This morning I was interviewed on Premier Radio about today’s interest rate rises. I talked about those whose costs will rise – mortgage holders, renters and those who are already burdened by unavoidable debt accumulated over the lockdowns. I also talked about the rise’s effects on those who are …
Poverty and Inequality
Tax and the cost of living
The Conservative Party is choosing a new leader, who will become the UK’s next Prime Minister. One of the key issues throughout the campaign has been tax cuts. All the candidates – including Sunak and Truss who remain in the contest – wish to cut taxes. The only differences between candidate have …
Time to Ban the Bailiffs
Joe Cox from our friends at Debt Justice (formerly the Jubilee Debt Campaign) introduces their new campaign to make council tax collection more humane and more effective – by ending council’s use of bailiffs. In its latest annual release the UK government found that £4.4 billion of council tax …
Empowered to Succeed or Set up to Fail?
Unprecedented. The last two years have certainly been unprecedented for us all and the rippling effects of the covid pandemic, coupled with the impact of Brexit, are resulting in fresh economic challenges for many of us. With rising inflation, interest rates and energy prices, households are facing …
The Spring Statement number you need to know: 600,000 more people pulled into poverty
The most important number from the entire spring statement was not from the Chancellor but from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. They estimated that over the next year, 600,000 people will be pulled into poverty [1]. The 14.6 million people already experiencing poverty will of course be pulled …
Universal Credit: Why do we think more threats and less choice helps the unemployed?
The Government has announced a new jobs “mission”. The headline policy in this mission is to say to people who lose their job that after four weeks they will also lose their choice about what jobs they should apply for. If they insist on having a choice in how they earn a living, they will be …
Excrescences and Performative Cruelty
The former Welfare Reform minster has described two of his own policies as “excrescences” that were made into law because they were popular. The phrase “Performative Cruelty” has been used to describe such policies and most recently in describing the treatment of refugees. Here Paul asks if or when …
The cost of a decent life
As I write Christmas is only 21 sleeps away! I’m not too stressed about Christmas; I have already bought my train ticket home and I have had some good ideas about presents that I am going to buy members of my family. But for millions of families with low incomes, the cost of presents, Christmas food …
What will it take to insulate Britain?
News over the last week has drawn attention to environmental protestors blocking roads in the south-east of England. The strategic blockages have been a huge headache to motorists going about their business, transporting parcels and food, or getting to work or the airport, and have led to at least …
Explainer: Social Care
Following the government's announced social care reforms in September 2021, JPIT's Paul Morrison provides a guide to some of the issues involved. What is social care? Social care covers a wide umbrella of services to people of working age as well as the elderly. It varies from light …