Kate Summers

I can’t envisage a child poverty strategy which garners any credibility without fully scrapping the two-child limit.

Unconvinced? Check out (even better share) this summary of the peer-reviewed evidence base @kittyjstewart.bsky.social @aaronreeves.bsky.social

largerfamilies.study/publications...

Using my first Bluesky post to share that Marsha Wood & I have a new article out! 🎉

We take a gendered street-level look at how Universal Credit policies shape parents’ everyday realities of navigating work, care & welfare.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Found this a v useful set of provocations on quali analysis and gen ai.

Articles that comprise a new Special Issue (in the Debates in Social Welfare in the Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law) are accessible via early online view. Edited by @jedmeers.bsky.social & @haylesben.bsky.social the SI includes 5 papers examining the ‘interface first welfare state’ ⬇️

The DWP are advertising for a new intake of academic secondees. This is the role I'm currently doing - happy to talk to anyone about what it's like!
www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi...

This autumn will see the publication of the first UK child poverty strategy in many years. It is a time-limited and vital opportunity to make real and lasting difference to the lives of the 4.5 million children currently living in poverty. In this new report, co-produced with IPPR, we set out a realistic and targeted agenda for change. Now is the time to take sustainable and effective action on child poverty, working with the everyday experiences of families who know what would make a difference to them and their lives.

Been lots of debate about what might turn the dial on child poverty. But we hear far less from families in poverty. Our new briefing sets out a blueprint for a successful child poverty strategy, grounded in experiences of hardship

changingrealities.org/writings/get...

Pls read + share this 🧵

This looks great, thanks for sharing Jody. Looking forward to reading.

‘Lived experience’ is valued in activism – but is it doing more harm than good? Activists without ‘lived experience’ can feel unsure of their place.

Delighted to have a piece in The Conversation today.

Can centring lived experience in activism weaken collective action? And why is the far right starting to use this language too?

theconversation.com/lived-experi...

#activism #livedexperience @theconversation.com

Critical perspectives on lived experience in social security policy research | Find out about the workshop organised by
@benbgeiger.bsky.social & @katesummers.bsky.social
aimed at fostering a network of experts, practitioners & academics in the field sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/re...

cc. @lsemethodology.bsky.social @lseinequalities.bsky.social @lse-sticerd-case.bsky.social

We think this tells us something more broadly about potential for policy change and rupture: even in the extraordinary conditions of the pandemic, longer running discourses around welfare deservingness stuck.

Using qualitative interviews, we find that claimants' accounts of welfare deservingness during the covid-19 pandemic were remarkably consistent with pre-pandemic accounts.

E.g. claimants still centred their work ethic and contributions to the system, to explain/ justify their benefit claim.

We've published a new article "Claiming deservingness: The durability of social security claimant discourses during the Covid-19 pandemic"
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
@benbgeiger.bsky.social @lisa-scullion.bsky.social @davidhjyoung.bsky.social @danieledmiston.bsky.social

A progressive agenda on the medicalisation of mental health Some theoretical groundwork to start paving the way towards an alternative to cuts, and towards a better, more inclusive society more broadly

Essential from @benbgeiger.bsky.social inequalities.substack.com/p/progressiv...

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.

Picture of University of Glasgow and text that says 'ESRC-funded Supervisor led Studentship: Disabled People's Lived Experience of Benefit Reform and the Costs of Disability' First Supervisor Professor Sharon Wright Second Supervisor Professor Charlotte Pearson. Application deadline: 10 April 5pm BST. A link to apply is included.

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/...

Focus on the causes, not the symptoms The forthcoming disability benefits green paper could exemplify a new approach to welfare — instead it is likely to apply the same old…

Full essay available here: medium.com/@craig.berry...

Just how common is benefits conditionality? There are newspaper claims that conditionality is rare, but wider claims conditionality is ubiquitous – this post explains how both can be true.

open.substack.com/pub/inequali...

@benbgeiger.bsky.social summarises some of our WASD project work on benefits conditionality. Inc making some sense of mismatched reports of v widespread vs. low levels of conditionality.

Indentured: benefit deductions, debt recovery &and welfare disciplining - Daniel Edmiston's webinar topic next week (23rd, 11am) as part of @i-sphere.bsky.social /Centre for Homelessness & Inclusion health series. Please share & join us. All welcome! i-sphere.site.hw.ac.uk/event/i-sphe...

I’m entering the final stages of data collection on research I’m doing into disability employment. If you have a physical disability and are UK based, I’d be especially grateful to hear from you. The survey is at:

cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

#AcademicSky #Disability

Wayne, Steve, Tracy and Penny of our Speaking Truth to Power programme speak from the stage at a conference at London School of Economics.

As part of #SpeakingTruthToPower, Stef, Penny, Steve, Tracy & Wayne spoke at a Nov LSE conference led by @katesummers.bsky.social & @bengeiger.bsky.social about how to work with people with experience of poverty. We loved hearing from @changingrealities.bsky.social & @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social.

Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly The Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly is a legal research journal published quarterly by the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast.

Ooh I'm glad you found this. I found a copy in the National Library of Scotland (it's also in the Science Museum) and wrote a wee article about what I thought about it nilq.qub.ac.uk/index.php/ni...

Oh brilliant, thanks for sharing Jackie. I look forward to reading!

7. And some more modern comms - The New Labour Targetting Fraud campaign.

6. A 1950s reminder that policy at one time was targeted at larger families!

5. A 1930s pension order book.

4. 1950s 'How to claim' posters.

3. These 1970s posters raising awareness on maternity allowance and pension entitlement.

2. A 1930s (I think) poster publicizing that the Employment Exhange caters for professional jobs too.

1. A 1948 booklet on the greatly expanded National Insurance scheme.
The ministerial forword notes "I am afraid you will find some parts complicated...please ask your nearest National Insurance Office for help. You will find staff there very ready to give you all the help and explanation they can."