Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)

4.3 million children are living in poverty our latest UK Poverty report shows. The UK government won’t see progress on child poverty by 2029 even with high economic growth 📢 Our analysis shows that under central OBR projections only Scotland will see child poverty rates fall by 2029 in part due to the Scottish Child Payment and mitigating the two-child limit. This demonstrates the power of social security policies in tackling poverty. If the rest of the UK saw the same reduction in the share of children in poverty... 800,000 fewer children would be in poverty 📉 Currently, our social security system doesn’t cover the cost of life’s essentials and ignores the reality that some families have higher costs or need to make one income stretch further, including larger families and lone parent families. These families are disproportionately impacted by specific welfare policies such as the two-child limit and the benefit cap: 44% of children in lone parent families and 45% of children in larger families with 3 or more children are in poverty compared to 30% of all children. This year the UK government say they will publish an 'ambitious' cross-government child poverty strategy. 🗣️ Any respectable child poverty strategy must include action on social security including to abolish the two-child limit and introduce a protected minimum amount of support to Universal Credit Find the link to our modelling in the comments.

Our latest report found over 1 in 5 people in the UK are in poverty. We are hosting an 'Ask Me Anything' session on Reddit on our latest UK Poverty 2025 report - ask our analysts about the stats, the modelling, policy, and the picture of poverty across the UK. Our AMA is now live! 🙋 Join our session: https://lnkd.in/eEnZdzXy

New job alert! We are expanding our social investment programme at Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and adding 2 new roles to support this growth! 🥳   Would you like to use your business and finance skills to help JRF grow and manage our portfolio of social investments that further our mission to support the transition to a more equitable and just future?   If so, then please apply for one of these roles (before 2nd March!): - Investment Portfolio Manager - make and manage investments, report on and share portfolio learnings internally and externally   - Portfolio Operations Manager (part-time) – manage operational aspects of financial, reporting and contracting activity across the portfolio   These roles can be based in either our York or London offices, and both also have a hybrid working option. More details on the roles and how to apply are available on our website https://lnkd.in/guhk9mnP

High housing rents are pulling people into poverty 📢     Our UK Poverty report found that private renters have a much higher than average poverty rate.    The government can make a difference. Find out how in this video 🔽

Come say hello! #TheGathering #SCVOgathering SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) With the excellent Aleks Collingwood Adél Schofield

Our New UK Poverty report reports that in-work poverty has become increasingly prevalent over the last few decades. A relatively modest percentage increase (10% 2001/02 to 12% in 2022/23) translates to a huge 55% increase in the number of workers in poverty to 3.9 million, up 1.4 million since 2001/02. Why are more workers in poverty? Partly it’s about changing composition of who is in work; more parents, including single parents and those with larger families - groups more exposed to poverty - are now in work. They’re more likely to rent privately, paying high housing costs. Meanwhile the rate of employment has fallen for older adults with no dependent children living at home, with increasing numbers taking early retirement – a group more shielded by poverty and entering retirement with greater financial security. In particular we see substantial increases in poverty among the part-time workers, both in employment and self-employed. While for some part-time work means flexibility and convenience, for others it means insufficient hours and insecurity – which seems increasingly prevalent. It is also instructive to look at poverty rates by household working status: -Anyone in work: 15% -All working: 9% -One working, one or more not working: 29% -None working: 54% BUT 2/3rds of working-age adults in poverty (68%) are in working households. 4.9 million working-age adults were in workless households, and of these 2.6 million were in poverty (54%). Of these, 1.5 million were in a family where someone had a disability, and 900k reported permanent sickness / disability as primary reason for now working. In-work poverty is particularly prevalent for those working in hospitality roles (accommodation and food services 23%), administrative and support service activities (21%), and in agriculture, forestry and fishing (21%) – where over a fifth of workers are in poverty. Rates of in-work poverty vary substantially by ethnicity; over 40% of Bangladeshi workers and over a third of Pakistani workers are in poverty, substantially higher than the 12% of all workers who are in poverty. The reasons for this are complex.. Partly it’s about household working status (more likely to be single earner households), employment type (more likely to be self-employed), sectors worked in and rates of pay (lower average earnings), plus geography and housing (more likely to be renting in costlier areas). Poverty rate by average weekly hours worked across all adults in household (tot hours / total adults): -30+: 6% -20-29: 19% -10-19: 34% -1-9: 46% -0: 54% Read more in the full UK Poverty report, including our thoughts on future prospects, at the link in the comments.

In 2023, Yasmin Ibison launched our 'AI for public good' work. Unlike our other policy programmes, we were positioned as an explorer, posing thought-provoking questions and gathering audiences to generate new ideas in response. 🔎 This work will not continue as a stand-alone programme for us. Instead, AI and technology are becoming ever more embedded across JRF – through how we work, understanding poverty’s dynamics, and engaging with communities. 🗒️ Read Yasmin's reflections: https://lnkd.in/efJFVBET

Over 2025 JRF and Storythings will be working together to bring an exciting new editorial project to life. Two roles will be pivotal to pulling it off: a (FT) managing editor and and a (PT) audience growth manager. Have a look at the vacancies and do share with anyone you think might fit the bill. https://lnkd.in/eJ9Ncr2d https://lnkd.in/erHS5S3w

Really looking forward to two days of connection with folks at SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations)'s Gathering! I am hopping on a train from York shortly and will be at Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)'s stand (number 44) with Aleks Collingwood and Giselle Cory to share info about our Insight Infrastructure programme of work: we work on better tech and data for the anti-poverty movement. We're keen to hear about ideas and initiatives which we might be able to support or connect with. Come say hi if you're heading there too!

25% of people in poverty were food insecure in 2023/24. 30% of children in poverty were food insecure. Families were skipping meals or eating less than they should to the point of unintentional weight loss. A future where everyone can afford the essentials is possible. 🌱 Last week we launched our UK Poverty 2025 report. We set out the scale of action necessary for the Government to deliver the change it has promised. Find the link to our report in comments 🔽