"Pushing people into insecure, physical, inflexible work when they are already challenged by disability or mental health problems is futile. These jobs don’t work and they don’t last" Spot on from @claremcneil.bsky.social - important work by @timewise.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

New Mental Health Act data out today: -52,000 detentions last year (similar to the previous year) -Black people 4x more likely than white people to be detained (up from 3.5x) -A 17% increase in Community Treatment Orders -Black people 8.5x more likely that white people to be on CTOs (up from 7x)

New @trusselluk.bsky.social data shows millions more people experiencing food insecurity than two years earlier If we want to understand the rising prevalence of mental health problems, we should start with the rocketing numbers of households facing inadequate social & economic circumstances

My final piece of work for @neweconomics.bsky.social was a collaboration with Camden Council & a brilliant team of staff there We ran a test & learn pilot to explore how to increase voluntary engagement with employment support among ill & disabled residents 1/3

Wrapping up at @neweconomics.bsky.social today after a really enjoyable two & a half years leading the social policy team Very excited to be returning to @mind.org.uk as head of policy, campaigns & public affairs in September Means there's a great job going at NEF: neweconomics.org/about/work-w...

BBC coverage of a powerful new report by @neweconomics.bsky.social's @hollies.bsky.social about the impact of temporary accommodation on children's mental health, with a focus on Southwark where there is one classroom worth of homeless children for every primary school www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"The lesson Reeves will take from the HMRC release is that the rich did not run. But it should also be that knowing what the rich are doing with their wealth is politically useful" Great piece from @hollies.bsky.social of @neweconomics.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...

NEW RESEARCH: The richest households in England will be eight times more likely to benefit from the government’s expanded programme of funded childcare hours. 1/8

A pretty hefty piece of @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis out today by me & @pollardtom.bsky.social, in collaboration with @jrf-uk.bsky.social, on the problems with free hours-based childcare system Labour inherited - & case for a more progressive alternative 👇[1/] neweconomics.org/2025/07/the-...

"We don’t cancel weddings months out because there’s a chance of drizzle - we shouldn’t restructure fiscal policy purely on the basis of a single number we know to be, at very best, an informed guess" Really helpful contribution from @andymacnaemp.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...

Great @newstatesman.com piece by @neweconomics.bsky.social's Hollie Wright The "exodus" of the wealthy is being overblown & departures are often "more about 'perceptions of declining opportunity & social cohesion' than any particular fiscal measure" www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Why shouldn't someone assessed by DWP as too unwell to work & facing significant extra costs due to disabilities & poor health receive state support at least around the rate of a minimum wage salary? I spoke to Ian Collins on TalkTV earlier about (misleading) reports today on this subject

Over 1.6m children are now impacted by the Two-Child Limit - 11.6% of all children This is a cruel policy that unnecessarily drags children into deeper levels of hardship It needs to go, and the longer it is kept, the greater the scarring effects on children's health and education will be

New government data on the impact of the two child limit: 469,780 households now affected, with 1,665,540 children in those households Almost 40,000 more children affected since last year It's a child poverty machine & it will cost us all more in the long term - get rid of it

It seems completely reasonable to me that someone who has been assessed by DWP as being unable to work due to disabilities/poor health & as facing significant health/disability related extra costs should be supported by the government to have an income around the level of a minimum wage salary 1/2

I've been working with a brilliant team at Camden Council, testing & learning how best to reach out to residents to foster voluntary engagement with employment support If you want to find out more, sign up for this online event on 22 July at 9.30am www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/camden-emp...

This is nonsense. The impact assessment starts from an imaginary baseline incorporating reforms planned but never implemented by the previous government In the real world, the cuts that remain in the Bill will push around 50,000 disabled people into poverty www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

"the financial returns from well-targeted public spending are often far higher than our anaemic assumptions allow... A politics that always talks down the impact of spending ends up justifying stagnation" @neweconomics.bsky.social's @maxmosley.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“What’s going on in the benefits system is symptomatic of an ill society where there is poor health, poor public services & a lot of poverty” I argue in this Chris Smyth piece that tackling the underlying causes is the only path to sustainable benefits savings www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

The responsibility for any damage to the government's economic credibility lies with those who tried to impose rushed & crude benefit cuts to hit a savings target, not those who rightly stood up to challenge changes that would have pushed even more disabled people into poverty

The cuts to Universal Credit for ill & disabled people that remain in this bill will be deeply harmful, but campaigners & MPs have forced a climbdown on huge swathes of the wider cuts that were originally proposed. You cannot deliver principled welfare reform to a predetermined savings target

The updated poverty impact assessment for the disability benefits cuts once again offsets the impact of not proceeding with the previous government's proposed changes to the WCA The impact of actual changes happening in the real world is likely to be closer to 250k people pushed into poverty

Now that the focus is on future PIP claims rather than those currently on the benefit, it's worth highlighting that the proposed assessment change is due to have a much greater impact on the proportion of people from this group who will miss out on support by 2029-30 as a result

Concessions for those already on disability & health benefits are welcome, and a testament to all the work that has gone into campaigning against these cuts But people who need support in future will face a much harsher and meaner system if the amended proposals are implemented

On Tuesday Parliament will vote on whether to cut health and disability benefits. This is a vital opportunity for this government to rethink these harmful cuts. Want to get your head around what the cuts would mean? Look no further 🧵 1/

I'm not sure "if you think about it, cuts to disabled people's benefits are basically the same kind of thing as minimum wage rises & free school meals" is a line that's really going to fly (from today's London Playbook)

This could be the fatal blow these cuts-posing-as-reforms deserve Supporting more disabled people into work is a welcome aspiration, but cutting benefits for this group to meet an imposed savings target, with no meaningful consultation, is neither supportive of nor justified by that objective

Looking forward to speaking at this on Thursday, sharing @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis on the scale & impact of the planned cuts, what's been driving increased claims, & whether benefit cuts, tighter eligibility & increased conditionality are good ways to cut costs (spoiler alert: they're not)

Good to see @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis referenced by @johnharris1969.bsky.social. Rising disability benefit claims are being driven by an intersection of higher rates of disability & financial insecurity among disabled people - cuts will exacerbate both www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The government has introduced legislation today to implement cuts to disability & health benefits There have been no substantial concessions on how the proposals were originally presented in the Green Paper Here is what we know about the impact these cuts will have... 🧵

Really positive to see this proposal in Scotland for a minimum income guarantee, along the lines of @neweconomics.bsky.social's Living Income, to give everyone a solid financial foundation Great work by Russell Gunson & the working group he led to produce the report www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

With another government focusing on 'incentives' in the benefits system to try to get more disabled people into work, @neweconomics.bsky.social is hosting this event on Thursday to discuss a much greater barrier - the availability of suitable & supportive work www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/its-not-me...

This is a mixture of minor concessions & repackaging existing plans - it is not a meaningful response to the concerns MPs have been raising The headline remains the same: 3.2 million ill & disabled people will see their benefits cut by the end of the parliament www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Good to talk to @mubinhaq.bsky.social for this podcast about @neweconomics.bsky.social's assessment of the scale & impact of the proposed cuts to disability and health benefits, what's been driving rising claims, and how the government should be responding

Really worth a read on the sort of reshaping of Jobcentres needed to facilitate a more relational approach to employment support. The current model is built to deliver transactional check-ins - the government's intent to move away from this is welcome but it won't be achieved without a real shake up

Welcome move. With 5 in 6 households on Universal Credit struggling to afford essentials, it's only right that all children in families on UC should get free school meals. It should be accompanied by auto-enrolment to ensure no child misses out, as called for by @foodfoundation.bsky.social

Been lots of debate about what might turn the dial on child poverty. But we hear far less from families in poverty. Our new briefing sets out a blueprint for a successful child poverty strategy, grounded in experiences of hardship changingrealities.org/writings/get... Pls read + share this 🧵

This is completely incoherent from David Blunkett's piece in the Sun arguing to retain the two-child limit on benefits He acknowledges there's no evidence it's affected birth rates, but then says it "must be certain" that not having it would increase birth rates 🤔 www.thesun.co.uk/news/3520173...

This shift in Jobcentre culture & priorities would be very welcome, but the positive agenda set out in last year's DWP White Paper is going to be so much harder to realise in the context of the benefit cuts & increased conditionality announced since then www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

For all the recent focus on incentives in the benefits system, it's a lack of suitable & supportive jobs that prevents many disabled people moving into work This online @neweconomics.bsky.social event (June 19th 10am) will explore the changes needed to fix this www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/its-not-me...

Hugely encouraging to see the balance apparently tilting towards scrapping the two-child limit entirely. As well as being vital from a moral perspective, the long-term benefits of poverty reduction on this scale will outweigh any short-term economic & political costs

Want a 3yr quali postdoc job leading the UK fieldwork for an amazing international project on how it feels to claim benefits? And also to do important work on benefits and mental health? Then see this job ad! Closing date being changed to 8th June www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/114985-...

Important work by @resfoundation.bsky.social's @alexclegg.bsky.social & @adamcorlett.bsky.social Compromise options short of scrapping the two-child limit will be less impactful & less cost effective. I suspect it would also be some of the poorest families who are left adrift by these half-measures

“Aiming to support more ill & disabled people into work is a laudable aim, but these cuts are neither necessary to achieve that or justified by it” I spoke to Chris Smyth for this Times piece about disability & health benefit cuts & employment support www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

"It is naive & dangerous for society to rely on the enlightened philanthropist to curb inequality. We need to stop glorifying wealth through rich lists and start drawing a line on extreme wealth" Great piece by @neweconomics.bsky.social CEO @dhnnjyn.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Helpful call for a rethink on tax from a recently departed No.10 economics adviser But his description & justification of fiscal rules & assumptions reveals a constrained & rigid government mindset that will keep us locked into an austerity doom loop... 🧵 www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Helpful call for a rethink on tax from a recently departed No.10 economics adviser But his description & justification of fiscal rules & assumptions reveals a constrained & rigid government mindset that will keep us locked into an austerity doom loop... 🧵 www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Really important work, highlighting how poorly served low-income households are by childcare & early education. The current funded hours model with its focus on working families is failing to adequately address inequalities in levels of access & quality of provision. A fundamental rethink is needed

Great to see @andyburnham.bsky.social addressing a packed Friends' Meeting House of Greater Manchester residents, giving his backing to the campaign for a Living Income pilot in the city region

New DWP research gives a clearer picture of why PIP claims have been rising than government & media rhetoric about the need for cuts People with complex poor health, driven in part by financial hardship to seek additional support to meet their basic costs www.gov.uk/government/p...