Paul Morrison introduces our Essentials Guarantee campaign, breaking down the current low rates of benefit and imagining what the way forward could look like. You might imagine that the rates of Universal Credit (UC) were calculated carefully, perhaps using a formula that looks at criteria such …
Poverty and Inequality
A Briefing on the Child Poverty Strategy
This briefing was produced by the Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches in January 2026. Read Paul Morrison's blog response to the Strategy here. …
Child poverty: a step forward
JPIT’s Paul Morrison explains the context for the response from faith leaders to the government’s child poverty strategy Today faith leaders have responded to last week’s child poverty strategy. The headline from the strategy, and the headline from the leaders’ response, is the abolition of the …
Child poverty strategy “a welcome step in the right direction”, say faith leaders
Senior faith leaders have issued a joint response to the government’s recently published Child Poverty Strategy. In it, they “celebrate” the most significant policy change in the strategy, the removal of the two-child limit on benefits, which is set to directly lift 450,000 children out of poverty …
Response to the Budget
Paul Morrison, Public Issues Advisor for the Joint Public Issues Team, looks at how the Budget will impact poverty, inequality and other justice issues. A Budget that will reduce child poverty The Chancellor has announced that from April next year the two-child limit on benefits will be …
Child poverty: faith leaders call for decisive action
38 senior faith leaders from the five major faith groups represented in the UK – including representatives of the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches – have written to the Prime Minister and Chancellor, urging them to “act now to secure the futures of millions of children.” The letter …
Child poverty: tell your MP it’s time for action
Levels of child poverty in the UK are rising, and set to continue rising. 4.5 million children are currently growing up without access to the essentials of life. But we believe that should and can change. “The impact of growing up in poverty is huge. It affected me physically, mentally and …
We could reduce child poverty by half a million
Child poverty has steadily increased over the past 15 years, but it is clear how that trend can be reversed. It requires government and institutions to prioritise poverty reduction, and a significant financial investment in measures that will have an impact. In the autumn, the Government will …
Insulting the disabled…again
Last month the Leader of the Opposition gave a speech about disability benefits that resurrected the discredited “Skiver v Striver” rhetoric of 15 years ago. This time it is “Makers v Takers”, a slogan which she did not make, but took from US debates in the early 2010s. This pattern of …
Response to the Spring Statement
JPIT's Paul Morrison responds to the Spring Statement 2025 Poverty and inequality in the UK are on track to increase. Rather than addressing these concerning trends, which cause so much harm to people’s lives, the measures announced in this Spring Statement will exacerbate them. The international …