Really significant changes in employment rights come into force this week - listen to JRF's @abbyabhaya.bsky.social on these landmark changes on @lbc.co.uk 👇

Why social infrastructure matters for economic security Economic security isn’t just about money, local connections and community support matter too. Pride in Place is a key intervention, but new analysis identifies two key challenges.

Greater economic security for families is a key aim of the Government, and my new @jrf-uk.bsky.social paper sets out the role of social infrastructure - community spaces, active community groups and everyday connections - in helping deliver this goal.

www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo...

Aside from everything else, deeply confused policy from govt here. Is care work (a major driver of migration) low skilled?

Or is it, as another govt Department thinks, worthy of better pay and conditions through better collective bargaining (the Fair Pay Agreement policy)?

A quote from Abby Jitendra Principal Policy Adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on a report on care workers pay from Cordis Bright. "It's right that the Government is improving care worker pay through Fair Pay Agreements. Care workers aren't paid enough for the important work they do. But low pay doesn't just cost care workers. It makes it harder to recruit and retain staff and the hidden costs are huge. We need better pay for care workers if we want a more productive, fairer care sector."

It’s right that the Government will improve care worker pay through Fair Pay Agreements. Care workers aren’t paid enough for the important work they do.

But as well as the cost to care workers, there’s also the hidden cost of low pay. A 🧵

The headlines are focused on a 5-year high for unemployment.

But the other story is incredibly weak real earnings.

Monthly numbers are volatile, especially when including bonuses, but it's a sign of how bad it has been that 15 months of real growth can be wiped out by one month's volatility. 1/

Pushed into the wrong job? Assessing the link between conditionality and poor quality employment

Read more on NEF’s new findings here 👇

neweconomics.org/2026/02/push...

Their analysis of places across the UK finds areas where there’s a painful mismatch between the number of people looking for work, and the number of good jobs which are available to them locally. In some areas, NEF finds there are just 5 vacancies for every 100 people who are receiving UC.

New research from @neweconomics.bsky.social explores how far conditionality in the social security system is supporting people to get into good quality jobs.

Disabled people have a poverty rate 8 percentage points higher than people with no disability.

🗣️ Hear Lead Analyst @datataha.bsky.social set out some of the additional structural barriers that disabled people face, and why the government must increase their support. 👇

🛒 'Nobody should have to skip meals to pay the bills’

Senior Analyst Andrew Wenham lays out results from our recent cost-of-living tracker and how they interact with our findings in #UKPoverty2026.

The government must invest in social security to ensure no-one is going without the essentials 🔽

🗣️ ‘Work should be the best route out of poverty’

Analyst @franladouch.bsky.social explains that for millions across the UK, employment is not the safety net from poverty that it should be.

Recent employment reforms are a good start, but the government must go further to protect working families. 🔽

🏘️ ‘High rents and rising mortgage costs are hitting families hard'

Around 4 in 10 renters are in poverty once housing costs are taken into account, Lead Analyst @jelliott94.bsky.social explains.

🗣️ 'The government came to power with a commitment to end the need for food banks. This promise really matters.'

Our Principal Policy Adviser @katieschmuecker.bsky.social sets out the implications of 6.8 million people living in very deep poverty at the time of the last general election 🔽

❌ ‘The longer we accept this as normal, the greater the damage it does’

Our Chief Analyst @statspeter.bsky.social gives an overview of the numbers in #UKPoverty2026 of children, working-age adults and pensioners living in poverty, and what the lack of progress means for society 🔽

👣 ‘This is a huge first step, but it can't be the only one’

Our conditional scenarios work for #UKPoverty2026 shows the impact of scrapping the two-child limit, with 500k families expected to benefit from April.

But a more comprehensive plan is needed, says Lead Analyst @sam-tims.bsky.social 👇

⛓️ ‘Where jobs went, so did the things that held communities together'

Poverty affects the whole of the UK, but it’s not distributed evenly.

Our analyst @scothunter.bsky.social sets out where poverty is most acute, and the action needed for all communities to thrive, no matter where they are.

⚖️ 'Persistent inequalities are not inevitable'

Senior Policy Adviser @yasminibison.bsky.social highlights the ethnic groups in the UK with an elevated risk of being in poverty, and structural factors behind why this is the case.

Community-led approaches will be vital to making a difference.

Image from OBR's Budget docuoment: "Our economy forecast now incorporates the net effect of the changes to universal credit (UC) policies which remain in force following the policy changes made in July. We estimate these will add around 15,000 average hours equivalent (AHE) to labour supply in 2029-30. This reflects the net effect of: (1) the increase in the generosity of the UC standard allowance, which is expected to reduce recipients’ financial incentive to enter or remain in employment, leading to an estimated 11,000 AHE reduction to labour supply; and (2) the reductions in the generosity of and eligibility for health-related benefits in UC, which are expected to lower income for new claimants, increasing work incentives, and resulting in an estimated 26,000 AHE increase in labour supply. We have also assessed the new employment support programme announced in the Green Paper. Based on evidence from similar past schemes, combined with the Department for Work and Pensions’ range of estimates of the numbers of individuals that could be provided with support, we estimate that the programme could support 20,000 to 40,000 inactive claimants"

Today the OBR finally published employment impacts of Govt’s (remaining) disability benefit cuts, which weren’t ready in the spring. Confirms @jrf-uk.bsky.social analysis at the time that these huge cuts to disabled people’s incomes come with relatively few expected to move into work. 🧵1/3

Image showing front cover of Government's statement on asylum and returns policy (titled 'Restoring Order and Control').

No one in the UK should experience destitution - wherever they were born – and destitution should never be an acceptable outcome of policy. But some policies announced in the Home Secretary’s asylum statement risk increasing destitution. 🧵1/7 www.gov.uk/government/p...

What is life really like in one of England's most deprived towns? Hastings in East Sussex is one of the most deprived local authorities in England, data shows.

Spoke to the BBC about the drivers of deprivation and the impact on families. There's a clear link between living in hardship & feeling socially/politically disconnected.

To make meaningful progress, communities must be involved in decisions affecting their lives.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🚨New deprivation data reveals continual deep regional divides across many areas in England.

High levels of deprivation are concentrated in many ex-industrial northern and midlands towns and coastal areas, where manufacturing and tourism industries have been lost.

1/ 📉 Real earnings growth in the UK has slowed sharply and the hit is falling hardest on lower earners.

A quick thread on what the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) tells us 👇

At @jrf-uk.bsky.social, one of the issues we’re currently thinking about is how you can bolster the protections and safety nets available for self-employed people, particularly on low incomes; if you’re working on something similar, please get in touch!

Plus, practical recommendations on how the UK could chart a path from UC improvements for the self-employed all the way to a comprehensive employment insurance system for working people

Currently, self-employed people can be put in a really precarious position if they fall ill, losing 81% of their incomes; this report sets out a number of the problems with our current support systems, and what the UK can learn from other countries

Interesting new report out from @thefabians.bsky.social today on why the UK needs to extend sick pay protections to the self-employed 👇

Disability benefit cuts likely to create more deep poverty and hardship than even the bleak forecast from the Government’s own limited assessments

Really important work from @trusselluk.bsky.social & WPI Economics finds c440,000 people will be pushed into hunger and hardship as a result

How the Employment Rights Bill can make jobs work Work is not a route out of poverty for many in the UK, even though wages for people on low pay have increased. The Employment Rights Bill is a chance to change that.

💼 Too many people in the UK struggle to make ends meet, despite being in work.

In a new Comment piece, @abbyabhaya.bsky.social and @morganbestwick.bsky.social explore how the Employment Rights Bill can and must fix insecure work, improve sick pay and boost flexible jobs.

Read more: bit.ly/3SHzfRH

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall's speech today laid out plans to cut disability and sickness benefits by billions.

❌ No truly moral choice would leave disabled people without support designed to allow them to lead a dignified life, or facing hardship. 1/4