Working on the Nov issue of my Digital Welfare State newsletter - what did Kier Starmer learn from his trip to Mumbai that might shape the UK's digital ID system? Why did thousands of families have their child benefit suspended when they went on holiday? Sign up for all this and more

🚨 Our new investigation out today reveals how thousands of people who've taken their bosses to employment tribunals & won, never got paid, even after they approached the government for help. This has serious implications for the Employment rights bill. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

New paper with @lisagarnham.bsky.social @profellenstu.bsky.social & @clemmiehilloconnor.bsky.social finds housing 3Cs (context, cost, condition) are recognised by researchers, policymakers & publics but only lived experience accounts centre a 4th C—control: journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jc...

Millions of workers experience the problems associated with insecure work. This includes 1.1 million workers on low pay. Read more: buff.ly/0OSArrI

‘Austerity is a choice. The protection of the family at the expense of other ways of living is a choice. The transfer of public wealth to private wealth is a choice. Is abundance possible for all? Melinda Cooper thinks it is.’ Katrina Forrester reviews her new book: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Yes lack of awareness & effective scrutiny. At the end of 2024, 3.67m people had valid leave to remain or a visa which usually comes with no recourse to public funds conditions. That means a blanket ban on most income based benefits like UC, CB & no access to the equal opportunities PIP & DLA offer.

Very excited for the Social Policy Association annual conference, starting tomorrow! We'll be presenting some early findings from our @nuffieldfoundation.org project on Universal Credit, Good Work and Progression #York2025

Last day at @easp-spa-2025.bsky.social & hearing from @annieirvine.bsky.social & Cindy Leung on what’s wrong with the Work Capability Assessment <A Friday conference 🧵>

Hi 👋 we're moved over from X. This is the bluesky account for the @socialpolicyuk.bsky.social policy group for Employment (and Social Security). social-policy.org.uk/news/spa-pol...

Big day in Westminster today. But big implications for the whole country. A "zero-based" spending review means the government has been through all public spending and decided its priorities line by line. Follow for analysis through the day.

Our Labour Market Stats briefing blog has just been published. The unemployment rate is at the highest level in nearly four years, and combined figures indicate that employers have adjusted to rising costs by reducing workforce size and future workforce planning. Read: bit.ly/3ZoshF2

Taking ten months shared parental leave was one of the best things I've ever done. Sadly it's only big corporates that will pay for leave, as a way of retaining professional workers. I've got so many sad DMs from dads in low paid jobs who couldn't make the money work. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Are you a post-doctoral researcher with strong qualitative skills, a critical mind and a love for digging into the complexities of how people navigate work and health? Check out our vacancy at the Uni of York School for Business and Society: jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/rese... @uoysbs.bsky.social

Good to see HMRC targeting time-drainage mechanisms in enforcing the minimum wage. 31% of this year's named employers failed to pay workers correctly for their working time. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

👇Government policy on employment is essentially operating in three different universes. 1) Universe one: higher minimum wage, day one SSP, essentially a bunch of disincentives to hire people with gaps in the CV 2) the active reform agenda of the DWP 3) random cuts fed into the OBR’s maw

It's that time of year where social policy grads and postgrads might be looking for jobs etc. Here's a list of job adverts and sites to share with your students, doctoral researchers, colleagues, or perhaps for yourselves if you're looking for a move ;)

Starmer’s “remarks are disgraceful. They are damaging in part because they validate the rhetoric and dishonesty of both Reform and the Conservatives. But, incredibly, they are also seriously damaging for the Labour govt itself” V good, clear-sighted analysis mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/05/star...

"Two-thirds of workers (66.8%) have been employed in zero-hour contracts for more than a year and would be eligible to get guaranteed hours if they wish." (7/7)

Fantastic column by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com on the consequences of the UK's experiment with changing the minimum wage:

Our 4th Legal hub training session has arrived! Join our Head of Employment Dr Sarmila Bose to find out how Employment Tribunals work, what a good case looks like, and the additional challenges visa sponsorship creates. 🎟️Tickets are free for small charities www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-fight-...?

The list of speakers is now available online! Book now and join leading Social Policy scholars from across the UK discussing key policy areas under the broader theme "One year of Labour Government and its impact on Social Policy". Follow the link for info. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/social-pol...

4. We now have the lowest % of people in FE & adult education since WW2. Yes, you read that right, WW2! The net result of policy chop & change, 26% fall in employer skills investment, and £1bn cut in public investment since 2010. Terrible for growth, opportunity & much more.

The situation at Cardiff University just can't be allowed to go on like this. Where on Earth are the Welsh and UK governments? 🤷‍♂️ www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cardiff...

Minimum wage for a 9-5 full time job (40 hours a week) is, as of today, £25,396 a year for anyone over 21. Which is why it's amazing to see journalism jobs requiring a degree, job experience, and driving licence advertised at a "competitive salary" of £22,380. tindlenews.co.uk/careers/jour...

Half of 1 million young people not in education, employment or training have been so for a year or more & around half say they’ve never had a paid job. New @learnworkuk.bsky.social report out tomorrow. Catch me @listentotimesradio.bsky.social at 815 to hear more. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Spread the word! Exciting new fully funded PhD opportunity to research disabled people's lived experiences of benefit reform and the costs of disability. Deadline: 10 April @uofglasgow.bsky.social @uofgussp.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social @sgsss.bsky.social @clemmiehilloconnor.bsky.social

Presenting my PhD research at the CASE #socialexclusionseminar this week on 26th March. The study focuses on children and families' experiences of receiving Asylum Support in the UK & how asylum employment restrictions affect children & young people.

Yesterday we published 'Unstable Pay' about earnings volatility, making use of a new dataset of 27m payslips. www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications... By me @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social @stephenpjenkin1.bsky.social Using dataset built by @wagedynamics.bsky.social Summary thread follows 1/

Just how common is benefits conditionality? New post based on a new paper, at inequalities.substack.com/p/how-common... (now with clearer chart!)

"Focusing on the polls this far out from an election is not merely a distraction, which results in short-termism and constant triangulation. It is actively pushing the government towards stances that might actually make the polls worse." <- @jonnelledge.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/jonn/p/a...

In follow up to the Guardian stories about DWP AI last week (by @robert-booth.bsky.social ) I've written about my DWP FoIs and the nuggets of info I got that build on Rob's reporting www.abdconsultancy.co.uk/blog/dwpaiwh...

The Health Foundation has published new analysis on mental health trends among working age people and invited me to share some thoughts. Taking a more holistic approach to understanding capacity for work seems to be at the heart of it: www.health.org.uk/features-and...

Work-Net International: A new era for work and employment research 🔎 An event celebrating the launch of @worknetint.bsky.social, a groundbreaking global network advancing research on work and employment, will take place on 21 January. Learn more: ow.ly/EuEq50UHBah @workequalities.bsky.social

Ministers are soon to decide on the statutory sick pay rate for low earners. The conclusion they come to will have a huge impact on many households' budgets. www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/sick-p...

NEW: How many food delivery drivers are there in Britain? Delivery companies are good with numbers when it comes to profit, market share and deliveries. They are less clear when it comes to how many people actually do the delivering… 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/e630... 1/6

Great piece by @sarahoconnorft.bsky.social . Another example where greater flex for some can be a one way street in favour of employers for others. And, I'd suggest, an example of why increasing minimum wages & employment rights is a bit like squeezing a balloon... www.ft.com/content/0998...

I'm loving this idea of microfeminism. About how every day habit the little things can change the world. I'm especially loving the school teacher that calls the dad first. These acts are not insignificant they sometimes matter more. What is your act of micro feminism? www.npr.org/2024/12/04/g...

Some thoughts from me on the Get Britain Working White Paper > theconversation.com/three-ways-t...

How many people who are unemployed claim unemployment benefits? The ILO indicator says 94% in 2022. If true, is this due to using the claimant count as numerator, which includes people on universal credit who are working, rather than indicating almost full coverage. Any alt estimates out there? 👀

“The most effective approach to skills interventions is to integrate them as part of a comprehensive ‘local stimulus package’, which also includes housing, transport, job quality, economic development, business improvement, and innovation support.” read more here www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cit...

Looking forward to discussing the issue of unpaid work and what we could do about it with the rest of the panel this afternoon and to hearing from @valepuligna.bsky.social and Mat and Eva #decentwork

Not quite back to 1937, but you can see the gradual decline over 60 years here from @jrf-uk.bsky.social's Guarantee our Essentials Full Report at www.jrf.org.uk/social-secur...

So y’all know that the lead investor in this place is a crypto company founded by Steve Bannon’s ex-business partner, right?

I have recently finished my PhD where I used the capability approach to look at Universal Credit in-work progression. You can find it here: etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/35709/.

Spending increase for public services have been frontloaded over this year and next. The pink bars in the chart below show how the Government has prioritised spending in the short term, while the yellow diamonds include the impact of earlier spending decisions by department.

Delighted to see this article published open access. It draws on qualitative interviews with people subject to work-related conditionality to explore whether conditionality is experienced as a set of standardised time demands doi.org/10.1017/S004...

Blog post on the OBR's new Welfare Trends Report. It repeatedly makes the problems seem worse than they are - but it's a valuable resource nevertheless. inequalities.substack.com/p/obr-new-we...

Looking forward to reflections on the Employment Bill from industrial relations & legal experts 👀 for now looking likely that it will necessitate some changes to voluntary local employment charters, which are meant to recognise employers offering better than min statutory employment practices

On reasonable notice for shifts, seems will only apply to those on zero or other specified contracts but likely incl. those on low hours. Extension seems sensible but begs the question, what counts as a low hrs contract? 10hrs, 5? assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6707a5...