🚨STOP THE BUS🚨 We have a new vacancy in JRF's Scotland Team. We're looking for a Senior Policy Adviser to join our brilliant team here. Passionately believe we can deliver a better Scotland free from poverty? Then it could be 🫵 Details 👇🕑 10/8. www.jrf.org.uk/careers

Shaymaa Abulebda, an influential writer & scholar from Gaza, should soon be starting a PhD at the University of Edinburgh [part of which is an internship at Comma]. Instead she lives in a tent in al-Mawasi displacement camp in the ruins of southern Gaza. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

The Prime Minister told senior MPs today he wants to reduce child poverty this parliament The most cost effective way to do that is to end the two child limit and take action on the benefit cap - actions that also target help to families in deep poverty. Read more ⬇️ www.jrf.org.uk/child-povert...

Actually around 50,000 people will be pulled into poverty by remaining cuts in Bill - based on Govt’s impact assessments. @jrf-uk.bsky.social previously showed how DWP sleight of hand underplayed true poverty impact – same applies to this latest publication. 🧵1/3 www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Govt admits remaining cuts will pull at least 150,000 people into poverty by 2029. But its new impact assessment is again misleading – it could be more like 250,000. (Same reason as why Govt’s previous poverty assessment understated the impact – see: bsky.app/profile/iain...) 2/7

Today Govt confirmed changes it will make to planned cuts to disability benefits. But Govt will still ask MPs to vote for large, arbitrary cuts to disabled people’s incomes that will increase poverty. The Bill should be opposed. Here’s why. 1/7

Better homes. Better services. A thriving natural environment. Join the march for all of us. Edinburgh - 25 Oct. #WeDemandBetter scotland-demands-better.com

I want to see non-disabled people shouting about the disability benefit cuts. If you spoke out about trans rights, abortion rights, or migrant rights in recent weeks? Good on you! If you aren’t doing the same for disabled people, ask yourself why.

📢 Join our team! ⭐️ We're looking for an Impact & Learning Manager to help us better understand, evaluate, and amplify the impact of our work in Scotland. 📅 Closing date: 17 June Full details ⬇️ jobs.savethechildren.org.uk/jobs/vacancy...

240,000 children are in poverty in Scotland. Every one of them is a reason for all political parties to deliver a better Scotland. 📝 We have published a toolkit to ensure that each party's manifestos is up to the task of meeting the child poverty reduction targets: www.jrf.org.uk/child-povert....

All political parties agreed to the Scottish Child Poverty Reduction targets in 2017. 240,000 children in Scotland are in poverty. @jrf-uk.bsky.social have launched a toolkit to ensure that the manifestos of these political parties will meet these targets by the end of the next parliament.

The UK is among the worst nations in Europe for child poverty. In the UK, 11% of 15-year-olds reported they had skipped a meal in 2022 because there wasn't enough money to buy food. In the Netherlands and Finland, this number was 3%.

The government says its cuts to disability benefits are part of a “moral mission” to get more people working. But analysis shows fewer than 100,00 are expected to start work by the end of the parliament. Meanwhile around 3m will have disability & health related benefits cut. 1/4

Comment from our Principal Analyst @rebeccaflorisson.bsky.social on zero-hour contract data from the ONS ⬇️ “Today’s data indicates a marked increase in the use of zero-hour contracts in the last year. There are now 1.17 million zero-hour contract workers, the second highest level on record. (1/7)

My reaction on behalf of @jrf-uk.bsky.social, on today's labour market statistics and the Government's plans to cut disability benefits. The threat of widespread hardship among disabled people, unable to replace the incomes they lose out on through work, is even starker.

Whilst grown adults in Reform come after Send pupils as “victims”, here’s 16 year old Niamdh Braid winning her right to a British Sign Language interpreter at school. Guess who the real losers are? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

As immigration dominates the headlines today, including disturbing comments made by those in political positions, such as the suggestion that people seeking safety ‘should be put in tents’… We have one message and one message only:

Around 80,000 children - the equivalent of all children 16 and under in Edinburgh - are living in very deep poverty. The next Scottish Government needs to radically change the game if they are to reach the 2030 child poverty reduction targets.

🧵 Exciting news – we’re now seeking expressions of interest for the Devolved Conversations part of our Safety Nets project!

We're hiring a Policy Adviser! You'll work across policy areas (work, care, housing and more) to generate ideas that address the challenges underpinning poverty in the UK. 📍 Hybrid (York/London) Salary: £37,546.60 (+ LDN weighting) 9 Months FTC Find out more and apply now: bit.ly/4jdaWGn

Can anyone recommend any good articles by social policy scholars/sociologists/social researchers about the term 'hard working families' & how it is mobilised by the state, politicians and advocacy groups?

Since the latest announcement of cuts to health related benefits: 📢 60% of the public think the Government is going in the wrong direction to tackle the cost of living crisis and hardship. This includes 41% of those who backed Labour in July. Find out more 🔽

Our complaint re the growth in health benefits has been upheld: osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/corresponden...: "The statement that the number of people claiming disability elements of Universal Credit has increased by 383% presents an entirely misleading picture to the public."

You think the arbitrary arrest of political dissenters cannot happen in the UK? It already does. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

The Scottish Child Payment (SCP) is the Scottish Government’s flagship policy for reducing child poverty. But how do we know if it’s working? Learn more about the data used to produce income and poverty statistics for Scotland in our latest blog post: buff.ly/98ctQ2y

New article, co-authored with Donald Simpson, about entrenched gendered and classed pathways into paid adult social care and childcare work in north-east England bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

Today’s poverty statistics show that the Scottish Government has failed to meet the interim child poverty reduction targets. 240,000 children is Scotland remain in poverty (AHC). To have met the targets a further 40,000 children would need to have been lifted out of poverty.

If your own impact assessment tells you that your measures will push children into poverty, surely it’s time to go back to the drawing board and think again

Confirmation of chunky cuts to SG and NI Executive budgets because of PIP cuts. Big choices for those Ministers as to whether to copy the cruel choices of UKG.

The Chancellor said today that she would not do anything to put household finances in danger Yet the government’s own assessment shows their cuts to health related benefits risk pushing 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children 📢 Their assessment also found... 1/3

OBR's measure of living standards, RHDI, is up by £500 - largely due to stronger wage growth, including planning reforms which boost incomes. BUT when you dig into it, 3/4 of the extra income from housing services is 'imputed rents' (what families would receive if they rented out their home). 1/3

Approx 29,000 children experiencing poverty currently in NI are in households where either a parent or child have a disability, legitimately limiting work as a route out of poverty for their household. PIP = lifeline for many in times of high costs & limited support services

Living standards are forecast to have already peaked this parliament, with Keir Starmer on track to preside over the worst parliament in modern history for living standards. New JRF analysis on living standards ahead of the Spring Statement ⬇️ 1/🧵

In terms of PIP cuts, I have been thinking about the basic maths of needing a 4 within a score of 8 for standard daily living PIP component. Given there is only one 3pt score, those newly missing out will have difficulties in at least 4 areas.

With the Chancellor expected to miss her fiscal rules next week, there are always choices on how to respond. Cutting disability benefits by £5b and further squeezing public services, already facing £8b in cuts to unprotected departments, are the wrong choices. 1/3

Funded PhD @uofgussp.bsky.social with Professor Sharon Wright, Professor Charlotte Pearson (and me!) - Exploring the Lived Experience of Benefit Reform and the Costs of Disability. Deadline 10 April - please get in touch if you want to discuss this opportunity www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/...

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall's speech today laid out plans to cut disability and sickness benefits by billions. ❌ No truly moral choice would leave disabled people without support designed to allow them to lead a dignified life, or facing hardship. 1/4

I know coverage of disability benefits can be very distressing. So, I’ve worked with colleagues to make a range of support visible on The Guardian’s site. If you click on a relevant news story, you’ll see a “drop box” of signposted mental health help as well as benefits advice.

🚨 The rumoured cuts to disability and long-term sickness benefits are unprecedented. If the total £6 billion cuts go ahead it would be the *biggest* cut to disability benefits since at least 2010 when the OBR was created. 🧵 [1/5]

New open access article, written with colleague Liam Foster, about organising and union activity in the context of adult social care work in England www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc... @centreforcare.bsky.social

This is good from Andy Burnham - calling not for benefits cuts that will drive more people into poverty, but instead for integrated place-based services that recognise the complexities of people's lives and provide whole-person support. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

In 2016 Iain Duncan Smith resigned over proposed cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). If the Government does cut PIP by c£5bn (as reported in media) that’s a cut 3x the size (in todays money) of the one Iain Duncan Smith resigned over (which didn’t, in the end, go ahead). #JustSaying

Slashing benefits to meet an arbitrary fiscal target would be unethical, short sighted and illogical. ❌ 2 in 5 people receiving disability benefits already experience hardship. This means they are either unable to afford enough food, heat their home or pay household bills. 1/3

A really important thread explaining lots of the misinformation from gov on the proposed changes to UC and PIP that are likely to cause significant detriment to disabled people in the UK 👇

The proposed cuts to disability benefits are unacceptable and immoral, full stop. And if the big cuts come from PIP, the impact on the SG's budget will also be massive. The next SG will have to cut disability payments too or fill the gap and find the money on a fixed budget.

Thanks to @alexisconran.bsky.social for having my on his @listentotimesradio.bsky.social show with Damian Green to discuss the mooted disability and sickness benefit cuts and why cuts shouldn't be countenanced. Listen from 36mins in at thetimes.com/radio/show/2....

An ambitious child poverty strategy must put cash in the pockets of the worst off. Hope this article is just flying a kite - a strategy that ignores the evidence would be embarrassing www.theguardian.com/education/20...

We’re delighted to be co-hosting an event at the Scottish Labour Party conference tomorrow focused on how to deliver a Scotland free from poverty We’ll be joined by @mrsemmajacko.bsky.social @kirstymcneill.bsky.social @pfokane.bsky.social @ruthboyler.bsky.social 🗓️ Fri 21 Feb, 17:30-18:30 📍Alsh 2

⏰At Scottish Labour Party Conference this week?⏰ Then come to our fringe event: ⏲️Sat - 22 Feb - 17.30 to 18.30 Come hear @pfokane.bsky.social, @mrsemmajacko.bsky.social and me talk about what needs to be done to meet the child poverty reduction targets and why it is so important.