Around 1 in 4 children in Scotland are living in poverty. Poverty remains far too high, and people are feeling overlooked and ignored by politicians. The next Scottish Parliament is an opportunity to build a better future for all children in Scotland. 🔽 1/4

A better welfare system is possible - one that treats people with dignity, compassion, and care 🤝 In our latest online listening with @demos-uk.bsky.social, we continue to see people's experience of the welfare system as inaccessible, inflexible, and inhumane. 1/2

“I’m feeling sick from fear about this transition from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit. I’ve lost several hundred pounds” This is one of hundreds of stories from my research into financial hardship and the welfare system with @jrf-uk.bsky.social

✍ NEW BLOG | Putting humanity at the heart of welfare @j-hancock.bsky.social reflects on 13 years of online conversations evidencing the enduring challenges that people face when navigating the #welfare system. This blog draws from our ongoing Online Listening research with @jrf-uk.bsky.social.

How can leaders in our struggling public institutions support the emergence of alternatives? 🤝 Find out about our new initiative with @kinship.works in this blog from @mssophiaparker.bsky.social and @jamestplunkett.bsky.social: medium.com/@jamestplunk...

"More wage growth in first 10 months of Labour than in first 10 years of Conservatives" is true only on a technicality, due to Covid. The reality is wages have been terrible for 15 years and the present government are reproducing the average almost perfectly. That's also what people are feeling.

📢Without action, families with children will see their incomes fall by the end of this Parliament. But our new analysis shows it doesn't have to be this way. Scrapping the two-child limit and adding a protected minimum floor into Universal Credit could reverse this trend. 🧵

We're on track for a decade of decline in families’ disposables incomes by the end of the parliament. But this is not inevitable. The gov can introduce targeted policies like investing in social security, and interventions in key areas like housing and energy. Listen on @lbc.co.uk 🔽

Introducing a protected minimum floor together with ending the two-child limit would lift 500,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament and reduce the depth of poverty for a further 1 million. 6/6 Read more here: www.jrf.org.uk/child-povert...

The benefit cap disproportionately hits families already at high risk of poverty. Of families with children affected: - around 5 in 6 are single-parent families - over half have 3 or more children - over half have a youngest child under 5 years old 3/6

New DWP data today shows 123,000 families – including 103,000 (over 4 in 5) with children – had their Universal Credit reduced by the benefit cap in May 2025. This eats into UC’s already inadequate basic rate, pulling it further below what’s needed to afford life's essentials. 1/6

On 6 Oct, we'll be launching our Poverty in Scotland report ⚙️ Building a Scotland where all children have the chance to flourish is an investment both in our children and our futures Join us for the latest data and our hopes for the next Scottish Parliament: events.zoom.us/ev/Amsdg9QQK...

Britain’s care system is running on unpaid labour — and most of it falls on women. Read the report by @jrf-uk.bsky.social's @abbyabhaya.bsky.social here: www.ippr.org/articles/who...

Ignoring the care challenge is increasingly impossible. We are getting older and anxiety about living costs, squeezed by care demands, continues. Care costs are also the key driver of many local councils cutting other services, weakening public trust in government. The moment is now. (5/

Excited to share a new report I've written for @ippr.org's Decade of National Renewal project. We are all living longer but policy isn't meeting the scale of the current - or future - challenge. Progressives have a generational opportunity to shape the future of a vital public service. (1/

It is party conference season and JRF will be there 🎤 We'll be hosting panels on living standards, affording the essentials, tackling the housing crisis, and more! Find out what we're up to: www.jrf.org.uk/events.

🚨BREAKING NEWS: Shocking health and diet disparities revealed today🚨 🆕Our brand new Health and Diet Inequalities Dashboard makes it clear that the most deprived areas of the country also have the highest rates of disease related to poor diet. 🔍Explore now ➡️ bit.ly/inequalities...

The latest OBR forecasts suggest the average family may end the current parliament financially worse off than they were at the start. That's unlikely to be a survivable record to defend at the ballot box, but there may be a way to turn it around. New piece from me for Political Quarterly.

One week left to apply 📅 We’re hiring for a Research Officer and a Lead Researcher. Are you passionate about conducting qualitative research on poverty and financial hardship? Do you have a strong commitment to ethical and inclusive research? Apply here: www.jrf.org.uk/careers.

Listening must shape policy: what can social media can tell us about poverty? 🤔 Aleks Collingwood explains why policymakers, charities and researchers must listen directly to people with lived experience if they want to drive real change: demos.co.uk/blogs/listen... 1/2

Tax reform quietly helped reshaped the housing market: fewer landlords, more first-time buyers, no clear harm to tenants. Read more in our @jrf-uk.bsky.social report www.jrf.org.uk/housing/reba...

The gov must make our tax system fairer to boost homeownership 📢 Reforms introduced in 2016 addressed tax imbalances that benefited landlords over homebuyers, allowing more first-time buyers to buy a home - and without negative impacts on tenants critics warned of. 1/3

After a year of a new govt people on low to middle incomes are still struggling to reach the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) 📢 @crsp-uk.bsky.social, supported by JRF, calculated the costs needed to achieve this standard of living in the UK in 2025 1/4

Interesting new report out from @thefabians.bsky.social today on why the UK needs to extend sick pay protections to the self-employed 👇

Wealth inequality isn’t just about concentration at the top- it's also about building assets at the bottom, to give everyone a fairer stake. Our new piece explores insights from a joint roundtable with @jrf-uk.bsky.social on this challenge: 🔗https://www.faircomment.co.uk/p/spreading-the-muck

“We're seeing more people trapped in severe and sustained poverty, turning to food banks because they have nowhere else to go" @helenbarnard.bsky.social 📝 The cross-party Poverty Strategy Commission report is out today. It would lift 4.2 million people out of poverty. 1/2

Deadline midnight this Thursday 📆 We're hiring a Senior Media Manager to run our busy day to day news operation, juggle competing stories, finesse and apply key messages, and turn complex material into influential evidence. Interested? Apply here: jrf.octo-firstclass.co.uk/candidates/c...

Two new jobs! We’re hiring for a Research Officer and a Lead Researcher. Are you passionate about conducting qualitative research on poverty and financial hardship? Do you have a strong commitment to ethical and inclusive research? Then these jobs might be for you! 1/2

Today, Ofgem announced the energy price cap will rise by 2% from October. Energy bills are already unaffordable in the UK, so what does this mean for families who are struggling now? Thread 🧵 (1/4)

Applications close Monday 📢 We’re looking for a Media Manager who can identify news stories that resonate with the media and political debates. You’ll thrive in shaping strategy and work with colleagues to turn policy ideas into media successes. Apply: jrf.org.uk/careers.

Today @jrf-uk.bsky.social focuses on how to frame communications so that we can boost local support for building more homes in communities in the latest of our how to talk about homes series. Another fabulous turnout from our members 😀

CPI rose by 3.8% in the 12 months to July 25 Rising inflation is just part of the financial load families are asked to bear There's been virtually no real wage growth since Sept, the number of job opps is falling and private rents have increased sharply. Now prices are increasing quickly again 1/2

To engage people on the problem of wealth inequality, we should focus on the “unfair influence” wielded by those at the top, write @michaelvaughan.bsky.social, @wealtherty.bsky.social & Annalena Oppel, even if that causes outrage. @jrf-uk.bsky.social 🔗 buff.ly/GAf0Es5

On average across England private renters spent 36% of incomes on rent, increasing to 42% in London. This compares to 26% in Wales and 25% in Northern Ireland. The North East of England is most affordable with private rents at on average around 20% of incomes.

ONS have published new private rented affordability analysis for 2024. Ratios of rents to incomes dipped in 2022/23 as incomes climbed faster than rents. Rents have been catching up so affordability has worsened again and seems likely it will continue to worsen through 2025...

Are you ready to help us make the news? 🤔 Do you want to use your instincts for what makes a good media story to make a difference for those living in poverty? We have two job roles in our media team: - Senior Media Manager - Media Manager Apply here: www.jrf.org.uk/careers.

GDP grew 0.3% between Apr and June. But the story for families behind these numbers is declining living standards Without affordable housing, a stable job and strong safety nets, people are less able to take risks or invest in the future Rising living standards are essential for a strong economy 📢

A very small fall in earnings in June 2025 on previous month - now just 0.2% up on Sept 2024, around an eighth of the growth in the same period last year.

New job alert 📢 We're hiring a Senior Media Manager Salary: £54,163.20 (plus £5k London weighting) Location: London/York Do you want to use your instincts for what makes a good media story to make a difference for those living in poverty? 1/2

Half of low-income families with no recourse to public funds are falling into destitution 📢 We need urgent policy change so that anyone experiencing hardship in the UK has a place to turn for support. Read our latest briefing: www.jrf.org.uk/deep-poverty....

Ahead of tomorrow’s Monetary Policy Report, look at how real earnings have stagnated since September. They’re up just 0.3% between September 2024 and the latest May 2025 data, just a fifth of the growth over the same period in 2023-24. (1/5)

We’re hiring a Media Manager 📢 Can you identify compelling news stories that resonate with the mainstream media and political debates? Do you thrive in shaping strategy and working with colleagues to turn policy ideas into media successes? Apply: jrf.octo-firstclass.co.uk/candidates/c....

📣 First episode of Antisocial Economics podcast with @wealtherty.bsky.social out now! In this episode, Sarah Kerr talks to @profjanegreen.bsky.social about the role of wealth in the widening sense of economic insecurity and electoral volatility. Listen here ⬇️

Conversations with residents offer a deep account of the realities of life in their neighbourhood – an understanding that would be unattainable observing only data We are partnering with Place Matters and Just Knowledge to equip communities with knowledge, power, and agency to drive social change 🤝

As part of the Joseph Rowntree Centenary we've partnered with The Rowntree Society to curate a display of original archival documents exploring Joseph's life and legacy & we'd love you to come and see it! Drop into The Yorkshire Room any time between 11-1 this Friday 8th August to find out more🍫

Learning and Impact Lead applications close Thursday 🚨 Can you help us and our network better understand how change happens and the difference we can make in community organising, narrative change and wider civil society for a more equitable future? jrf.octo-firstclass.co.uk/candidates/c....

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-...

Do you want to make change happen? Do you have media experience and a unique perspective? Then this job might be for you 🔽 We are hiring a Media Manager who can identify compelling news stories. 1/2

People currently receiving UC’s health element experience disproportionate and unacceptably high levels of hardship. Cutting it will just make disabled people poorer and make it harder for people trying to recover from ill health or move towards work. 2/5

Govt dropped cuts to PIP, but today's Committee report highlights MPs' concerns that many disabled people will be pushed into poverty by remaining cuts to Universal Credit's health element. In evidence to the inquiry I warned of the hardship this will cause. 1/5 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...