Guest

UC and employers

No comments

Universal Credit and employers: exploring the demand side of UK active labour market policy

by Dr Calum Carson, Decent Work and Productivity Research Centre

MMU UC report for GM Poverty ActionThe findings of the Universal Credit and Employers research project were launched in Manchester last week, exploring what employers know about Universal Credit and how it impacts on them, and how Jobcentres and other employment services can work more effectively with employers. The research also touches upon a number of other important issues, including how both employers and policymakers can better promote the greater adoption of Decent Working standards both within Greater Manchester and beyond, and how individual organisations can modify their own practices to better financially protect those members of their workforce supported in part by Universal Credit.

Drawing on 124 interviews with employers and wider stakeholders, this is the first major independent research project to explore employers’ views and experiences of this important policy area. And as the cost-of-living crisis deepens and the need to support people more effectively into (and to progress in) work becomes more complex, it is important to address the critical omission of employers’ voices in this debate and demonstrate how valuable their insights are.

The full report can be found here, and do please contact project lead Dr Katy Jones if you have any more questions about the research. Thank you too to all of the many organisations across Greater Manchester who have helped support this project in some way: it is greatly appreciated, and the project could not have succeeded without you.

 

i3oz9sUC and employers
read more

Only halfway

No comments

Families are only halfway through a two-year cost-of-living squeeze

By Lalitha Try, Resolution Foundation

Britain is in the midst of a living standards disaster. Inflation reached its highest level in 41 years in 2022 – and remains at double-digit levels. Pay packets are shrinking rapidly in real terms. The Government has stepped in with a package of cost of living support that is set to cost £58 billion over the course of this year (2022-23). But even that isn’t enough to prevent typical household incomes from falling by 3%.

To deepen our understanding of where this crisis leaves Britain, our Living Standards Outlook 2023 uses a new YouGov survey of 10,000 adults to explore how households are coping. In addition, new RF modelling helps us to understand what the latest economic developments and planned government policy mean for household incomes and poverty this year and beyond.

We find that, as of last November, 23% of adults (equivalent to 12 million people in total) said they couldn’t afford to replace or repair major electrical goods (up from 8% pre-pandemic), while 11% (equivalent to six million people) said that they were hungry but didn’t eat because of a lack of money in the past month (compared with 5% pre-pandemic).

With the crisis currently being driven by the higher cost of essentials like food and energy, lower-income families are finding it hardest to cope. Among people in the poorest fifth of working families, 32%  say they are not confident about their finances as a whole over the next three months (compared to 19% overall), while 34% say their health has been affected by the rising cost of living (compared to 21% overall). We will ask these questions again later this year, to see if people are faring any better or worse.

What about the wider outlook for living standards? We found that typical household disposable incomes for working-age families are on track to fall by 3%  this financial year, and by 4%  next year, with the two-year cost-of-living squeeze set to leave families £2,100 worse off. The scale of this fall is considerably tighter than the post-financial-crisis squeeze of 5%  between 2009-10 and 2011-12.

This outlook is bleak, but government support has responded well to the nature of the cost-of-living crisis, by rightly prioritising support at those most in need. Because of this, and with the exception of the very richest households who have seen their savings income soar, the scale of income falls will be smaller for poorer families than richer ones.

But there is still more the Government can do more to protect households from the brunt of the crisis. The Government should look at the Cold Weather Payments, and consider whether the trigger temperature should be raised, so that they are paid more often, and eligibility extended to more working-age households receiving benefits. In the medium-run, better insulation is key to reducing household energy bills and easing the transition to net zero, but this requires a greater focus on UK’s homes’ inefficient walls.

Lalitha Try, Res Fnd for GM Poverty Action

Lalitha Try

Families with three or more children are heavily affected by the two-child limit, the benefit cap (the inflation increase this year is its first nominal increase since 2013), and the post-pandemic freeze in LHA rates. All of these policies should be reviewed. And linking Cost of Living Payments to receipt of security benefits or the state pension makes it more important than ever that those entitled to those benefits claim them, and the Government (and other organisations) should be encouraging take-up of means-tested and disability benefits. The UK Government should also mandate a minimum provision of crisis support by local authorities, if necessary with ring-fenced funding.

The outlook for living standards is bleak, but uncertain. It could improve, or worsen. The government should be ready to respond to either of these outcomes.

 

i3oz9sOnly halfway
read more

Socioeconomic Duty

No comments

By Cllr Leanne Feeley Executive member for Education, Achievement and Equalities

Tameside Council has become the latest local authority in Greater Manchester to voluntarily adopt the Socioeconomic Duty, giving us a powerful new tool to understand, address and reduce inequalities in our communities.

The driving force behind choosing to adopt the Socioeconomic Duty at this time was simple. Up and down the country, local authorities and communities are grappling with an unprecedented cost of living crisis, an economic squeeze that the Bank of England predicts will be the longest in a century, and the likelihood of a new round of austerity. Tameside has not been immune to these challenges.

As with every local authority, Tameside Council has a statutory and moral obligation to our residents. We recognise that, when you look behind the economic facts and figures, poverty always carries a very real human cost that we cannot in good conscience ignore.

We were very fortunate in that we could draw upon a considerable body of existing knowledge and best practice on the Socioeconomic Duty to inform and influence the adoption in Tameside. In particular, our colleagues at Salford City Council and Greater Manchester Poverty Action were instrumental in shaping our approach, and we always found their doors to be open to us when we had further questions and enquiries. Further afield, case studies and research undertaken as part of the Fairer Scotland Duty, which was passed into law by the Scottish government back in 2018, provided us with insights from a mature and large-scale implementation of the Socioeconomic Duty.

Armed with this information, it quickly became clear that if we really want to make a difference, then simply adopting the Socioeconomic Duty by itself would not be sufficient. Therefore, as a first step, we took the time to think about what we wanted our priorities in Tameside’s fight against poverty to be, and how exactly adoption of the Socioeconomic Duty would turn focus attention and effort towards making them a reality.

This led to the creation of a series of policy recommendations that would align with, and be facilitated by, the Socioeconomic Duty.

Recognising that addressing poverty would be a years (if not decades) long effort, we wanted to ensure that commitment and consistency of practice would be maintained across political administrations and turnover of staff.

To strengthen compliance with the Socioeconomic Duty across the organisation, we proposed a number of improvements to Equality Impact Assessments and the assessment of policy and practice more broadly. Hand-in-hand with this went an effort to broaden and deepen our data gathering and analysis work, with the purpose of reinforcing accountability and giving us better insight into the unique nature of poverty in Tameside.

We also sought to leverage the power of the Socioeconomic Duty to support local residents, especially those with lived experience of poverty, to influence the decisions that affect them in a meaningful and substantive way outside of formal structures such as the Poverty Truth Commission.

Last but not least, a particular characteristic of poverty in Tameside is the prevalence of low-paid employment. At 28.5%, Tameside has the highest proportion of jobs that pay below the Living Wage in Greater Manchester. To start addressing this serious issue, we have linked adoption of the Socioeconomic Duty with promoting the uptake of the Living Wage among local employer. Both of these, we feel, are intrinsically connected as levers to promote equality and fairness.

This work culminated in the creation of an approach that we felt was ambitious but practical and, following its passage through our governance processes, the Socioeconomic Duty was formally adopted by the Executive Cabinet on 26 October 2022.

Our thanks go out to Greater Manchester Poverty Action and everybody else who helped us to get to this point. We are confident that the Socioeconomic Duty will stand as a major weapon in our arsenal as we work to help our residents through the difficult months ahead.

 

i3oz9sSocioeconomic Duty
read more

Social housing decarbonisation

No comments

The Centre for Social Justice - decarbonisation article for GM Poverty ActionCSJ Launches inquiry into social housing decarbonisation
By Ben Robinson, Senior Researcher, Centre for Social Justice

The Centre for Social Justice has launched a new research project on the social, economic, and indeed environmental opportunities associated with residential decarbonisation, and the key role social housing plays. A range of high-quality employment opportunities can be created through national-scale social housing decarbonisation, alongside a clear plan to ensure people have the skills ready for newly created jobs, which can support national economic growth and provide opportunities to those who could benefit most.

Retrofitting, installation, design, manufacturing, and research all contribute to the growth of over 500,000 jobs which can be created by scaling up social housing decarbonisation, while upgrading some of the oldest and most energy-inefficient homes in Europe.

Decarbonisation can provide communities which would benefit most from levelling up, with a sustainable future. By improving existing housing stock and ensuring new social homes are high quality, they can be stimulated by skilled employment opportunities, an improved built environment, and more content residents. Furthermore, social housing decarbonisation can reduce energy bills for some of the lowest-income households in the country and allow a greater proportion of homes to be affordably warm, by addressing the 1.6 million social homes with poor energy efficiency ratings.

A quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK are associated with heat and energy use in buildings. Decarbonisation of the country’s five million strong social housing stock is essential to meet legally binding Net Zero targets by 2050. This can occur through a range of provisions, including insulation and innovation of new technologies such as ground source heat pumps.

This year’s party conference agendas were full of panel discussions on the opportunities and challenges of Net Zero. It was a key discussion point across the political spectrum. The UK has an opportunity to become an international decarbonisation centre of excellence through continued research and development of associated technologies, high-quality manufacturing, and targeted skills provision. The birthplace of the industrial revolution could become a world leader in decarbonisation.

The social housing sector has begun the journey. However, despite cross-parliamentary interest and the wheels already in motion in the social housing sector, there remain barriers to delivering social housing decarbonisation which works for all stakeholders.

International comparisons, such as the regeneration of post-industrial towns in Austria catalysed by investment in decarbonisation industries, and excellent work currently carried out in this country, can provide inspiration for the future. Furthermore, any successes concerning social housing can be used to inform effective wider residential strategies and strategies for other industries.

Now is the opportune moment to ensure the short, medium and long-term opportunities are harnessed, ensuring that the building of quality new homes and improvement of old stock has the greatest positive impact on the local and national economy and contributes effectively to meeting crucial governmental priorities.

Call for evidence

The Centre for Social Justice is launching a call for evidence on the opportunities and challenges associated with social housing decarbonisation. Our project will investigate how it can drive economic growth through a boom in employment opportunities alongside skills support to ensure new jobs can be filled by those who would benefit most. It can provide a sustainable future for all communities, and enable social housing providers and the government to hit key Net Zero targets.

If you can help this call for evidence please click here and answer all relevant questions. Deadline November 25th.

The CSJ always puts frontline voices in our reports, therefore any specific examples are greatly appreciated.

 

i3oz9sSocial housing decarbonisation
read more

Odds are: They win

No comments

A GM-wide anti-gambling harms campaign
By Ellie Caddick, Communications and Engagement Manager, Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Odds Are They Win is an anti-gambling harms campaign now live across Greater Manchester. This unique campaign, delivered by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, is an anti-gambling harms campaign, not an anti-gambling campaign, targeted at the Greater Manchester public across a range of digital and out-of-home channels.

As an industry, the primary objective of gambling operators is to maximise profits. These profits are solely generated through customer losses. Products are cleverly marketed and designed to increase the amount of time and money customers spend on gambling, and to seamlessly move them from one gambling product to the next. This has only worsened with the rise of easily accessible online gambling products.

The consequences of this for the people of Greater Manchester are vast, and include that;

  • A staggering 1 in 15 people experience harms related to gambling. Harms are not just financial, with impacts on health and wellbeing and friends and family. Learn more about gambling related harms here.
  • 20% of online bingo players suffer harm as a result of gambling.
  • 25% of fixed odds betting terminal players experience harm as a result of gambling.
  • And watching football on TV could expose adults and children to a gambling advert every 10 seconds.

The purpose of the campaign is to expose gambling industry tactics and to raise awareness of how this ultimately increases your risk of experiencing harm from gambling.

Our aim is firstly to make people more aware of the risks they face when gambling, in some cases even long before they experience them. But we also want to encourage people to share the campaign message, reflect and have open conversations about their experiences of gambling.

We’re moving beyond the narrative of ‘responsible’ gambling. And moving away from individual ownership towards the fact that whatever the gambling product, whoever the gambling operator and whichever way you look at it, the Odds Are: They Win.

Find out more about the campaign and for support for gambling harms here

Share the campaign on social media, download campaign resources here  #OddsAreTheyWin

 

i3oz9sOdds are: They win
read more

Stay Fire Safe

No comments

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service urges residents to ‘Stay Fire Safe’ as the cost-of-living increases
By Michael Chick, Senior Communications Officer, Greater Manchester Combined Authority

As the cost-of-living continues to rise Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) wants to help you to stay fire safe at home. If you’re thinking about doing things differently around the home to bring down the price of your bills, remember to do so safely.

You can find a wide range of advice to help keep you safe at home whilst the cost-of-living increases on our ‘Stay Fire Safe’ webpage here. This includes advice around safely heating your home, using candles and cooking.

GMFRS know that people will be looking at ways to reduce their bills, but you shouldn’t do this in a way that could put you in danger. This includes making sure you use heaters that are designed for indoor use in the home, checking the safety of electrical heaters and making sure heating appliances like wood burning stoves are used correctly.

To keep yourself safe you should make sure you have a working smoke alarm on every floor of your home, so you’re alerted quickly if there’s a fire.

GMFRS offers a free Online Home Fire Safety Check tool, where you can complete some questions to help identify fire hazards in your home and get advice on simple changes you can make to reduce the risk of a fire.

Once you have completed the online check, your answers will decide if you are eligible for a Home Fire Safety Assessment. If you are, you’ll be asked to submit your contact details and GMFRS will be in touch to make an appointment for a face-to-face visit. You can find out more by visiting the website.

If you do not have access to the internet, you can call the GMFRS contact centre on 0800 555 815.

Further advice to support you as the cost of living increases can be found on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Helping Hand web pages here. This includes support and advice on areas such as mental health, housing, travel, and childcare.

 

i3oz9sStay Fire Safe
read more

Lottery ‘win’ for Yes

No comments

Press release from Yes.

Yes Manchester CIO has been awarded funding by the National Lottery Community Fund’s (NLCF) Reaching Communities programme, one of only a handful of North Manchester organisations to be successful.

The NLCF has awarded £300,000 over the coming three years to the charity that helps people to get into work. The funding will be used to help pay for Yes Manchester’s activity to support people living in poverty in North Manchester.

Yes Manchester  provides support to people looking for work in North Manchester and helps people to get the skills, experience, and confidence to succeed. Yes became a registered charity in November last year. Established in 2013 as a social-enterprise subsidiary of a Northwards Housing, it became an independent charity after the housing association became part of Manchester City Council. Since opening more than 1,000 people have got jobs with the help of Yes, and 100s more have entered training  or education.

Sheila Sturgeon, Chief Executive of Yes Manchester, said us: “We are so grateful to NCLF and to everyone that plays the lottery each week. This money helps us enormously to remain sustainable and will help to unlock cash from other funders too. It really will make a massive difference to the hundreds of people that rely on our help to become financially independent.”

Yes Manchester  is based in Newton Heath and has a second office in Collyhurst. The charity also meets customers and potential customers in The Avenue Library and North Manchester Library on Thursdays most weeks.

Anyone not in work, or working but needing state benefits to make ends meet, can call  0161 260 1600, email using yesinfo@yesmanchester.co.uk, drop in to 115 Briscoe Lane or 35-39 Southchurch Parade or the libraries, or can use the ‘Ask Yes for Help’ button on the charity’s website  to make an appointment to speak confidentially with one of the charity’s expert advisors.

Yes Manchester CIO has recently been accredited to the matrix Standard (the international quality standard for organisations that deliver information, advice and/or guidance (IAG), either as their sole purpose or as part of their service offering), demonstrating the high quality of the services they provide to unemployed and underemployed people in their area of the city.

Case Studies

Anthony Borg, age 55, came to Yes after being  his wife’s full-time carer. After so much time away from the labour market he had lost his confidence, and also needed help to understand how to apply for and get a job in a very changed world.

He was referred to the Green Employment Project, a government funded project Yes delivers with One Manchester and other not-for-profit Greater Manchester organisations. Marika Ellul, Yes’s Green Employability Coach, helped Anthony identify and overcome the issues identified and encouraged him to apply for one of the project’s paid work placements.

After some interview coaching with Marika, Anthony secured a placement with Fareshare as a Warehouse Operative and is hopeful of securing permanent work very soon.


Kai Painter, age 24, came to Yes for help around 18 months ago after being made redundant.

Sammy Logan, one of the charity’s most experienced IAG advisors, remembers that first meeting. She said: “He was very low, and lacked confidence, but I was impressed with his determination to find a job.  Over the next few months, we worked on his CV, his interview skills, and his confidence and then I suggested he apply for an administration Kickstarter vacancy at Yes”.

Kai did apply, and he got the job. He was made permanent at the end of the 6-month placement and began a Level 2 Apprenticeship as a Data Technician.

He said: “I’m so grateful to Sammy for her advice and support.” Kai told us “Thanks to her, and to everyone at Yes, I have a job I enjoy, and a real career and real prospects. I even have my own flat now and it’s all thanks to Yes Manchester”.


 

i3oz9sLottery ‘win’ for Yes
read more

How Bad is That?

No comments

Manchester artist Len Grant creates a pop-up exhibition to highlight the city’s poverty.

“There are two sides to Manchester,” says sketcher and writer, Len Grant. “On the one hand it’s now considered the trendiest city to live in. On the other, we still have plenty of neighbourhoods with some of the highest levels of disadvantage in the country.”

And while the up-and-coming, hip and trendy side of the city gets lots of media attention; the voices of those at the sharp end of the cost-of-living crisis are rarely heard.

Len Grant exhibition for GM Poverty Action
For several months, Grant visited an inner-city foodbank, drawing and listening to the regulars who rely on the bags of weekly groceries as well as to the local volunteers who run the place.

He’s now produced a pop-up exhibition of artworks that is helping to raise much-needed funds for the Coverdale and Newbank Community Grocers in Ardwick. The charity’s chairperson, Elaine Lovesey told Grant: “We have a nurse come in. She has four kids and works full time on the Covid wards. By the third week in the month she’s got no food left and no means to buy any. How bad is that?”

One of Grant’s artworks includes 75-year-old Tommy who told him: “I never put the heating on, ever. By half six I’m in bed, watching telly. I have three hot water bottles and I’m as warm as toast.”

Another regular user of the community grocers – where locals pay £2.50 for £20 worth of fresh and chilled food – described how she had to pawn the family’s only laptop so she could afford enough food that week. “My kids used it for college. So now there’s no laptop. I got £70 at ‘Cash Gen’ for it. I’ll need about £90 to get it out again.”

“I’ve worked with the homeless, those with addiction issues and with undocumented migrants,” Len says. “So I guess I’m used to hearing stories from those on the edges of our society. But I continue to be shocked at the hardship that so many suffer day by day. Just getting through the week is a struggle. In the coming months more and more people will have to rely on places like the Coverdale and Newbank Community Grocers. And, frankly, in 2022, it should not be like this. It’s as if we are going backwards.”

Len Grant artwork for GM Poverty Action
“Those on the lowest incomes are least likely to have their voices heard and, however depressing these stories are, I believe it’s up to the rest of us to at least take time to listen and then help if we can.”

Grant’s pop-up exhibition has toured locations across Manchester and is now available to come to you at your place of work, place of worship, community group or event. Just get in touch with Len.

 

i3oz9sHow Bad is That?
read more

Challenge Poverty Week 2022

No comments

Challenge Poverty Week in England and Wales

By Niall Cooper, Church Action on Poverty

Niall Cooper, Challenge Poverty Week 2022 for GM Poverty Action

Niall Cooper, Church Action on Poverty

Are you ready? It’s time to come together with people and groups around Greater Manchester and across the country, for the third Challenge Poverty Week in England and Wales.

This year, the week is focusing on dignity, looking at how that can be maintained for everyone amid the cost-of-living emergency.

The week runs from October 17th to 23rd 2022, and one of the launch events is happening here in Manchester, on Monday 17th.  Local people with first-hand experience of poverty and low-income will meet with local politicians, organisations and business people at Central Hall, from 10am to 3pm.

You don’t need to be a big organisation to take part though… everyone can and should get involved in Challenge Poverty Week. After all, we all want to live with dignity – to be treated as fully human, to have choices and be able to participate in our community. But this winter, the soaring cost of living will deny that dignity to millions of people. People will be forced to go hungry, or cold, and to make agonising choices about which fundamental essentials they will have to go without.

We want to speak up together, challenging the unjust systems and policies that are causing and exacerbating poverty, but also celebrating the work of people, organisations and communities across England and Wales who are coming together to uphold people’s dignity at this time.

Challenge Poverty Week will be a chance for people and communities facing poverty to stand up with dignity, share stories, and speak out for a just solution to the cost-of-living crisis. This is the third time Challenge Poverty Week has been held in England and Wales, following on from its success over the past decade in Scotland.

Your group could organise a discussion or storytelling session, join in the discussion online, invite politicians or journalists to one of your organisation’s regular events or sessions, or write to your MPs and councillors to say what needs to change.

Challenge Poverty Week is an opportunity to highlight the incredible work being done by community groups around the country, and to show what can and must be done differently.

Last year, we saw the publication of new report into how people on low incomes were affected during the pandemic, lots of fascinating discussions, meetings with politicians and journalists, and the Greater Manchester Big Poverty Conversation. This year, we are looking forward to a further mixture of online and in-person events, including film screenings, meetings with politicians, church discussions, and a wide range of campaigns around the cost-of-living.

Online activities can be just as effective as offline ones – sometimes even more so. You can reach more people without geographic or travel barriers, and some people are more comfortable sharing with an online meeting than addressing a busy room of people. Do bear in mind, however, that not everyone has good internet access – so judge for yourself whether to make your event physical or digital.

The week’s aims are to:

  • Build awareness and support for long-term sustainable responses to the pandemic and cost-of-living
    emergency, that focus on enhancing the dignity and agency of people in poverty.
  • Raise voices in unison against poverty and shine a light on visions for a more just, compassionate and opportunity-filled country.
  • Show what is already being done at community level to challenge and alleviate poverty.
  • Change the conversation around poverty and help end the stigma.

You can download the Challenge Poverty Week toolkit, packed with ideas and tips, HERE.

Let’s speak up as one, stand up for dignity, and challenge poverty together!

 

i3oz9sChallenge Poverty Week 2022
read more

Changing Realities

No comments

What can we do about the cost-of-living crisis?

By Uisce Jordan, Changing Realities Project

Uisce Jordan for GM Poverty Action

Uisce Jordan, Changing Realities Project

The release of the Chancellor’s ‘mini-budget’ on the September 23rd has left me, and many others, feeling quite helpless as we worry about rising levels of poverty and inequality. As media increasingly reports on the cost of living emergency it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed and isolated. That is why now, more than ever, genuinely participatory projects such as ‘Changing Realities’ are important.

Changing Realities is an opportunity for families struggling and those living on low-incomes to join as a collective voice and advocate for real change. The project brings together experts by experience with researchers, artists, and Child Poverty Action Group to make change happen. By nature of being an online project, it also allows us to connect with people from all across the UK. I am based in Belfast and can understand how, despite certain differences in the social security system in Northern Ireland, we face many of the same difficulties as people from other parts of the UK. By connecting online, we become a larger community that can laugh together, learn from each other, and share experiences, good and bad.

What’s involved?

We share the everyday realities of life on a low income, but we also want to try to change things – improving the lives of those struggling to get by. Together we discuss solutions to the issues affecting people such as housing, work, low-wages, childcare, food, health, fuel, debt and access to public services. We accomplish this through online diaries, virtual workshops, skill-building activities and much more. We support people to speak directly to the media about the reality of living on a low income. You can do as much or as little as feels right for you.

If you’re a parent or carer with children under 19, and you’re on a low income, we’d really like to work with you, please get in touch for more details. Together, we can document the realities of this cost-of-living crisis.

Email: changing-realities-project@york.ac.uk Twitter: @changing_r

Changing Realities is funded by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

 

i3oz9sChanging Realities
read more