Kitty Stewart

About a year ago, I remember talking with @kittyjstewart.bsky.social and @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social about the child poverty strategy. Back then, I was more optimistic that parental employment could play a role in reducing child poverty. Over the coming months they convinced me I was wrong.

But thank you Amol Rajan who really understands this issue

So wonderful to see the pernicious two-child limit lifted yesterday. And so depressing to hear Nick Robinson this morning recycling standard nonsense that working families are being taxed more to pay people who don’t work. How can we have proper debate when even BBC propagates these myths? #bbctoday

Benefit changes and larger families We are a group of university-based researchers investigating how families with more than two children are coping with the benefit cap or the two-child limit.

New analysis with @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social and @kittyjstewart.bsky.social: If we are serious about trying to reduce child poverty we cannot rely on employment alone. We need serious investment in social security.

largerfamilies.study/publications...

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Hearing Jonny speak was one of my highlights of Labour Party conference - do read his piece

'Bringing emotion and reality to the debate on child poverty.': one conference attendee's experience - LabourList Jonny Roberts has come to conference to share his experience of being a single dad - and call for Labour to take bold action on child poverty.

labourlist.org/2025/09/chil... Great piece by Jonny Roberts of @changingrealities.bsky.social But looks like the battle to end the pernicious two child limit goes on

And the 30 hours is not even for all children! The most disadvantaged miss out

Has the PM finished talking about child poverty? Really?

Right to celebrate the steps so far - extending free school meals, childcare investment etc.

But he will be a Prime Minister presiding over rising child poverty this Parliament unless he steps up and lifts the cruel 2 child limit.

Poorer children more likely to age faster than affluent counterparts, study finds Biological disadvantages may be shaped in first decade of a child’s life depending on family affluence

Devastating study showing the urgency of acting on child poverty today. What happens in childhood matters and children don’t get another chance at it

Text from a DWP press release: In the current dysfunctional system, a person is placed in binary categories of either “fit for work” or “not fit for work” through the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) – an assessment the government has said it will either reform or replace, so it no longer drives people who want to work to a life on benefits. Through this process, those not fit for work are told they have Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) – meaning they won’t receive employment support or further engagement from the system at any point following their assessment – effectively abandoning and locking them out of work indefinitely.

This, from a DWP press release yesterday (gov.uk/government/n...), is outrageous

In two short paragraphs it peddles multiple falsehoods about the current system that will be used to justify upcoming cuts & changes

Here's what MPs & journalists should be challenging... 🧵

Exciting opportunity to join the @changingrealities.bsky.social team at a time when the work we do together has never mattered more. Please do share widely

jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/rese...

A note on AI usage A note on AI usage I genuinely want you to succeed in this class. One of my very favorite things about my job as a professor is when students are succeeding and I feel like I helped. I want you to suc...

hey bluesky, in case anyone's interested, I wrote this for my students about why I don't want them to use anything AI in my classes. It interrupts the course calendar part of the syllabus, coming immediately after the first day there's a writing assignment assigned.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Public transport in Luxembourg is… free. Amazing.

Brilliant idea to increase productivity: make the wifi work at stations and on trains. OR just formally scrap it all so we don’t even try

Darn it - I wasn’t unique? Hope at least I was first

I see Robison has said she will “work with London” to do it

Yes true that’s a difference from SCP which is currently a cliff edge

Also not in line with the evidence. Good jobs and skills are really important. But what drives child poverty is how we treat families with (often temporarily) higher needs and those for whom full-time work is currently difficult for a variety of reasons

Good question! Tax thresholds also going up…

It will be interesting to see. They have the Scottish Child Payment which is based on UC so I’d think that would make it straightforward. They can just add a topup equivalent to the UC child element for third-plus children receiving the SCP

Does money affect children’s outcomes? Children in low-income households do less well than their better-off peers on many outcomes in life, such as education or health, simply because they are poorer.

For further evidence on the difference cash transfers make, see my systematic review with @kerriscooper.bsky.social for @jrf-uk.bsky.social www.jrf.org.uk/care/does-mo....

Also at least in London the fair banding system is quite effective at making schools a bit more comprehensive

Research done with @aaronreeves.bsky.social @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social @kateandersen.bsky.social @jdportes.bsky.social and Mary Reader and funded by @nuffieldfoundation.org

Benefit changes and larger families We are a group of university-based researchers investigating how families with more than two children are coping with the benefit cap or the two-child limit.

See our mixed methods research here for evidence on the damage being done by the two-child limit (and the way it completely fails to meet any of the government’s stated aims for the policy) largerfamilies.study/publications...

John Swinney to lift two child benefit cap in Budget announcement The Scottish Government will move to scrap a policy critics say pushes families into poverty.

This is absolutely huge from the Scottish Parliament. Combined with the Scottish Child Payment it means a family with 3 children on Universal Credit will be *£7k* per year better off than if they lived in England. And we know that will make a massive difference www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politic...

We can’t tackle the mental health crisis without reforming social security With an unprecedented number of people out of work due to poor mental health, the Labour Government is facing an uphill battle to boost growth and productivity. But the Government’s welfare s…

Good LSE blog by @emmatominey.bsky.social. Summary evidence that the welfare system is causing harm to the mental health of claimants it is designed to help. Reforms need to improve the mental health of those relying on the welfare system as a safety net.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

The Knowledge: Early years food poverty and how to address it A new EPI report calls on government to close the gap between meal provision in schools and in the early years

Why do we have free meals for early primary children but not for our pre-school children? We know nutrition in early years is vital for healthy development and we know under-fives face higher risk of food poverty - my piece in @schoolsweek.bsky.social schoolsweek.co.uk/early-years-...

Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science An academic position as a Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy is being advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Click now to find more details and explore additional academic job opportunit...

Lovely department, brilliant students, fantastic job. Feel free to get in touch if you want to discuss

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKO534/a...

Ah it looked ok!