The Barrow Borough Poverty Truth Commission brought together people living in poverty in Barrow with major business, education and local government stakeholders. The project started up in 2023 with the aim of sharing the voices of people living on very low incomes with people in positions of power and influence. The people sharing their stories, who have lived experience of poverty, were called 'community commissioners' .

The background to this project is that in September 2020, Barrow Borough Council declared a poverty emergency in the town. According to the estimates from the Office for National Statistics, there were an estimated 12,890 people living in poverty in private households in Barrow as of March 2021.

Figures from the 2021 Census show there were 67,400 people living in the local authority area, meaning around one in five people in Barrow are living in poverty.

Poverty is defined as living in a household with an equivalised net household income, after housing costs, of less than 60 per cent of the median income.

Coordinator of the project Kate Love says: "Over the past year I have been meeting with a group of nine people living in quite significant poverty in Barrow. We all get on with one another and we share our stories. They share their stories of poverty and how it has affected their lives."

She said that the community commissioners are speaking to 'people with power and money and influence to make change'.

She said: "They have been meeting regularly for a year and have worked together to come up with ways to address poverty and its effects."

Many of the people who have participated volunteer to support others through charitable work.

Ms Love said: "It blew me away that they are willing to give their time to help others when they are going through such hardship.

"One couple talked about living on £40 a week for 5 months while waiting for their Personal Independence Payment to be agreed."