Early morning tube journey y

Early start to give evidence to select committee on child poverty. Prep reminded me anew just how vital it is to scrap the Benefit Cap

300,000 children would be in less deep poverty if the cap were to go (@cpaguk) & DWP figures suggest 60,000 will not fully benefit from 2CL abolition while it stays

Struggling families like mine don’t talk about the cost of living any more – now it’s the cost of survival | Ella Michalski Trying to make ends meet is an impossible effort, and things are rapidly getting worse. It’s time the government listened to people like us, says Ella Michalski of Changing Realities, a project workin...

"families like mine don’t talk about the cost of living any more – now it’s the cost of survival"

important and compelling piece by Ella from @changingrealities.bsky.social today - www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Gorgeous spring morning for my hard to beat commute to @glasgow.ac.uk @uofgussp.bsky.social along the Carlisle Settle line.

Letter: How parliament ignored a disability charity’s evidence From Katharine Sutton, Managing Director, Aspire Community Works, London E2, UK

Barnstorming letter on new proposals to tackle NEETs 'crisis' by @katharinesut.bsky.social @financialtimes.com 'For this debate to be meaningful, both government and parliament must listen to the lived experience of those navigating the systems designed to support them.' www.ft.com/content/573f...

My children have additional needs—I have to fight to get them support The schools white paper must be a turning point for Send provision

'Since my youngest son started primary school in 2023, I have been fighting to ensure that physical restraint, seclusion and suspensions are not part of his everyday diet.'

My personal take on the Schools White Paper for @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...

SEND reform hopes, fears and realities @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social who knows whereof she speaks. Her point about not reassessing until after transition to 2ndary school is really important

Aw thanks Clare and thanks for sharing

Grateful to @aloner.bsky.social @prospectmagazine.co.uk for commissioning my (very) personal take on the schools white paper, which also draws on joint work with @changingrealities.bsky.social @cpaguk.bsky.social www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...

💯 My son who is in year two will be part of the first intake to have their EhCPs reviewed when they enter year six in 2029.

Incredible to see @changingrealities.bsky.social named as one of the @bigissue.com Change Makers. So much more change to be made & no one better to do it with than the over 200 parents we work with and @cpaguk.bsky.social & @lshtm.bsky.social @glasgow.ac.uk

Forget Jim Ratcliffe’s half-apology: to speak of immigrants ‘colonising’ Britain is wrong and sinister | Sunder Katwala He fused an echo of Enoch Powell with the spirit of the far right’s great replacement theory. This is no way to progress a humane migration debate, says Sunder Katwala, director of British Future

I wrote for the Guardian about why Jim Ratcliffe's talk of Britain being "colonised" by immigrants crosses the line between legitimate debate and inflammatory rhetoric. It fuses echoes of Powellism with great replacement conspiracies of "civilisational erasure"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Schools White Paper is a vital opportunity to reform school support so that it works for all children. Changing Realities parents, who are all raising children on a low income, have set out what they would like to see in the White Paper on SEND reforms, parental engagement, and on the government’s approach to enrichment. Parents want to work directly with government to deliver the ambitious changes needed. While we may not agree on everything, one thing on which we all – and we believe government too – do agree is that the current system of SEND support is completely broken, and requires urgent and radical reform.

'Principles for the Schools White Paper' published today - from parents who know exactly what change is needed and why: www.changingrealities.org/writings/pri...

Ex-Ofsted Chair Amanda Spielman Interview: SEND, Gentle Parenting And Ruth Perry Conservative peer and former Ofsted chair Baroness Spielman talks to Sienna Rodgers about the SEND crisis, her time at the regulator and why some p...

Ex-Ofsted Chair Amanda Spielman showing a truly shocking ignorance: “We need to take care that we’re not characterising having to make an effort as proof of a special need.” (And that’s just the start)
www.politicshome.com/news/ar...

For future reference, this is what a Universal Credit review looks like 👇

🧵 on new analysis w/ @resolutionfoundation.org on why if Universal Credit is to be improved it is time to ‘listen and learn’ to experts like@changingrealities.bsky.social

For more on why govts should move from a ‘test and learn’ to a ‘listen and learn’ approach 📚 academic.oup.com/ooec/article...

Today we launch our co-produced report with Resolution Foundation. Participants from CR shaped many of the discussions and recommendations that you will find within the report. We call for structural and cultural changes to UC that could drastically improve interactions with the system. Read below👇

All Scottish children need extra help, not just babies EVERY day, around 125 babies are born in Scotland. Each new life represents a new beginning but also significant, and often scary, changes for their…

‘All Scottish children need extra help, not just babies’

The Scottish Child Payment increase for babies is welcome, but costs of childhood do not end when they turn one, writes @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social and Ilona Pinter for @scotnational.bsky.social

www.thenational.scot/politics/257...

All Scottish children need extra help, not just babies EVERY day, around 125 babies are born in Scotland. Each new life represents a new beginning but also significant, and often scary, changes for their…

"It was right to increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 for babies. But they should have been braver and increased it for all children on a low income" Read @ilonapin.bsky.social and @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social new piece in @scotnational.bsky.social

www.thenational.scot/politics/257...

On this blue Monday, it was cheering to meet @samaritans.bsky.social volunteers at various points in the day! So thankful to each of them for the vital work they do, day in & day out. Needed more than ever as our mental health support services continue to crumble.

End of working week but this article from @madeleinepower.bsky.socialn is a must-read. A plethora of names to describe 'food aid' conceals the reality they're all experienced as food banks, with the key fault line not *type* of provision but *demographic* factors www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Start the year with compassion & empathy. And with a commitment to go further for lasting change on child poverty. Please read & share this powerful blog from Beauty, a mother and campaigner working with us on @changingrealities.bsky.social

What a great team!!! Wishing you all so well with the project. We should meet up some time and discuss all of our shared interests

Why the dehumanising narratives around benefits need to stop in 2026 Negative rhetoric around the welfare system can do lasting damage. Ruth Patrick explains what needs to change in the new year.

Meanwhile, it may be a new year but lots still to reflect on from the last. my first piece of 2026 in @bigissue.com calls on Labour to continue the work it began in 2025 in starting (at long last) to speak about social security as a force for good www.bigissue.com/opinion/bene...

Ciara Fitzpatrick: Ditch the diet: let’s resolve this New Year to improve all our lives Small movements of people are working towards a society that will create opportunities for equality and prosperity

‘There is solidarity to be found in small movements of people who are working towards a society that will create opportunities for equality & prosperity.’

Punchy new year piece by @ulsteruni.bsky.social & @safety-nets.bsky.social Ciara Fitzpatrick @irishtimes.com

www.irishnews.com/opinion/ciar...

Deep down I feared ... who will listen to any of us, and especially to me?

@changingrealities.bsky.social

www.rightsnet.org.uk/now/post/69425

Reflecting on her year as part of @changingrealities.bsky.social Sahar Khan writes: 'deep down though I feared that the voices of me & the parents like me are weak, & that it was all happening for the sake of it. Nothing will change, I worried. And who will listen to any of us, and especially to me?

Thanks Scott! Excited to see what 2026 brings. Have a great festive break

Isn’t it just! A very special way to end the working year

But most of all, the biggest and most heartfelt thanks to the day-in-day-out-incredible parents and carers who make up @changingrealities.bsky.social & the facilitation team who support them, which includes @cpaguk.bsky.social and researchers from @glasgow.ac.uk @lshtm.bsky.social

Thanks to our wider consortium of funders inc @nuffieldfoundation.org @therobertsontrust.bsky.social which enables us to work collaboratively, centring the expertise that comes w/ lived experiences of social security to work for changes to both the substance of policy and to how decisions are made.