empathy
- stigma reduction
- early prevention of mental health challenges and addiction risks
Through early education and community engagement, the CIC is cultivating a more inclusive future for neurodiverse populations.
Building skills and community at Cheylesmore Community Centre Cheylesmore
Community Centre, supported by Council Officer expertise, secured over £60,000 from the Severn Trent Community Fund for major kitchen refurbishment and building improvements.
The upgraded facilities will host:
- Cooking on a Budget courses
- Healthy Cooking with Air Fryers sessions
- free community lunches to combat isolation and promote social connection
These developments are expected to boost footfall to Cheylesmore Library, integrating practical skills training with increased access to local services.
Supporting low income families
We use data held within the Council’s council tax and benefits systems to identify some of our most financially vulnerable households and the additional council and government support which they’re not currently receiving but might be entitled to. The initial project was hugely successful and helped to identify several million pounds in unclaimed benefits and pension credits for Coventry residents.
In 2024 to 2025 some of the highlights are:
- we have successfully used this tool to identify and 'auto enrol' 772 children eligible, but not in receipt of Free School Meals. This has brought £1million of revenue to schools, as well as potentially saving families over £350,000 per year
- we have continued to work with partners at Central England Law Centre to identify residents who may have been incorrectly subjected to a cap on the total amount of benefits they can receive. To date £90,000 in backdated and uplifted housing costs has been achieved for those residents
In 2025 to 2026 we are building on this success, by continuing with our current campaigns. Additionally, we are supporting residents who have not migrated successfully to Universal Credit, as well as looking to identify and assist 'hidden' carers who may be eligible but not receiving Carer’s Allowance.
Household support fund
Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, we supported 13,398 individual households through our application-based process, ensuring timely access to essential support.
Breakdown of the support included:
- 5,155 households receiving food support via our local food network
- 10,788 households awarded energy support (top-ups or vouchers)
- 604 households receiving essential energy and water-related items (e.g. white goods, boiler repairs)
- 3,432 households given clothing vouchers
- 471 households receiving other essential items not linked to food, energy, or water (e.g. beds, curtains where none existed)
Roughly 44% of the households that applied throughout the year required a single award to support them through a particular period of financial hardship. Around 24% of households received more than 3 awards reflecting the complexity of the need. We work creatively with partners to ensure people can access the support they need and reach out to individuals and families facing complex challenges to enable us to bring partners together to secure a long-term solution.
Holiday Activities and Food Programme
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme aims to support children eligible for benefits-related free school meals through the holiday periods through activities and experiences coupled with healthy food and support to families.
Our full-year 2024 to 2025 programme helped approximately 5,580 eligible children and young people (including approximately a third of these with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)) plus thousands of other family members. Our 2024 Christmas school holiday programme benefitted 2,114 eligible beneficiaries (excluding other family members) – up from 1,991 (Christmas 2023).
Families loved the activities, giving them an average of 4.4 out of 5 in our family feedback survey. We partnered with Stellantis for their staff to be involved in activity boxes for children who couldn't get out to activities. These staff delivered the boxes and wrote personal messages to families.
Our diverse range of SEND family experiences continued to develop and were positively received by families, with a rating of 4.6 out of 5. We introduced a Coventry City Football Club experience where children could have a stadium tour as well as activities.
We introduced our new more accessible booking system (Eequ). This received positive feedback from parents and/or carers and providers. Some providers are now using this for non-HAF activities, enabling a more joined-up approach.
Meeting the public sector equality duty
The Council has continued to deliver on its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty and advance the growth of its diversity and inclusion agenda more broadly. A new set of Equality Objectives for the Council for 2025 to 2028 were launched in April 2025; these objectives outline how the Council will meet requirements to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people of different groups.
Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, Coventry City Council completed 72 Equality Impact Assessments (EIA), of which 3 were internally focused EIAs and 42 were external EIAs relating to service provision. An additional 21 EIAs were completed as part of the budget setting process for 2024 to 2025, and 6 EIAs were completed for the One Coventry proposals.
The Council’s Disability Equality Action Partnership (DEAP) continues to work on equality and inclusion for people with disabilities - bringing together Coventry residents, charities, voluntary organisations, service users and public sector partners from across the city and region.
The DEAP meetings held during 2024 to 2025 considered a wide range of issues including those relating to transport and accessibility.
