Dan Paskins

Save the Children Demands Immediate Protection for All Children as Violence Escalates Across the Middle East and the Wider Region Save the Children calls for the protection of all children and civilian infrastructure, especially schools and hospitals, following the escalation of violence in the Middle East and wider region.

Save the Children Demands Immediate Protection for All Children as Violence Escalates Across the #MiddleEast and the Wider Region.

Read more. ⤵️

https://bit.ly/3OTkHjb

As fighting spirals in South Sudan, a humanitarian crisis looms for displaced survivors Fighting has resumed in South Sudan eight years after a fragile peace was agreed. The conflict has caused the displacement of 280,000 people and widespread civilian casualties in the past two months i...

I saw children with gunshot wounds, separated from their families or parents killed.

This isn’t just one story in #SouthSudan – it’s one of thousands of people bearing witness to this preventable conflict.

The fighting must stop. My interview with @apnews.com.

apnews.com/article/sout...

This must go hand in hand with continued action to bring down child poverty, so no child’s learning is limited by household income. 2/2

The government has rightly recognised that school simply isn’t working for every child. The focus on securing better outcomes for children in low-income households and with special education needs is welcome and we know changes in the school system can make a difference. 1/2

Perhaps a minor point given the scale of the Send system’s out of control costs, but these were the sorts of “hidden” things that went first when councils began cutting budgets post 2010. It’s taken 15 years, but the consequences of local govt cuts are increasingly a national problem

More than a safety net: The welfare state as springboard to economic success and a better country | IPPR It is widely proposed that higher social spending – especially in the form of social security benefits – is damaging to the economy. Yet the evidence prese

Interesting new report from @ipprscotland.bsky.social
Focused on Scotland but relevant across the UK in making the case for social security investment.

1. High social spending is compatible with economic success. Evidence shows European countries with high levels...1/4 www.ippr.org/articles/mor...

Essential reading

The amendment reflected a key recommendation of the Covid-19 Inquiry: put children’s rights at the heart of decision-making.

Statutory CRIAs = children’s voices heard, better policy, stronger accountability, especially for the most marginalised.

I worked with Vidhya when she ran Power to Change. She is great

We asked claimants what was the biggest problem with UC, and one issue came up more than any other ⤵️

The hidden cost of "deplaytion" Ban social media for kids all you like – but don't ignore their crap playgrounds

Good to see mainstream coverage of “deplaytion” - the loss and decline of neighbourhood playgrounds, and of a tolerance of children’s neighbourhood play.

It’s critical that this issue is taken as seriously - in terms of children’s mental health - as social media.

Thanks @anooshc.bsky.social.

🚨 New report! 🚨

The Government must increase trust in Universal Credit as full roll out brings 15 million people into the system.

Listen and learn, produced in partnership with @changingrealities.bsky.social, draws on testimony from UC claimants and welfare advisors ⤵️ buff.ly/TjrE4OW

Two pieces of advice for people worried about SEND reforms, from the successful campaign to scrap the 2 child limit:

1/ Ignore every single media story with unnamed "sources"
2/ You can trust that the decision-makers at the Department for Education genuinely have children's best interests at heart

This is such a good example of how to apply systems thinking to solve public policy challenges in new ways, both innovative and clearly written

An astonishingly moving post by @ariellegarton.bsky.social marking Holocaust Memorial Day

#HMD #HMD2026 #HolocaustMemorialDay #BridgingGenerations

Graphic showing text 3 in 10 children in the UK are living in poverty and an image of a child and their colourful backpack

text reads 1 in 5 working age adults in the UK are living in poverty, over an image of a person on the way to work

text reads 1 in 6 pensioners in the UK are living in poverty over an image of an elderly woman facing away from the camera

The data shows us that children suffer the highest rates of poverty within the different sections of the population.

📈 At the time the Labour government came to power, there were 4.5 million children in poverty, up 600,000 on pre-pandemic levels.

This is a damning statistic.

Chart showing families impacted by the two-child limit, by work status and specified characteristics: UK 2023-24 Most households subject to the two-child limit (59 per cent) already have at least one adult in work. Of the minority of households that are not in work, more than nine-in-ten (91 per cent) either have a child under three or a disabled family member with additional care needs, making any return to the labour market additionally challenging. Overall, that leaves over 95% of families benefiting from the two-child limit either working, with a child under three, or with a disabled family member.

Most households currently subject to the two-child limit have at least one adult in work.

Of the minority of households not in work, more than nine-in-ten have a child under three or a disabled family member with additional care needs, making any return to the labour market challenging.

It’s Penguin Awareness Day which seems like a great excuse to post the greatest ever Wikipedia edit.

Great organisation - if you are looking for a trustee opportunity then do have a look at this one

Great piece. I worked on Big Local and would add that another lesson is about how long term, large scale expendable endowments of grant funding are a very effective way of funding this kind of work and we should do more of this.

Renfrew Christie Dies at 76; Sabotaged Racist Regime’s Nuclear Program

Gift link - we all need to read this. Shoot this Resistance into my veins!

After 48 hours of torture, Dr. Christie wrote a forced confession — “the best thing I ever wrote,” he later told the BBC

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/w...

🔎 Want to hear more from our experts?

Interested in research at the forefront of the policy discussion on how to reduce poverty in the UK?

Then our starter pack is for you! Give our colleagues a follow so you can be kept up-to-date on all of our latest work and analysis.

go.bsky.app/PLDMAUz

Such great news that the Scottish Child Payment for families with babies will go up to £40/week from 2027. Analysis below from our fab team in Scotland 👇

On December 18, 2025, I stepped through the iconic black door of No. 10 Downing Street, carrying more than just a diary appointment. I brought with me hope, memories, and the quiet weight of every family whose story has intertwined with the mission we pursue at Changing Realities.

"As a mother, my heart swelled with pride. But as an advocate, I felt something even deeper: a reassuring reminder that this country still has space for compassion..." Why we [continue to] do this work, a blog by Beauty reflecting on a visit to No.10: www.changingrealities.org/blog/hope-at...

A Dutch worker went viral after explaining to their American boss that they have a life outside work.

Chart showing Change in annual income in cash terms (left-hand side) and as share of income (righthand side), as a result of tax and benefit policy changes announced this Parliament, by age group: UK, 2029-30

Tax and benefit measures announced this Parliament so far benefit children the most.

This is due to the abolition of the two-child limit, the expansion of Free School Meals to children in families receiving UC in England, and the above-inflation increases to the UC standard allowance.

Teachers back lifting two-child benefit cap as poorer pupils ‘struggling to learn’ A poll found 72 per cent of teachers believe child poverty measures announced by the Government will help improve classrooms, rising to 85 per cent of those working in the most deprived schools

Teachers back scrapping the two child limit and believe it will help children's education

inews.co.uk/news/politic...

‘They can open doors’: the community-based project helping people into work in Teesside Stockton’s JobsPlus is a pilot scheme with caseworkers who connect individual people with potential jobs, providing direct financial help where necessary

"The latest data shows that since the launch in summer 2024 more than 1,000 people have signed up with one of the JobsPlus teams, with more than 270 finding work."

Fantastic to have Heather Stewart @theguardian.com visit our #JobsPlus site in Stockton and read her excellent write-up from the day. ⤵️

Unconditional cash transfers for the poorest are a very good thing. End of.

Britain still needs welfare reform Labour is not ideologically unwilling to find welfare savings

Another excellent contribution from @louisehaighmp.bsky.social 👇