@jrf-uk.bsky.social
We work to speed up and support the transition to a future free from poverty, in which people and planet can flourish. https://www.jrf.org.uk/
Deprivation isn’t only a rural or coastal issue. Some larger cities - Manchester, Birmingham & London - see high levels of deprivation too - driven by high housing costs and high levels of insecure work and low pay.
Wherever you live should not affect your chances in life -but this is not the case.
Weak labour markets and low wages drive high deprivation in these areas.
While housing costs tend to be lower, the quality of housing can be much poorer.
🏠For example, 1 in 4 (25%) homes in Blackpool and 1 in 5 (21%) homes in Hastings are of poor quality.
🚨New deprivation data reveals continual deep regional divides across many areas in England.
High levels of deprivation are concentrated in many ex-industrial northern and midlands towns and coastal areas, where manufacturing and tourism industries have been lost.
Great to be at powerful @turn2us.org.uk report launch in Parliament today, alongside @jrf-uk.bsky.social colleagues! Our social security system should be there for all of us when we need support, and treat people with compassion, dignity and respect #StopTheStigma
30.10.2025 11:21 — 👍 10 🔁 6 💬 2 📌 0
🛒 Food, rent, energy and transport make up 46% of basic spending for the lowest income Northern Ireland households.
Head of NI Ursula O'Hare sat on @consumercouncilni.bsky.social panel last week to discuss the latest findings from their Household Expenditure Tracker.
Full report: bit.ly/4qvAmUu
A lady standing and a man in a power wheelchair pointing at a large poster saying Scotland demands better. The sky is blue and the sun is shining.
A group of people of all ages holding placards that say "lack of action = more poverty" and "you're not listening, listen to the people"
Children holding placards on a cobbled street
People marching through a city with placards and banners. The sky is blue and the sun is shining.
Scotland Demands Better was the breath of solidarity and joy that was needed this weekend! Great to be there with my @jrf-uk.bsky.social colleagues, the End Poverty Scotland Group and our family and friends. Let's keep up the momentum!
27.10.2025 12:53 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0📅 Happening tomorrow!
Colleagues @cdbirt.bsky.social @carlaonion.bsky.social @anniemckenzie.bsky.social will join thousands to march across Edinburgh as part of the #ScotlandDemandsBetter rally.
A life free from poverty is possible - and change happens when people stand together and demand it. 👇
It is time for trust to be rebuilt in our political institutions. With nearly 1 in 4 children experiencing poverty in Scotland, there is no better place to start than building a better future for every child 🚸
Read our Poverty in Scotland report: https://www.jrf.org.uk/poverty-in-scotland-2025.
"You would be forgiven for thinking this amount must be based on what a person needs to get by in the UK today. That would be logical for our social security system. But you would be wrong."
🗣️ Hear from our Principal Policy Adviser @katieschmuecker.bsky.social for @bigissue.com
Quote card with an image of Chris Belfield, Principal Policy Adviser at JRF, saying: "It’s not enough to tweak the system each year if the result is still far from a level people should be able to expect if they need support in hard times. The standard allowance, the basic rate that people on Universal Credit receive, should enable people to afford life’s essentials."
The UK needs an independent process to calculate what the standard allowance should be that actually reflects what people need to get by.
🛡️ This would significantly strengthen our benefits system’s ability to protect people from hardship when they need it most.
Anyone's circumstances can change overnight - losing your job, caring for a family member or splitting up with a partner.
🔒 These can happen at any point, and our social security system should be there to protect us from hardship.
That's why our call is so urgent.
Millions face hardship because of this arbitrary process.
Our May 2025 analysis showed:
- Around 5 in 6 low-income families on UC went without essentials in the previous six months
- 55% of low-income families on UC held a loan to pay for essentials
❌ This cannot continue.
📢 We're calling for an independent process that ensures UC standard allowance reflects the real world cost of a basket of essentials.
To be able to afford the essentials in 2025/26, we calculated a single person needs at least £120 a week and a couple needs at least £205.
Currently, the basic rate of UC for a single person aged 25 years or older is just £92 a week.
For couples it’s just £145.
🚫 Even as today's inflation figure pushes up the basic rate of benefit from £92 to closer to £100, this still falls far short of what's needed.
bsky.app/profile/stat...
📝 Uprating of benefits above inflation was promised by the Universal Credit Act in September.
But even with this increase, we estimate a large gap in the cost of essentials:
- Single adults face a shortfall of over £1,000 per year
- Couples face a shortfall of over £2,500 per year
📊 Latest inflation figures published this morning show that CPI inflation sat at 3.8% for September.
Why does this month's figure matter more?
The government will use it to inform how much to uprate benefits by from April 2026. 🔽
Next, our editor @nmozz.bsky.social explored the impact of race on child poverty.
"The more explicit we are in defining the problem, the better our chance at devising efficient solutions that are genuinely effective in the communities that need them the most."
national.thelead.uk/p/child-pove...
To start with, we have an op-ed from Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Principal Policy Adviser, @katieschmuecker.bsky.social, who called on the government to set more ambitious targets for tackling child poverty
national.thelead.uk/p/child-pove...
Children in Scotland are 4x as likely to be in poverty if they are in two or more of the priority families that Scottish gov identified to highlight children at greater risk of poverty.
Politicians must recognise the intersections between these groups 📢
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VqCa3k5gtLQ
In today's newsletter, we share The Lead's stance on child poverty, and a call from Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Principal Policy Adviser, @katieschmuecker.bsky.social, who says the government's ambitions to tackle child poverty must be set higher.
@jrf-uk.bsky.social
Today, The Lead is launching its latest campaign to end child poverty now.
The government insists we cannot afford to lift children out of poverty, while those same children pay the price for political caution.
This is no longer workable.
national.thelead.uk/p/child-pove...
The Scottish gov identified 6 priority families to highlight children at greater risk of poverty
9 in 10 children in poverty live in 1 or more of these priority families
Devastating stats tell us how important it is to invest in a better future for all 🚸
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NLTsFhPGgFU
A chart showing how regular wages are growing after taking account of inflation. The first few months of the period starting September 2023 showed relatively slow growth, but there was consistent growth between February 2024 and September 2024, meaning wages grew by 2.4% over the year. This latter period is in contrast to the period starting September 2024, where growth has hovered around zero. Between September 2023 and August 2024, wages grew 2.1%, but in the same period a year later, they grew just 0.2%.
We are still at near zero real earnings growth since Sept 2024, 11th month in row. We had a very small rise in earnings in August 2025 on previous month, leaving earnings up just 0.2% on Sept 2024.
14.10.2025 08:26 — 👍 35 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 0
For questions contact Rosie Worsdale, Senior Policy Adviser (Housing), at rosie.worsdale@jrf.org.uk before Wednesday 22 October. @jrf-uk.bsky.social
www.jrf.org.uk/funding
Calling housing academics, researchers and economists - we've put out a tender for research on private landlord profits; how substantial are they, how are they distributed, from rent vs. capital etc.
Apply at the link below! Budget up to £40k including vat.
Please reshare!!
Read the full briefing here: www.jrf.org.uk/social-secur...
13.10.2025 09:29 — 👍 13 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0🔒 The Protected Minimum Floor would be a key step towards:
- Increasing living standards
- Reducing child poverty
- Ending the need for food banks
This would be at relatively little additional cost - £340 million in 2025/26, rising to £380 million in 2029/30.
Applied to all recipients, a minimum floor would lift 130,000 additional people out of poverty in 2025/26, including 80,000 children.
📉 It would reduce the depth of poverty for a further 160,000 children.
The government must act now to achieve their stated goals in office 🔽
This principle should extend to all deductions - including the benefit cap.
Doing so would create a protected minimum floor 15% below the standard allowance.
💷 In 2025/26, this would work out as £78 a week for a single adult aged 25 or older.
A protected minimum floor would limit the total amount that could be taken from a household's UC.
The government rightly introduced the Fair Repayment Rate earlier this year, limiting debt deductions to 15% of the standard allowance.
Now it's time for them to go further 🔽
