Tom Pollard

Huge moment to finally see the two-child limit scrapped. It has been a machine for driving up child poverty, which will cost us all more in the long term, scarring the lives of those directly hit by its cruel impact. Credit to everyone who has tirelessly campaigned for its end

Finally, the only way to support significant numbers of young people to overcome the barriers they face, particularly around mental health, will be to foster genuine engagement & offer genuine opportunities. Reverting to compliance & cuts again would be a huge mistake /5

This means listening to young people directly & accounting for the whole range of social, emotional & economic factors that they have experienced

There are some welcome comments on this in McFadden's Times interview, including recognition that this is an "issue of inequality" /4

One thing I've learnt from frontline practice is that if you start from a position of assuming people are trying their best in the circumstances they're facing, you're much more likely to understand how they have ended up where they are & what might help them to progress /3

First & foremost, it mustn't start with lazy pre-conceptions about young people's character, motivation & honesty

Positive to see Pat McFadden's response to the question of 'overdiagnosis': "I don't want to play amateur doctor. I want to approach this with sensitivity." /2

Inquiry to review rising levels of youth inactivity Former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn will lead the investigation, with conclusions set to be published next summer.

Any genuine attempt to better understand what is going on around young people, unemployment & poor health is welcome, especially as an alternative to rushing to propose further benefit cuts

Critical that this review gets some key things right though... 🧵
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The full @mind.org.uk report is available here: t.co/9Vf4fyNnD5

Mental health affecting education attendance 'for half of young people', says report A charity providing early intervention and crisis support tells Sky News it's seen an increase in young people using its services since the pandemic.

Powerful Sky News piece on the need for better support services for young people's mental health, based a new
@mind.org.uk report

Long waits for support are impacting young people's mental & physical health, as well as their education & employment news.sky.com/story/mental...

Quote from BBC News article: Mental health charity Mind's head of policy Tom Pollard said Reform's plan seemed muddled and did not appear to "bear any relation to how this benefit actually works", not least because PIP is not an out of work benefit. "People have to prove they face significant health and disability-related barriers in their day-to-day lives to qualify for Pip, and it is not based on diagnosis," he said. "Anxiety can have a debilitating impact, and many people will also have multiple and complex health issues when anxiety is recorded as their 'primary condition'."

.@mind.org.uk's response to Reform's proposals to "cut PIP payments to people with anxiety" in this BBC News
piece: bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So much of the political debate around PIP betrays a complete lack of understanding of what the benefit is for, who gets it & how it's assessed

PIP is assessed based on the impact of health problems & disabilities (often multiple & complex) on someone's ability to live independently

Saying "we'll stop PIP for people with anxiety" just bears no relation to the reality of how the benefit operates www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...

Government ‘must go further and faster on hubs for youngsters’ mental health’ A report by mental health charity Mind said many young people are reaching crisis point before they receive any kind of care.

Coverage of @mind.org.uk's new report on youth mental health

Government plans for 50 youth hubs are welcome, but a serious response to the scale of the crisis requires services like this in every local authority, as part of a wider youth mental health strategy www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Suicide rates among young people in England rose 50% in 10 years, figures show Charities accuse government of ‘sliding backwards’ on child mental health after ONS findings

Heartbreaking figures. The causes will, of course, be complex. But a caricatured debate about 'overdiagnosis' is a dangerous distraction when, as @mind.org.uk's @gemmabyrne.bsky.social says here, over half a million under-18s are on mental health waiting lists www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Important work by @kslharrison.bsky.social of @citizensadvice.bsky.social - 'support conversations' between DWP & disabled people should about genuine engagement, not just process-driven compliance. That means being voluntary, empathic, flexible & holistic www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

You can find the full analysis here by Health Equity North here: committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

How Reeves could save £12bn without cutting disability benefits Billions could be recouped by the Treasury by offering careers support for the disabled

Welcome intervention, commissioned by @debbieabrahamsmp.bsky.social's Work and Pensions Select Committee, to demonstrate that better employment support for disabled people could generate significant fiscal savings, without needing to rely on crude cuts to benefits inews.co.uk/news/politic...

‘Alarming rise’ in mental health stigma in England, research shows One in 10 people unwilling to live next to someone who has been mentally ill even if they have recovered, Mind reports

After many years of hard-fought progress on attitudes towards mental health, things seem to be slipping

Simplistic, often malicious, narratives about people's experiences & motivations, alongside the fallout of under-funded services, are increasing stigma www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Sick who go back to work end up in low-paid, physically tough jobs Only a tiny fraction of economically inactive find a job each year, and it is often an unsuitable role where they can only last a few months, research shows

"Pushing people into insecure, physical, inflexible work when they are already challenged by disability or mental health problems is futile. These jobs don’t work and they don’t last"

Spot on from @claremcneil.bsky.social - important work by @timewise.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

New Mental Health Act data out today:

-52,000 detentions last year (similar to the previous year)

-Black people 4x more likely than white people to be detained (up from 3.5x)

-A 17% increase in Community Treatment Orders

-Black people 8.5x more likely that white people to be on CTOs (up from 7x)

Hunger in the UK 2025 | Trussell The latest report in our flagship Hunger in the UK research series provides a ‘state of the nation’ look at the scale and drivers of food bank provision and food insecurity across the UK.

Full report here: www.trussell.org.uk/news-and-res...

Chart showing the prevalence of conditions and impairments for people referred to Trussel food banks compared to the general population. 18% referred to food banks had a physical disability compared to 7% in the general population. 25% had a long-term physical disability compared to 20% in the general population. 58% had a mental health condition compared to 15% in the general population. And 9% had a learning disability or difficulty compared to 2% in the general population

New @trusselluk.bsky.social data shows millions more people experiencing food insecurity than two years earlier

If we want to understand the rising prevalence of mental health problems, we should start with the rocketing numbers of households facing inadequate social & economic circumstances

Better engagement for better outcomes Taking a rapid test and learn approach to engagement with people out of work due to disabilities and poor health

Thanks Nicola. It all came from this paper last year that Lloyds Banks Foundation kindly funded! neweconomics.org/2024/08/bett...

Increasing voluntary engagement with employment support Findings from a test and learn pilot led by Camden council

The report contains a wealth of info about how we developed & delivered this proactive outreach

It's critical that DWP & local government fully explores the potential for improving voluntary engagement before considering mandatory appointments for this group 3/3 neweconomics.org/2025/08/incr...

Chart showing that, from 757 residents successfully contacted, 110 (15%) volunteered to take part in a support chat, 79 support chats were successfully completed, each leading to 2.6 referrals into other services on average, with 42% of people agreeing to a referral to employment support

With just one pass at reaching out to a cohort of 800 residents over a four week period, we were able to engage 10% with a support conversation, of which over 40% agreed to an onward referral to employment support. We identified many opportunities to improve on these numbers 2/3

Image of report cover with the title 'Increasing voluntary engagement with employment support: Findings from a test and learn pilot led by Camden Council' with logos for the New Economics Foundation and Camden Council

My final piece of work for @neweconomics.bsky.social was a collaboration with Camden Council & a brilliant team of staff there

We ran a test & learn pilot to explore how to increase voluntary engagement with employment support among ill & disabled residents 1/3

Head of Social Policy Together we can change the rules to protect the planet, share the wealth and give everyone a say in how the economy is run.

Wrapping up at @neweconomics.bsky.social today after a really enjoyable two & a half years leading the social policy team

Very excited to be returning to @mind.org.uk as head of policy, campaigns & public affairs in September

Means there's a great job going at NEF: neweconomics.org/about/work-w...

Southwark sees 77% rise in homeless children, report finds There is one classroom worth of homeless children for every primary school, the report says.

BBC coverage of a powerful new report by @neweconomics.bsky.social's @hollies.bsky.social about the impact of temporary accommodation on children's mental health, with a focus on Southwark where there is one classroom worth of homeless children for every primary school www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Rachel Reeves was right about non-doms And the right-wing press was wrong.

"The lesson Reeves will take from the HMRC release is that the rich did not run. But it should also be that knowing what the rich are doing with their wealth is politically useful"

Great piece from @hollies.bsky.social of @neweconomics.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...

Image of mother and baby looking at a laptop screen. Text reads: Childcare inequality in England. New analysis reveals who really benefits from government support.

NEW RESEARCH: The richest households in England will be eight times more likely to benefit from the government’s expanded programme of funded childcare hours. 1/8

The Universal Family Childcare Promise Guaranteeing support for parents and children

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-...

The OBR is always wrong Making economic policy by forecast is driving Britain in circles.

"We don’t cancel weddings months out because there’s a chance of drizzle - we shouldn’t restructure fiscal policy purely on the basis of a single number we know to be, at very best, an informed guess"

Really helpful contribution from @andymacnaemp.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...