Late to share (cos life) We need to talk more about fact UK still has a Benefit Cap, & one that causes real, lasting harm, while ascribing the thousands of families affected with a power they do not have. 📖 New article on @nuffieldfoundation.org funded research www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

An impossible move? Households’ experiences of trying to escape the UK’s benefit cap | Journal of Social Policy | Cambridge Core

An impossible move? Households’ experiences of trying to escape the UK’s benefit cap

cambridge.org

We brought the Jobcentre to Parliament. MPs stepped into experiences produced and delivered with people with lived experience. They saw the reality people face every day and what’s possible when Jobcentres lead with trust, not suspicion. Together, we can stop the stigma and fix the system.

Family Finances report and briefing out today! Our research shows that the Scottish Child Payment is reducing child poverty but more investment is needed if children are to go beyond surviving to thriving. Similar investment is needed in the rest of the UK. familyfinances.study/findings-rep...

Fantastic to see @johnswinney.bsky.social cite our new analysis of the very real difference that the Scottish Child Payment is making in Scotland. Investment in social security is a good thing! By @kittyjstewart.bsky.social @emmatominey.bsky.social @ilonapin.bsky.social @katejandersen.bsky.social

John Swinney@johnswinney.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New study from LSE, York & Glasgow universities shows the Scottish Child Payment is transforming lives. Without it, 70,000 more children would face deprivation and food insecurity. We will keep investing in families and lifting children out of poverty.

Two new Working Papers from our mixed-methods study Family Finances out now📣 📰 Our first paper looks at the emerging qual & quant findings showing that Scottish Child Payment is making a significant difference to household resources & children's wellbeing 🧵

New working paper based on the mixed-methods Family Finances project shows the Scottish Child Payment makes a significant difference to families. This investment in children needs to be built upon & similar investment is needed for children in the rest of the UK. sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/...

Brilliant that the poverty-producing 2 child limit is going. So glad of the difference this will make to families across the UK, including the parents who took part in the Benefit Changes and Larger Families project & generously shared their experiences with us. The benefit cap needs to go next.

Prof Ruth Patrick@ruthpatrick0.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Over the last five years @nuffieldfoundation.org funded @kittyjstewart.bsky.social @aaronreeves.bsky.social @katejandersen.bsky.social @jdportes.bsky.social @katejandersen.bsky.social and I to research the impact of the two-child limit & the benefit cap largerfamilies.study

New research from #CASE shows why tackling child poverty requires removing the two-child limit and benefit cap. www.lse.ac.uk/news/employm...

New research | Why the two-child limit and benefit cap must be scrapped

New analysis shows why the two-child limit and benefit cap must be scrapped to tackle child poverty.

lse.ac.uk

NEW STATS: 1 in 9 children (1.6 million) are affected by the two-child limit. Government’s moral mission to tackle child poverty will make our country a better, stronger place, but families urgently need action not just words.

We've published the first round of @safety-nets.bsky.social's Annual Policymaker Reports These provide important insights for policymakers across the UK working to tackle child poverty safetynets.study/publications...

Annual Policymaker Reports – A Safety Nets briefing

This is the first in a series of Annual Policymaker Reports that summarise key findings from across the Safety Nets project for policymaker audiences. Each series has five reports containing key infor...

safetynets.study

V important research from @beckshewer.bsky.social showing the serious deficiencies in how the heinous 'rape clause' in the two-child limit operates in practice

Rebecca Hewer@beckshewer.bsky.social · last yr.

In 2017 the UK government sparked outrage by enacting a 'non-consensual conception exception' to its two-child limit, but we know very little about how this 'rape clause' has played out in practice. My new research exposes fundamental flaws in the policy (details below)

Are you: ✅ Living in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland? ✅ A parent or carer of a child under 18? ✅ Receiving at least one UK benefit (e.g. Universal Credit, PIP, Tax Credits) or asylum support? If so – we’d love to hear from you. safetynets.study/take-part

Safety nets — Social security for families in a devolved UK

This project will explore the extent of the devolution of social security within the UK and the realities, risks, and opportunities this poses for families with dependent children.

safetynets.study

New @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social blog on local welfare as part of our @safety-nets.bsky.social research. In workstream 3 we're exploring discretionary & local welfare & asking questions about spatial inequalities & poverty reduction. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

“I never ever get to the end of the month feeling ok” Today's poverty stats reveal growing inequality in UK. In latest @changingrealities.bsky.social briefing, parents share what life is really like & set out a new approach - and why the government must act. changingrealities.org/writings/cut...

The latest Household Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics show that poverty continues to affect millions of children in the UK, with 4.5 million affected by poverty during 2023-2024, an increase of 100,00 on the year before. These figures should shame us all, and must be examined alongside the UK Government’s proposals to take £4.8 billion in social security support from some of the most vulnerable, and indeed poorest, among us. The Government’s own Impact Assessment suggests that 50,000 more children will be pulled into relative poverty as a direct result of these changes. But another way is possible. For the past five years, almost 200 parents and carers living on a low-income from all four nations of the UK have been working alongside researchers at the University of York and Child Poverty Action Group to document everyday life in poverty and to push for change. The project started life as Covid Realities in the pandemic and became Changing Realities in a cost-of-living crisis that has never gone away. In our work together, we have contributed real-time evidence to policymakers, challenged harmful media narratives, and developed co-produced recommendations for change.

changingrealities.org

Ahead of the Spring Statement, piece from @kittyjstewart.bsky.social & I on how the two-child limit & the benefit cap need to be fully abolished if the child poverty strategy is to have real impact. Both policies cause damage to children's current & future lives. theconversation.com/our-research...

Our research shows the harm the two-child limit on benefits is doing. Only scrapping it can end this

Many parents we spoke to had resorted to using foodbanks or had cut back on food spending.

theconversation.com

Our first Family Finances event held at the House of Lords: What difference can cash transfers make to low income families @financialfairness.bsky.social @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social @kittyjstewart.bsky.social @katejandersen.bsky.social @aaronreeves.bsky.social www.york.ac.uk/policy-engin...

Family Finances host House of Lords roundtable on impact of cash transfers to families

On 4th February 2025, Family Finances held a House of Lords Roundtable, hosted by Baroness Ruth Lister, to explore the impact of cash transfers to families with children.

york.ac.uk

1 in 2 children in families with three or more children will be in poverty by the end of this parliament without abolition of the two-child limit says @alexclegg.bsky.social @resfoundation.bsky.social today. The future must be better www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

Turning the tide • Resolution Foundation

Ahead of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, which promises to bring about “an enduring reduction in child poverty”, this report looks at what might be needed to achieve this welcome goal in the ...

resolutionfoundation.org

New project will find out if the Scottish Child Payment alleviates financial hardship & impacts less tangible aspects of poverty like stigma. With @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social @kittyjstewart.bsky.social @emmatominey.bsky.social, Ilona Pinter & Suzanna Nesom, funded by @financialfairness.bsky.social

Big Issue@bigissue.com · 2y ago

Kate Anderson, a research fellow at the University of York, writes about stigma faced by universal credit claimants – and why the Labour government must look at Social Security Scotland as an example for making a positive difference. ⬇️ https://bit.ly/42jUuiK