Labour market enforcement, austerity, visas and sustaining poverty

Author: Eda Yazici

Illegalised migrants are often associated with poverty and deregulated labour markets. In this blogpost, I share the experience of one family to show how poverty is created and sustained by, among others, agencies that are supposed to safeguard workers and provide a safety net from destitution. This research was undertaken under the Horizon funded PRIME project that analyses the role of institutions in shaping the conditions and politics of irregularised migrants in Europe.

The context

In 2011, the UK government introduced a deregulatory drive to cut red tape and unleash economic growth (Gov.uk, 2011). This was alongside massive cuts to public spending, decimating local authorities’ ability to support those most in need and suppressing enforcement agencies like the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority’s capacity to investigate labour market abuses. At the same time, the commitment of successive governments to backing “UK PLC” and creating a so-called ‘bonfire of red tape’ has made it easier than ever to start a business. This has enabled the widespread phenomenon of ‘phoenixing’ (WoRC, 2024). Phoenixing is when a company dissolves having come under scrutiny but quickly re-establishes itself under a new name to continue its exploitative practices. The slashed red tape that allows phoenixing to proliferate denies workers redress or practical access to justice.

Phoenixing is particularly prevalent among care agencies who offer Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) for Health and Care Worker (HCW) visas. HCW visas were introduced in 2021. They tie workers to employers, and if a worker wishes to leave, they must find a new visa sponsor within 60 days or risk deportation. The government sets the cost of applying for a HCW visa at £551 per person for five years. Of the 15 care workers we interviewed for the PRIME Project, the average paid to sponsors was £5000, rising to a maximum of £15,000. Many of the people we met arrived in the UK only to find that the agency who sponsored their visa did not exist, or offered them only a few hours’ work a week, or had phoenixed after having their sponsor licence revoked.

Graphic of scissors cutting pound sign

Hameed and Ferhat[1]

Hameed, a data analyst, entered the UK in 2022 on a Skilled Worker visa with his wife, Ferhat, and their two children. Initially, life in suburban southwest London seemed promising and secure, but in late 2023, Hameed was made redundant. This led to the curtailment of his visa, and despite his best efforts, he was unable to secure another visa sponsor for a new job.

Faced with the loss of their livelihood and legal status, Ferhat, who was a primary school teacher in Pakistan, applied for a HCW visa which would allow her to work as a carer, with Hameed and their two children permitted to stay as her dependents. In early 2024, Ferhat found a care agency who promised immediate employment to sponsor her in an Essex town. The family left London, taking a room in a hotel before finding a house to rent. After paying £600 to her new employer to “release the rota”, Ferhat began working as a carer 16 hours a day for 6 days a week. When she complained about the gruelling schedule, the employer threatened her with deportation.

Ferhat’s health deteriorated under these exploitative conditions, and the family faced further obstacles. They could not register with a GP without proof of address and had to visit A&E for medical attention. Despite a sick note, Ferhat was only allowed two days off by her employer before being forced to return to work. The doctor who saw Ferhat did not raise concerns about labour exploitation. Ferhat’s health continued to deteriorate and after several more weeks of working over 90 hours a week, she collapsed at work. Her employer’s response was to summarily dismiss her. The agency who dismissed her has since phoenixed.

In the three months Ferhat was working as a carer, Hameed managed to secure rented accommodation for the family, began applying for school places for their children, and started to look for data analyst jobs. When Ferhat was dismissed, their landlord issued them with a Section 21 or “no fault eviction” notice. Without a new visa sponsor, the family were unable to find alternative rented accommodation and had to return to a hotel. With every penny of their savings spent, and the 60 days to find a new sponsor elapsed, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau advised them to ask their local authority for help.

Graphic of a maze symbolising no way out

The local authority reluctantly agreed to support the family under Section 17 of the Children’s Act which places a statutory duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area. Section 17 meets children’s basic needs including food, clothing, and housing irrespective of immigration status. The local authority did not agree to house the family until they sold their last remaining asset – their car – for £300 and had spent that on their hotel room. Despite having no legal right to give immigration advice, the family’s social worker advised them to apply for asylum – support for which is funded by central government, not local government. The family was informed there were no secondary school places available in the local authority for their eldest child and despite a statutory duty to admit children of compulsory school age, the social worker and local authority took no action. Instead, Hameed walked the two miles to the nearest secondary school every day to plead for a place for his son. When his son eventually started school, the social worker did not inform them of the local authority’s duty to make a discretionary payment for school uniform or for travel to and from school, forcing Hameed and Ferhat’s son to start school without uniform and walk four miles each day without a proper coat.

At time of writing the family share a room in a hostel provided by the local authority with vouchers to cover food expenses. Hameed has applied for over 200 jobs as a data analyst hoping that one will sponsor him for a new Skilled Worker Visa. Ferhat has been unable to find an alternative sponsor for a Health and Care Worker visa.

The family’s situation shows the devastating confluence of deregulation, austerity, and a hostile visa regime. The bonfire of red tape allowed the unscrupulous agency to rise and rise again. Austerity has made deep cuts to labour market enforcement agencies and the justice system supposed to protect workers and even deeper cuts to local government. This has left them with minimally resourced social care services desperate to cut costs, cut time, and pass the buck to central government. Finally, the hostile environment and No Recourse to Public Funds prevents many from accessing public services, while a tied visa system prevents those who are exploited from speaking out, knowing that they may pay in deportation. While slashed red tape may unleash growth for care agencies, they are part of a wider system that creates, sustains, and entrenches deep poverty. Ferhat and Hameed’s experiences highlight the need for researchers to not view immigration and other areas of social policy such as work and welfare in isolation and emphasise how different areas of policy come together to create, sustain, and entrench poverty.

[1] Names have been changed

References

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/red-tape-challenge

20240627-worc-evidence-submission-low-pay-commission.pdf

Views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the BPI and the University of Bristol.

BPI Foodbank Volunteering 2024

The University of Bristol supports all its staff to take one day of volunteering leave per year to help make a positive impact in the local community. This November, the Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) brought together teams of staff from across the University to return to volunteer at a local food bank and Social Justice Hub, helping out a good cause and having a really rewarding, enjoyable day with colleagues in the process.

Photo of volunteers wrapping presents

This year, we brought together a combination of BPI team members, academic researchers, and colleagues from the Research Development teams in the Division of Research, Enterprise and Innovation. In previous years, our foodbank volunteering days have been largely focussed on sorting through donated food items in the warehouse; however, this year was a little different! In a few weeks, the foodbank will be handing out Christmas presents to the customers who rely on the foodbank, bringing a little Christmas joy alongside their usual food parcels. We were therefore tasked with working through dozens of boxes of donated gifts, wrapping them up, and allocating them to the most suitable age and gender category.

Photos of present wrapping activity

We bundled together different value and types of items to make nice gift-worthy combinations. For example, a mix of bath products and some colourful scrunchies, a book and a toy, or a necklace and a pair of socks. It was really fun putting together combinations which we thought people might like, and we really hope that the presents help bring some extra Christmas cheer to people struggling in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. We wrapped A LOT of presents and had a great time doing it, and towards the end of the day we were already having a chat about volunteering at the foodbank again next year!

Photo of volunteers

Photograph of wrapped presents

Before heading home, I had a chat with the foodbank’s Assistant Manager and Volunteering Lead, Hazel, who advised that they are always keen to hear from people interested in volunteering, particularly anyone who can help out in December in the run up to Christmas, one of the busiest times for them. So, if this has inspired you, check out their website and contact them! And please consider popping something in the foodbank donation boxes next time you’re at the supermarket.

List of items the foodbank need

You can find out about our past volunteering days in our previous blog posts:

BPI Seedcorn Fund: Projects 2023-24 Showcase and Call 2024-25 Launch

On the 25th September 2024 we – the Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) – hosted our Seedcorn Fund Showcase and brought together a cross-section of the University of Bristol’s research community from all faculties and beyond. The event began with an introduction from Joe Jezewski, the Development Associate for the BPI, who detailed what the BPI do and how the Seedcorn Fund is a key initiative of the BPI’s goal of achieving SDG 1: to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. Joe explained the details of this academic year’s Seedcorn Fund (2024-25) highlighting the key features and eligibility requirements and explained that the fund is now open for new applications (until the 10th April 2025).

Seedcorn Showcase Event From Back of Room

BPI Seedcorn Funding Slide

The event then moved into the showcase part of the afternoon with Dr. Ed Atkins presenting first on his project entitled ‘Developing a Net-Zero Vulnerability Index for the UK’, which was funded by the BPI Seedcorn Fund in the 2023-24 academic year. Ed, the principal investigator (PI) on this interdisciplinary project, explained that those affected by the transition to net zero in terms of employment would be people currently working in the fossil fuels sector and related positions, as well those working in high emission industries, for example, some manufacturing and building construction businesses. Therefore, the project focused on a way of developing a vulnerability index and ranking system to identify local authorities most at risk of net zero’s economic consequences as jobs transition between now and 2050. The index showed that some local authorities were particularly vulnerable (further details of which will be published by Ed’s project team in due course) and that many of the old industrial areas, still suffering from past de-industrialisation, are still vulnerable. Ed is currently working with civil servants in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business and Trade to influence policy making on a just transition to net zero. He is also planning to implement a ‘heat map’ version of the vulnerability index on the web.

Ed Atkins Presenting at BPI Seedcorn Showcase

Net Zero Vulnerability Index Approach Slide

The second project funded by the BPI Seedcorn Fund in the 2023-24 academic year, entitled ‘From Pen to Print: Tracing the Evolution of Poverty Narratives in The Times Over Centuries’, then presented their findings. Dr. Jin Zheng, co-investigator on the project alongside the PI, Dr. Ran Tao, delivered the presentation. The project had impressively analysed The Times newspaper articles from 1875 to 2012 – 18,521 articles in total – having first used Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to convert the PDF files to editable and readable text. The project team was then able to chart the frequency of certain poverty-relevant terms used within the newspaper articles using  ‘topic modelling analysis’ and machine learning. Among the eight different search terms, they found that the term “Workhouse Conditions” was mainly discussed in the 19th century, whereas the term “Unemployment” became prominent during the 20th century. Having also looked at ‘determinants’, the project found that there was an increase in the number of articles containing the term “unemployment” during recession periods. The term “Government Policies” did not vary in frequency (based on analysis between 1918 and 2001) depending on which party was in power – i.e. Labour or Conservative. The next step for the project will be to potentially use AI to fix OCR issues and increase the number of readable articles that can be used in the project. They will also look further into what poverty terms and determinants would be useful to analyse in the future.

Dr Jin Zheng presenting her project

Dr Jin Zheng's Slide on Unemployment and Recession

Following the presentations, there was a lively Q&A exploring a range of issues including the role of creative industries in areas of deprivation, the potential implications of a new government on devolution, particularly around industrial strategy, and how different forms of media have discussed poverty through time and how this intersected with different historical and pollical factors and the rise of mass media. We also welcomed some questions about our current round of Seedcorn funding, and were pleased to see how many people in the room – from different parts of the University – were interested in applying for funding.

We are really looking forward to seeing how these two projects continue to develop as well as seeing what project ideas will be generated for this year’s round of funding! If you’re interested to apply for BPI Seedcorn Funding then please refer to our funding details page for more information and the call specification. The slides from the project presentations from this event will also be available soon via our event resources page.

Poverty and Social Justice in a Post-COVID World: BPI Conference 2024 Summary

Author: Dr Lauren Winch, BPI Manager

Introduction

On the 5th and 6th June 2024 the Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) were delighted to welcome a diverse audience to our conference on Poverty and Social Justice in a Post-COVID World. This important conference marked the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, which laid the foundations the BPI has built upon since our launch in 2017. We welcomed around 120 attendees from a wide range of sectors and organisations around the world including universities, a local foodbank, Arigatou International, ATD Fourth World, Bristol City Council, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Citizen’s Advice, Disability Rights UK, Innovate UK, and UNICEF. We also featured speakers from 12 different countries across five continents.

Across our two-day programme we brought together a multi-sector audience – including those with lived experience – with varied perspectives, approaches, and knowledge. Together, we explored how the pandemic has impacted on different dimensions of poverty and how we could combine our different expertise, approaches, and perspectives to help improve the lives of those suffering from poverty and address issues of social justice. We delivered a mix of thematic and regionally focussed sessions and a combination of in-person and online engagement opportunities to try to open the door for everyone to be part of the conversation.

On Day 1 (Wednesday 5th June), we convened in-person in Bristol to explore the impacts of the pandemic on different dimensions of poverty within the UK, with thematic sessions on topics such as mental health, structural inequalities, education, employment, and social mobility, as well as dedicated networking spaces. On Day 2 (Thursday 6th June), we brought together a global online audience to take a journey around the world with us exploring the impacts of the pandemic in different regions. We started with an Asia and Oceania-focused session in the morning, moved on to Europe and Africa in the middle of the day and, finally, to the Americas later in the day, following the sun around the world and shedding light on different dimensions of poverty and inequality in the wake of the pandemic.

The COVID pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, disrupting all of our lives. Inevitably, some were worse affected than others and, as with many things, it was often those already marginalised who feel the heaviest impact. New inequalities emerged and existing inequalities were exposed and exacerbated. Many of these have persisted long beyond the peak of the pandemic, even now, when life has settled into a so-called ‘new normal’. Political choices resulted in a pandemic that was experienced unequally, killed unequally and impoverished unequally and this has reduced trust in government and health systems.

Please read on for a whistle-stop tour of our conference! We have also made our conference resources available on our website, so if you want to delve into more detail on the presentations please do check those out. We have presentation slides from both days, as well as full recordings of all of our online sessions on our YouTube page:

 

Day 1

We were delighted to welcome our in-person attendees to Day 1 of our conference at the Wills Hall Conference Centre in Bristol for a fantastic programme of sessions.

Photo of registration areaConference day one programme

Opening Session

Day 1 of our conference kicked off with an engaging welcome address from the University of Bristol’s Faculty Pro-Vice Chancellor for Arts, Law and Social Sciences Professor Esther Dermott, who was one of the founding members of the Bristol Poverty Institute back in 2017. Setting the scene for our two-day conference, Esther provided an overview of the BPI, its background, and its importance, embedded within reflections on the challenges of poverty in the modern day and how this intersects with various issues including politics, health, and education. She highlighted the value of the BPI’s interdisciplinary, multidimensional approach to poverty, and of the importance of bringing together different sectors and perspectives in events like this one.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences Professor Esther Dermotts welcoming speech

We were then introduced to the BPI itself by the BPI Manager, Dr Lauren Winch. Lauren introduced the BPI team members, the BPI Advisory Board, and gave an overview of the BPI’s history, it’s key aims, and how the Institute operates. She again reiterated the multidimensional approach to poverty, and the Institute’s ambitions to translate research into evidence-informed policy and practice which improves peoples’ lives in the real world.

Introducing the Bristol Poverty Institute slide screenshot

Lauren then provided a summary of the programme for the day, before introducing the BPI’s Academic Director Professor David Gordon for the opening presentation. David’s presentation was eye-opening, and at times shocking even to an informed audience. He shared statistics on poverty and deprivation changes over time, quoted the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights on the extent of poverty in the UK and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on human rights violations in the UK, and finally shared evidence on the impacts of COVID on poverty and inequality. Professor Gordon illustrated the impacts of austerity on measures of poverty, wage growth, and spending on public services, and highlighted how poorly the UK had performed compared to other high-income countries in the wake of the pandemic with both high death rates and low-economic growth.

Photo of Professor David Gordon giving his presentation

Professor David Gordon slide screenshot

He concluded with a statement on how pandemics have historically affected the poor the most and exacerbated inequalities, and that COVID was no different – the poor got poorer, and the rich got richer. This, he said, is the state we’re in.

Education, Employment and Escalating Inequalities

Our first thematic session of the day was on ‘Education, Employment and Escalating Inequalities’. This session sought to explore how the pandemic had impacted on trajectories and life chances, including for those in education, in employment, and transitioning between the two. Our speakers explored child poverty, financial inequalities, in-work poverty, and the rise of food banks in schools.

First, we heard from our session chair Professor Sharon Collard, who is the Research Co-Director at the University of Bristol’s Personal Finance Research Centre and has been a member of the BPI Advisory Board and core team since the very beginning of our Institute. Sharon’s talk introduced the Financial Fairness Tracker and the evidence it had generated on the financial wellbeing of UK households since the pandemic.

Professor Sharon Collard slide screenshot

Sharon highlighted evidence on how the number of households in serious difficulty had risen from 2.8million in 2021 to 4.8million in 2023, with increasing number of households resorting to taking on new debt and using foodbanks. She then outlined how household finances are linked to health and wellbeing, including lung issues linked to cold and damp houses, sleep deprivation due to stress, dental issues due to unaffordable treatment costs, and reduced mental health due to lack of capacity to engage in social activities. She concluded with a quote from Peter Barker on how “we can’t go back to normal”.

Photograph of Professor Sharon Collard presenting

Our next speaker was Mr Alex Collinson from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), who was unfortunately unable to join us in person and therefore gave his presentation online. Alex’s talk looked at the rise of in-work poverty and the main drivers behind this, before moving on to exploring the policies that would help to reverse the rise. He highlighted the negative impacts of insecure work and a broken benefits system, and commented on how work is not currently a route out of poverty, echoing sentiments from a recent BPI seminar on Dismantling ‘Work as a Route out of Poverty’: Exploring experiences of underemployment and active labour market policy. He shared some of the TUC’s analysis on the drivers of in-work poverty, including pay rates, levels of insecure work, and reductions in the real value of standard monthly benefits allowances.

Alex Collinson slide's screenshot

 

Alex closed his presentation with a plea to policy makers to bring in new legislation that tackles insecure work, addresses the pay crisis with measures including a £15/hour minimum wage, and fixes the broken social security net.

We then heard from Professor Jane Millar, who is the Chair of the Trustees of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and Professor Emerita in the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath. Jane was speaking in her capacity as Chair of Trustees at CPAG, and shared findings from CPAG’s 2023 annual report on ending child poverty. Jane set the scene by highlighting that in 2022/23 there were 4.3 million children – around 30% of all children – in the UK living in poor households.

Professor Jane Millar slide's screenshot

Echoing some of Alex’s points, she noted that many children are growing up in poverty despite having at least one working parent, and that child poverty can cast a long shadow on health impacts, education outcomes, and wellbeing and mental health. She also highlighted how policy in recent years has actually increased child poverty in the UK, and how the UK has fallen into the bottom third of European rankings for child poverty rates. In order to reverse this trend, Jane advocated for changes which combat the things which are making it worse, expand measures to prevent or reduce child poverty, and actively build support to achieve a society with no child poverty. Such measures could include abolition of the two-child limit and the benefit cap, making child benefit universal, providing more secure homes, and extending free school meals to all children whose parents are on Universal Credit. She wrapped up with a clear message that ending child poverty should not be a party-political issue; it should be something that unites all parties.

Photograph of Professor Jane Millar presenting

The final speaker in our Education, Employment and Escalating Inequalities session was Dr William Baker, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Bristol. William’s talk focussed on the rise of food banks in schools, highlighting how millions of families across the UK are struggling to put food on the table and large numbers of children are arriving at school too hungry to learn, and how this has led to a shocking situation whereby there are now more food banks in schools than outside of them. In addition, he exposed that one million children in poverty don’t qualify for free school meals because the income threshold is so low – if your income on Universal Credit is above £7400/year, you don’t quality for free school meals.

Doctor Will Baker slide's screenshot

Mirroring comments from earlier presenters, William highlighted how toxic food insecurity can be for children, threatening their psychosocial outcomes, their educational trajectories, and ultimately their life chances. He also noted how parents’ mental health also suffers when they can’t provide adequate food for their children, with compounding impacts. William then went on to introduce his research on food banks in schools – many of which started during the pandemic – and how their prevalence has accelerated rapidly during the cost-of-living crisis. 21% of schools in England now have a foodbank, rising to a third in the most deprived areas. Interestingly, he also noted that it was often the poorest paid within the school systems – such as teaching assistants and receptionists – who were driving forward these initiatives. William’s talk drew to a close with reflections on how charitable food aid was being forced to step in where the welfare state should be supporting people, and how the UK is currently systematically failing to ensure that every citizen has the right to food.

Sharon, our session Chair, then opened up the floor to questions from the audience. The room explored topics including priorities for manifestos in the upcoming election, holding the UK government to account for child poverty and human rights now that we have left the EU, and what could be done to reduce child poverty in the next generation. Key topics which came to the fore were the need for the government to commit to a child poverty strategy, to address the cost-of-living crisis head on, and to reconsider the two-child policy and benefit cap which some of the panellists described as inhumane. In the closing remarks, William took the opportunity to highlight the upcoming Food Justice Fortnight in June and July organised by charity Feeding Bristol, which he is involved with. The BPI are also actively participating in this initiative, co-hosting a joint workshop with Feeding Bristol, the University of Bristol Food Justice Researchers Network, and Cabot Institute for the Environment on Connecting Research and Communities to tackle food justice and inequalities.

Mental Health, Poverty, and the Pandemic

Following a break for refreshments and networking, we re-convened for our second thematic session of the day on Mental Health, Poverty and the Pandemic, exploring intersections between mental and physical health and dimensions of poverty, including food deprivation and the care sector. The session was introduced and chaired by Dr Julie Mytton, who is a Professor of Public Health and leads the Global Health Research theme in the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing at UWE and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol. Julie also joined the BPI Advisory Board in 2023, bringing valuable expertise on children and young people and health inequalities to the Board following the retirement of previous members Professor Alan Emond and Dr Matthew Ellis.

Our first presenter in this session was Ms Tricia Jessiman, who is a Senior Research Associate in Qualitative Public Health at the University of Bristol. Linking in with some of the discussion before the break, Tricia’s talk explored the viability and impacts of a pilot intervention offering free school meals for all children. Her talk shared evidence from a case study in two London secondary schools, following an introduction where she shared more insights into food insecurity and child hunger and the implications this can have on a child’s growth, development, and mental health. Tricia outlined how child hunger and poverty can have implications for depression, anxiety, bullying, substance abuse, disordered eating, behavioural issues, and other psychosocial impacts with potential lifelong consequences.

Ms Tricia Jessiman slide's screenshot

Tricia’s research questions for this project focussed on whether universal free school meals could be feasible, what the costs would be, and crucially what the implications and impacts were. Data collection included interviews with parents/carers, school staff, and ‘peer partners’ from within the student body. Key findings included that once the system was in place it was easier for school staff to administer than means-tested free meals, that universal provision led to increased meal choice and quality, and that it also helped tackle stigma as well as the anticipated financial benefits for families and nutritional benefits for children. Whilst there are inevitable cost implications, Tricia concluded that the benefits outweighed these and argued that the evidence from this intervention proved that universal free school meals could be delivered successfully in secondary schools; however, more research is needed in different schools and different regions, and with comparisons against other food insecurity interventions.

Up next we heard from Mrs Dinithi Wijedasa, an Associate Professor in Child and Family Welfare at the University of Bristol. Dinithi’s presentation explored the mental health of children and young people in care in England through analysis of longitudinal patterns. Her talk began with some troubling statistics on children and young people in care who now number over 80,000, two-thirds of whom have been taken into care due to severe maltreatment such as abuse or neglect. She explained that these children come from backgrounds of poverty, deprivation and disadvantage, and 40-50% have a diagnosable mental health condition.

Photograph of Dinithi Wijedasa presenting

Dinithi’s talk questioned whether the current system delivers the protective role and duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children which is expected from the State, and explored how children and young peoples’ developmental contexts impacted on their mental health. One particularly worrying statistic was the amount of people experiencing difficulties who either hadn’t asked for mental health support, or had asked for support but didn’t received it, which was 20% in the first wave of the study and 27% in the second.

Mrs Dinithi Wijedasa slide's screenshot

Overall, Dinithi concluded that the studies indicated that children’s whole developmental context influences their mental health, particularly the strength of their relationships with family, friends and other support networks. Her work also highlighted the importance of longitudinal tracking, and the need to address children’s mental health earlier rather than waiting until crisis point.

The final speaker in this session was from Professor Laura Howe who is a statistical epidemiologist at the University of Bristol. Laura’s presentation explored how poverty and adversity can affect physical and mental health over a life course, particularly when experienced in childhood. Laura explained how ‘childhood adversity’ refers to maltreatment as well as broader forms of household disfunction such as substance abuse, domestic violence, parental divorce, bullying, emotional abuse, and parental criminal conviction. This is therefore a broad spectrum of events which can deprive children of a safe home environment.

Photograph of Laura Howe presenting

She went on to explore how poverty, adversity and health can all intersect, but acknowledged that they are not always addressed collectively and that the solutions and approaches to these areas can be different. Laura’s work drew upon data from the ALSPAC cohort, and revealed that childhood adversity reduces socioeconomic chances in life as well as affects numerous aspects of health outcomes including depression, obesity, and substance addiction/abuse. Echoing sentiments repeated earlier in the day, Laura surmised that the pandemic’s socioeconomic effects were hardest felt by people with pre-existing and long-lasting disadvantages.

Following-on from these thought-provoking presentations, the room entered into an engaging discussion of the intersections between mental health and poverty, and the role of the pandemic in these areas. This included, for example, the need for holistic responses at both individual and institutional levels to issues such as food security and effectively supporting children in care, as well as the value of interventions at family level. A key message which kept coming up was the need for early interventions instead of waiting until children and young people reach crisis point; the old adage of ‘prevention is better than cure’ certainly rings true in these circumstances. Other topics which the panel explored included why the study of poverty and adversity are separate, the power relationships in child poverty research, the importance of co-production, and the role of schools as a focal point for not only education but also the social and health needs of pupils. The discussion was lively and could have gone on much longer, but it was time for us to break for lunch and chew over the themes, questions, and revelations of the morning’s presentations as well as a tasty meal in beautiful surroundings.

Lunch photograph

Structural Inequalities and Social Justice

Our session after lunch was an interactive one, designed to combat the post-lunch ‘slump’. We also wanted to give our attendees the opportunity to actively engage in the discussion, to meet some new people, and to hear fresh perspectives from people with different experience and backgrounds. We therefore asked attendees not to sit with their friends and close colleagues for the breakout groups! We think it worked…

Whilst the session was interactive, we wanted to set the scene with a couple of thought-provoking presentations. Our session Chair, Professor David Gordon, introduced our afternoon session on structural inequalities and social justice and explained how the pandemic disproportionally affected different people, groups and communities due to dimensions including gender, ethnicity, disability, and socioeconomic status. The first presentation was from Ann Singleton, a Reader in Migration Policy at the University of Bristol, who was presenting on behalf of Tony Bunyan who was unfortunately unable to attend due to ill health. Tony is the Director Emeritus of Statewatch and the Honorary President of the Institute of Race Relations, and a well-known and highly respected voice on structural inequalities.

Ann and Tony’s presentation was entitled ‘Monitoring the State’ and was centred on the premise that the need for independent monitoring of the actions of the state is an essential cornerstone in the defence of civil liberties, challenging racism, inequalities in health, housing, and multiple dimensions of poverty. One of Ann’s opening statements was that “The most revolutionary thing you can do is to proclaim loudly what is happening”, and it was clear how much this struck a chord with the conference attendees. She went on to provide some background on both Statewatch and the Institute for Race Relations, including the evidence they hold in their archives and its importance. For example, they have decades worth of paper evidence documenting all of the measures implemented by the State. Ann highlighted how this information is vital to inform debate, and to hold the State to account. Her concluding remarks re-emphasised the message that we must address – and challenge – the structures in society in order to make progress.

Ann Singleton presentation photograph

Our second provocation came from Professor Saffron Karlsen, whose work at the University of Bristol focuses on improving understanding the significance of ethnicity in people’s lives, including its impact on social inclusion and its role in driving health and other inequalities. Saffron’s talk focussed on lessons from the pandemic for more inclusive policy-making, and building on Ann’s presentation it also explored the role the state can have in driving the narrative. She has done a lot of work with Black South West Network on how the pandemic disproportionately impacted different communities, particularly where this intersects with ethnicity. Saffron gave an overview of focus group studies with racialised groups in Bristol she had been part of in the wake of the pandemic as the rules and restrictions began to lift. Themes which came to the fore were a lack of representation and inclusion, ‘culture wars’ and the ‘blame game’, and mistrust of the government, its policies, and its respect for racialised groups.

Photograph of Saffron Karlsen presenting

Saffron Karlsen slide's screenshot

These two talks certainly did their job of stimulating thought and discussion in the room, and were an excellent scene-setter for our breakout groups. The remainder of the session was therefore dedicated to exploring our breakout questions:

  1. How did the pandemic affect different groups in different ways? Who do you think gained and who do you think lost?
  2. What should the next government do to get poverty alleviation back on track?

Breakout groups discussion photograph

There was such a buzz in the room that it was a shame to have to draw the breakout groups to a close, but we were keen to hear what the different tables had come up with. The response to question 1, who gained and who lost, was pretty unanimous: the rich won, and the poor, marginalised and/or disabled lost. Other groups who were identified as losing were school-aged children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as people in densely populated areas, key workers on the ‘front line’, women, single parents, racialised communities, teachers, those in precarious employment, people who lived alone, care home residents, people with disabilities and/or chronic health conditions, and of course everyone who suffered with and died from COVID itself. Winners included software companies, ‘cronies’, PPE companies, pharmaceutical companies which developed the vaccines, and people with larger homes and/or gardens, although it was also acknowledged that homeless people and those on Universal Credit did also temporarily benefit from additional government support and that many of us have benefitted from the transition to hybrid working and from an enhanced community spirit with our neighbours.

In terms of what the next government should do to tackle poverty, providing adequate housing was a common theme, as was getting the economy and inflation back on track, ending the two-child limit, uprating benefits in line with inflation, restructuring the tax system and closing loopholes so that the super-wealthy pay their fair share, investing in and commitment to public services in general and the NHS, transport, and education in particular, and reparations for colonialism, slavery, and climate damage. It was clear that all of the groups had had engaging discussions with different perspectives, but these common themes really came to the fore. We can only hope the new government – as yet undecided at the time of writing this post – really get to grips with these challenges, and invests in the right areas to help those most in need.

Breakout group notes photograph

Closing Session (Day 1)

We took a short break after the breakout session, before moving into our final closing session of Day 1 of our conference. Our final speaker was Mr Peter Matejic who is a Chief Analyst at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), and has engaged with BPI many times over the years. We were delighted to welcome him to the floor to share his reflections on the deepening of UK poverty, and what can be done to tackle it. Peter introduced JRF as an independent and politically neutral organisation who simply want to eradicate poverty. He shared the shocking statistic that there are 14.3million people in poverty in the UK and that 6 million of these are in ‘very deep poverty’, with disproportional amounts of people with disabilities and lone parents in poverty. Worryingly, levels of destitution and deep hardship are rising fastest of all; the number of people in destitution has more than doubled since 2016.

Peter Matejic slide's screenshot

Peter Matejic slide's screenshot

After sharing a thought-provoking video with lived experience testimonials, Peter outlined what JRF think is driving destitution. Causal factors include the fact that the basic rate of social security is at its lowest in 30 years, various housing-related challenges including housing benefits lagging behind rent, lack of appropriate regulation and much lower rates of social housing being built, and also an increasing number of people who are sick and/or disabled and therefore unable to work. Peter’s presentation did, however, end on a more positive note: change is possible. Measures such as uplifting Universal Credit, developing a fit-for-purpose housing policy, and improving the statutory sick pay system would all go a long way towards reducing poverty and deprivation, as would tightening and enforcing employee’s rights.

Peter’s talk inspired a series of interesting questions and discussions in the room, with topics including what is required for a decent standard of living, what happens to asylum seekers who drop out of the system, whether there is scope for further devolution in the UK – and whether this would be a good thing – and what are the gender dimensions of poverty and deprivation.

It was then down to the BPI Director, Professor David Gordon, to draw Day 1 of our conference to a close. He thanked all of the speakers, attendees, and BPI team for their contributions to the conference, and encouraged everyone to join us online the following day for our world-tour of the intersections between poverty and COVID-19. We then invited all attendees to join us for a drinks reception, to continue with the engaging discussions and explore new connections and potential opportunities for collaboration with other attendees. The fact that many attendees were still in the room over an hour and half later when the event closed is a real testament to the inspiring talks and presenters and to all of the attendees for being so engaged and involved in the discussion. Therefore, the BPI want to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who participated in such a fantastic day.

Group photograph at the end of the day

Day 2

The second day of our conference was delivered online to a global audience, with a series of regionally-focussed sessions corresponding with respective time zones. We kicked off with a session focussing on Asia and Oceania first thing in the morning, followed by a late morning session on Europe, a session on Africa after lunch, and finally a session on the Americas in the afternoon/evening UK time. We were joined by speakers from 12 countries from across five continents, as well as a diverse audience of global attendees. Our session summaries are briefer for Day 2 than Day 1, as all of the sessions were recorded and you can therefore watch the full thing at your own leisure if the below piques your interest!

Conference day 2 programme Conference day 2 programme

Asia/Oceania Session

Day 2 kicked off with a session on Asia/Oceania, with speakers joining us from Hong Kong, Japan, Kiribati, and the UK. The BPI team provided a brief scene-setting presentation, giving a bit of background to the Institute, the conference, and our programme of activities. The Asia/Oceania session was chaired by University of Bristol alumni and friend of the BPI Dr Shailen Nandy, who is now a Professor of International Social Policy at the University of Cardiff.

We began with a presentation from Professor Maggie Lau from Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Maggie’s presentation explored the impacts of the pandemic on child poverty and well-being in Hong Kong, applying the consensual deprivation methodology to understand poverty and develop appropriate poverty alleviation policies in Hong Kong. She explained how the consensual method incorporates both household and individual levels of analysis and therefore acknowledges the multidimensional nature of poverty and is a more direct reflection of living standards and quality of life than some other measures. Maggie provided an overview of where and how the consensual method has been applied globally, and her findings from its application in Hong Kong.

Screenshot of slide on the history of poverty analysis in Hong Kong

Our next presentation was from Dr Viliami Konifelenisi Fifita, who is the International Resident Advisor to the Kiribati National Statistics Office at the World Bank and is another University of Bristol alumnus who spent many years working for the Government of Tonga. Like Maggie, Viliami’s presentation focussed on the application of the consensual approach to poverty measurement, this time applying this methodology to Pacific Island countries with specific examples from Tonga. In his presentation, Viliami also outlined some of the other poverty measures which are commonly applied, including the World Bank’s international poverty line ($1.25/day), national poverty lines, and the multidimensional poverty line, as well as different categories of poverty classification.

Doctor Viliami Fifita slide screenshot

The third presenter in our Asia/Oceania session was Professor Aya Abe from Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan. Aya’s presentation provided an overview of the application of the consensual method in a third country context; she presented an analysis of changes in socially perceived necessities over time in Japan. She highlighted how one of the technical challenges in constructing the material deprivation scale is the identification of socially perceived necessities, which are contextually dependent and can also change over time in response to economic, demographic and political change. Her presentation therefore outlined research studies exploring changes over time in perceived necessities such as having shoes that fit, separate bedrooms for children, and visiting a doctor, and the impact of different factors on this.

Screenshot of Professor Aya Abe's presentation

Professor Aya Abe slide screenshot

Our fourth and final speaker in the Asia/Oceania session was Dr Qiujie Shi, a Lecturer in Quantitative Human Geography at the University of Bristol. Qiujie’s presentation focussed on migrant-local disparities in China’s urban labour market during the zero-COVID era, and how this intersected with multiple vulnerabilities. She outlined the challenges faced by migrant workers in China who have migrated from rural to urban areas for work, where they then encounter unequal access to certain resources due to the ‘Hukou’ system. For example, migrants cannot access certain jobs in the public sector, as well as having limited or no access to some services, benefits, and public funds. Qiujie went on to explore the implications of this for migrant workers, and the way that different vulnerabilities and cultural factors intersected.

Doctor Qiujie Shi slide screenshot

Once we had heard from all of our speakers, we moved into a virtual Q&A chaired by Shailen. We received a range of interesting questions exploring topics including the influence of adaptive preferences on the application of the consensual approach, the impact of the pandemic on peoples’ perceptions and corresponding responses to surveys, and the influence of ‘parental sacrifice’ on differential responses from adults and children. To listen back to the full Q&A, check out the session recording via our website.

Asia and Oceania Session Q&A screenshot

Europe session

Our second session on Day 2 focussed on poverty and the impacts of the pandemic in Europe. For this session, we had speakers dialling in from Australia, Luxembourg and Spain. The Europe session was chaired by our own BPI Director, Professor David Gordon.

The first presentation in this session came from Dr Alba Lanau from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain, who was previously a member of the BPI during her time at the University of Bristol. Alba’s presentation explored intra-household inequality between children and adults in a range of different European countries. This presentation again touched upon the idea of parental sacrifice which had been introduced in the Asia/Oceania session, whereby parents tend to protect and prioritise children’s needs over their own. Alba explained how this unequal distribution of resources within the household is therefore obscured when poverty is only measured at the household level, contributing to conflicting narratives on child poverty. Alba then presented findings from research on 22 European countries, based on a sample of 38,000 households with children. A key finding was that parents – particularly mothers – as well as unemployed people and part-time workers were most likely to go without, whereas the young and old tend to be the most protected and sacrifice the least.

Doctor Alba Lanau slide screenshot

Our next presentation in the Europe session was from Mr Eric Marlier, who is the International Scientific Coordinator at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER). Eric’s presentation explored how we can break the vicious cycles perpetuating disadvantage across generations, which damages lives, weakens social cohesion, and undermines environmental sustainability. He outlined how living in poverty affects so many aspects of peoples’ lives, including limiting access to healthcare, erosion of aspirations and self-confidence, exposure to stigma and discrimination, and lack of participation in society and culture. Eric explained how difficult it can be to escape poverty and break out of the cycle, but how this can have considerable social and economic advantages for society as a whole as well as the individual. In particular, he advocated for tackling child poverty as a positive investment for society with huge “returns”. He concluded by outlining four key reasons why fighting inequality matters, as outlined in the below slide:

Eric Marlier slide screenshot

Building on Eric’s presentation, we then heard from his colleague at Liser Dr Anne-Catherine Guio who is an economist with expertise in statistics and comparative data analysis. Anne-Catherine expanded on the European Child Guarantee, which had been touched upon in Eric’s presentation, exploring access for children in need in the EU to the key services covered by this guarantee. These are:

  • high-quality early childhood education and care;
  • education and school-based activities;
  • at least one healthy meal each school day;
  • healthcare; and
  • effective access to two services: healthy nutrition and adequate housing.

Anne-Catherine’s presentation outlined a mapping of the situation, which would enable monitoring of adherence to the European Child Guarantee, with a particular focus on children living in low-income households. From her analysis, she concluded that there are many gaps in provision and barriers to access, but that the European Child Guarantee itself was very important and helpful and has led to amazing progress in some countries.

Doctor Anne-Catherine Guio slide screenshot

Our final presentation in this session was from Ms Amy Raub, the Director of Research of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center at UCLA in the USA, although she was joining us from Australia on the day. Whilst situated within the Europe-focussed session, Amy gave a fascinating presentation outlining intersections between gender, work, care-giving, and the pandemic in 193 countries across the world. In particular, she explored paid leave policies for care-givers, particularly women, and the impacts of this. For example, in 20 Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) there was a demonstrable correlation between paid maternity leave and reduced infant mortality rates. She therefore concluded that the implementation of paid leave policies can have a really positive effect on outcomes, and that mapping disparities between countries can help to advocate for change.

Ms Amy Raub slide screenshot

Following the presentations, we moved into a virtual Q&A chaired by David. We received a range of interesting questions exploring topics including the influence of maternity/paternity leave policies on fertility rates, the challenges of standardising indices, comparative analyses of the impacts of different global pandemics, and the likelihood/challenges/benefits of rolling out the European Child Guarantee to the rest of the world. To listen back to the full Q&A, check out the session recording via our website.

Photographs of Q&A in the Europe session

Africa session

All of a sudden we were already halfway through Day 2! After a lunchbreak (for those in the UK and similar time zones) we reconvened for our Africa-focussed session with speakers from Ghana, South Africa and the UK (although our UK-based speaker, Cynthia, originally from Cameroon, lives in Côte d’Ivoire and previously spent time working in Nigeria and other West African countries).

We were delighted to welcome Professor Leon Tikly to Chair this session. Leon is a Professor of Education and is the UNESCO Chair on Transforming Knowledge and Research for Just and Sustainable Futures at the University of Bristol, and has been an active and valued member of the BPI Advisory Board since the BPI’s earliest days.

Leon then introduced our first speaker in this session, Dr Nkechi Owoo from the University of Ghana. Nkechi is currently working with the World Bank, and recently spent a period of time with us at the BPI as Bristol ‘Next Generation’ Visiting Researcher in 2023 working with the University of Bristol research community on the effects of climate change on health outcomes. Her conference presentation focussed on spatial and regression analyses of climate shocks and household food insecurity in Ghana, outlining how the threats posed by climate change have the potential to disrupt food systems in various ways. Nkechi highlighted how there has been an increasing frequency of natural disasters and climate shocks in Ghana over the last decade in particular, with flooding the most common, and sharing the concerning statistic that almost half of Ghanaians experienced food insecurity in the first half of 2022. Her research explored spatial analysis of the overlaps between experiencing shocks and mild/moderate/severe food insecurity, and what the moderating effects were. Whilst the data suggested that there were other factors influencing food insecurity, even after these had been controlled for there was still a positive correlation between climate shocks and food insecurity in Ghana, and that this relationship was affected by whether households were poor or not.

Screenshot of Nkechi Owoo's presentation

Doctor Nkechi Owoo slide screenshot

Our next speaker was Professor Murray Leibbrandt, who is the Chair in Poverty and Inequality Research at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. Murray has collaborated with the BPI Director (Professor David Gordon) many times over the years, and hosted David and the BPI Manager (Dr Lauren Winch) at UCT in August 2023 when we ran a joint training course on advanced poverty research methods. Murray’s talk explored inequality and poverty in South Africa through the prism of the pandemic, examining the differential impacts of COVID-19 on different people and groups influenced by various factors including their health, socioeconomic status, and living circumstances. This, by extension, impacted on the effectiveness of social and economic policy interventions in response to the pandemic. Murray then went on to present a COVID-19 vulnerability index in the South African context which had been developed in collaboration with partners including the BPI Director, which informed the South African government’s emergency response and helped to buffer the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19.

Murray explained how the study indicated that a large proportion of the population was ill-prepared to protect itself against the virus, with disparities across both space and social groups. He also noted how poorer households may have limited capacity to follow WHO recommendations due to their living conditions, including having limited access to clean water and soap, and/or living in large, overcrowded households. He also went on to explore the various impacts of the pandemic in South Africa, including impacts on and intersections with child hunger, mental health, and unemployment, and how the indices developed have helped to better understand the intersecting inequalities.

Professor Murray Leibbrandt slide screenshot

Next up was Dr Cynthia Fonta, a PhD researcher at the University of Bristol who has a diverse background that integrates practical medical work with deep academic research. Cynthia’s presentation was on a cross-comparative analysis of child poverty across Anglophone and Francophone states in sub-Saharan Africa. Cynthia began by outlining how poverty is not only monetary but also relates to severe deprivation of basic needs including access to water, shelter, education and a social life. She outlined how her work focusses on Africa because the development outcomes there have been slow, and it continues to be hard for low-income families to provide the most basic needs that people in other countries take for granted, and she wants to understand why that is. She therefore explored a range of contributing factors, including colonial legacies, neo-liberal policies, cuts in welfare spending, unemployment rates, conflict, corruption, and poor governance and mismanagement. Her analysis drew on a range of data sources from within and between country child poverty assessments, and concluded that policy markers need to commit to ensuring that the most basic services are provided to improve children’s living standards.

Doctor Cynthia Fonta slide screenshot

Leon then wrapped up the session with his own presentation on the Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures (TESF) in Africa project, which he co-produces with colleagues and collaborators from across the continent and beyond. He introduced how the TESF network has funded 67 projects, mostly in Africa, across the three high-level themes:

  • How can education and training assist learners to achieve sustainable development?
  • How can education and training support sustainable cities and communities?
  • How can education contribute to climate action?

The main focus of Leon’s presentation was on sustainable and transdisciplinary partnerships, with a co-creative approach that is equitable and mutually enriching. He emphasised the importance of linking up different knowledge systems and perspectives to better understand complex and intersecting issues such as education, food and water security, and sustainable cities, as well as the importance of empowering the people involved to make a difference and transform processes, policies, structures and practices. As his presentation drew to a close, Leon also acknowledged and recognised how emotional legacies of issues such as apartheid, racism, colonialism and other inequalities can be a barrier to accessing different voices and experiences, and the need for universities to be epistemically humble.

Professor Leon Tikly slide screenshot

Leon then opened the virtual floor up to questions from the online audience. We received a range of interesting questions exploring topics including the challenges and benefits of working directly with communities experiencing poverty on the continent, the influence of specific colonial policies on household-level differences, possible mechanisms for mitigating the effects of climate change in remote areas, and changes in the patterns of inequalities now compared to at the peak of the pandemic. To listen back to the full Q&A, check out the session recording via our website.

Americas session

The final session of the day, and the 2024 BPI conference, explored the poverty dimensions of COVID-19 in the Americas, with speakers in Brazil, Mexico and the USA, with origins in Argentina. This final session was chaired by Dr Camilla Morelli, an anthropologist of childhood and youth at the University of Bristol who recently joined the BPI Advisory Board.

Our first presentation was delivered by Dr Héctor Nájera on behalf of Professor Fernando Cortés, both of whom are based at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). This presentation was pre-recorded, due to Héctor’s travel commitments. The presentation outlined new findings on poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, which shows that multidimensional poverty increased more than previously thought. Hector explained how the observed changes were due largely to changes in income, and also, to a lesser extent, on changes in material and social deprivation.

Doctor Hector Najera slide screenshot

The second presentation in the Americas session came from Dr Flávia Uchôa from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) in Brazil. Flavia’s presentation outlined a project to develop a scientifically valid multidimensional poverty measurement for Brazil using the consensual approach outlined in some of the day’s earlier presentations. Flavia presented the methodology, the study regions and sample sizes, and the development and expansion of the research over time. She outlined the study’s findings, which included a broad consensus among the groups studied regarding socially perceived needs and the groups most vulnerable to deprivation of these needs, such as families with children. She concluded with a summary of next steps for the project, which will include further expansion and analysis, with the ultimate aim of going beyond income to construct a scientifically valid and socially legitimate measure of poverty in Brazil. Unfortunately, due to technical issues much of the presentation was inaudible, and the Chair ultimately decided not to continue. Flavia, has, however, kindly re-recorded her presentation and we have embedded this within the recording of the session.

Doctor Flavia Uchoa slide screenshot

We had better luck with the next presentation from Mr Enrique Delamónica, who is based in UNICEF’s New York offices as the Statistics and Monitoring Senior Adviser for Child Poverty and Gender Equality. His presentation described work that UNICEF had undertaken on ‘nowcasting’ child poverty during COVID, including the assumptions, results and limitations of the study and comparisons with data trends in more recent years. Enrique spoke about methods for assessing the short, medium and long(ish) term effects of COVID in Latin America, including effects on education, health, income distribution, and economic growth. He concluded his presentation with a summary of where they plan to take the study next, including consensus approach questions, exploring some of the embedded assumptions and limitations, and considering including income distribution in the modelling.

Enrique Delamonica slide screenshot

Our final presentation was on giving a voice to children and families living in poverty from Professor Alberto Minujin. Alberto is a Professor at The New School University in the USA and the Founder Executive Director of Equity for Children, a non-profit working to improve living conditions for deprived children. In his presentation, he shared a series of videos sharing lived experience during the pandemic, which can be viewed on the session recording, which demonstrated impacts of local NGOs as well as local networks to support children studying from home.

Screenshot of Alberto Minujin's presentation

Some of Alberto’s key messages were the value of establishing informal, grassroots networks, using technology to shine a light on stories that often aren’t heard particularly from women and children, and the need for community-based social monitoring programmes. Many of his messages chimed with those from earlier in the day, particularly Leon’s presentation in the Africa session. He concluded that we need to begin with giving a voice to people in poverty to inform and shape the resultant policies, which he described as a ‘Top-Down, Bottom-Up Collaboration’.

Professor Alberto Minujin slide screenshot

Our Chair, Camilla, then invited questions for our speakers. Topics of discussion in this final Q&A included the challenges of agreeing on definitions of poverty which allow for multiple different worldviews and models of development, how different communities understand and perceive ‘poverty’ and how this varies between generations, and the ways in which the models discussed can be best applied to influence mechanisms of inclusions and exclusions. To listen back to the full Q&A, check out the session recording via our website. This brought to a close the final session of our two-day conference on poverty and social justice in a post-COVID world.

Close

If you have made it this far, congratulations! You are possibly overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of all of our sessions, but also hopefully intrigued, inspired, and inspirited. It really was a fantastic couple of days, with an incredible range of presentations from speakers around the world and representing such a wide range of sectors. Do check out the resources on our website if you haven’t already, sign up to the BPI newsletter to be kept up to date with our upcoming activities as well as poverty-relevant news and resources, and get in touch with the BPI if you’re interested in working with us!

BPI 2024 Conference main image

Food justice and poverty networking event

On 1st May the Bristol Poverty Institute‘s Food and Nutrition Cluster, local charity Feeding Bristol, and the UoB Food Justice Network came together for a workshop exploring how we can collaborate to tackle issues of food justice and poverty. The event kicked off with short presentations from the three hosts, introducing ourselves and our respective work and ambitions. The Director of Feeding Bristol, Ped Asgarian, along with his colleague Jo then provided an overview of the food support landscape in the city of Bristol, sharing some eye-opening stats on levels of deprivation as well as links between poverty and obesity and the impacts of the cost of living on organisations trying to support people who are struggling. They provided details on a range of food support settings that they work with, including food banks, community fridges and school holiday clubs, highlighting the different ways in which people and communities are supported to obtain food in the city. This interestingly intersects with some recent research from one of the BPI’s members, Dr Will Baker, whose work on the rise of food charity in schools has recently generated media attention.

Photograph of Feeding Bristol presentationScreenshot of presentation slide listing different food support settings

The Feeding Bristol team then went on to outline the challenges that many food support organisations are facing, particularly in terms of funding and resource. This has been driven largely by the rising cost of living, making it more expensive to run the organisations, driving more people to seek help, and also giving everyone less cash in their pockets therefore reducing the amount of charitable donations made. Other contributing factors included the shift away from ‘best before’ dates on some fresh produce in supermarkets, which has meant that food which was previously surplus is no longer available as it remains on the shelves for longer. Even with the best of intentions, it simply isn’t possible to keep some initiatives going. Ped then went on to introduce their Food Equality Strategy and Action Plan, which outlines how they are working with different organisations and embedding and delivering their work on food justice in the city and interacting with national and international work in this space.

Screenshot of slide providing information on Food Equality Strategy and Action Plan

Inspired by the opening presentations, we then moved into breakout groups where we explored shared interests and opportunities for collaboration. The focus of the breakout sessions was to establish ways that UoB researchers can effectively collaborate with Feeding Bristol and the wider community. We explored a range of topics in the different groups, including the importance of food education, the role (and duty) the University has to its students who may be facing food poverty, social aspects of food and how food and culture intersect, and the value of listening to different perspectives on what ‘food justice’ means to different people and communities and what the barriers are.

Photographs of breakout groups

The discussion was really engaging, and could have gone on for much longer, and provided some really great ideas for the focus and format of our next joint event in July coinciding with Feeding Bristol’s annual Food Justice Fortnight. We’re really looking forward to working with our colleagues from the Food Justice Network and Feeding Bristol to develop these plans in the coming weeks. The event has been pencilled in for the afternoon of Thursday 4th July, and we plan to create an open space to share ideas and bring together diverse voices, perspectives and understandings of what ‘food justice’ means and how it can be achieved. Do save the date and keep an eye on the BPI events page for more information in due course, or contact Joe (joe.jezewski@bristol.ac.uk) if you would like to be notified when event registration launches.

UN World Day of Social Justice

The 20th of February 2024 is the 15th UN World Day of Social Justice, a date that seeks to highlight the centrality of social justice as a guiding principle for the actions of States in the construction of fair and cohesive societies at the national, regional, and international levels.

The construction of a “society for all” requires that States, the international community, and all stakeholders – such as academia and civil society – work towards the eradication of poverty and the development of more equitable societies with equal opportunities through the promotion of full employment and decent work, universal access to social welfare, and gender equality, amongst other focus areas/initiatives. Ultimately, it is about pooling efforts towards reducing existing social gaps, promoting integration, and eliminating all forms of structural inequalities. In the words of the former Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon: “The World Day of Social Justice is observed to highlight the power of global solidarity to advance opportunity for all“[1].

For this year’s commemoration, the United Nations has placed emphasis on a challenging global context: the persistence and deepening of injustices such as job insecurity, high levels of inequality, violent conflicts, and ongoing global crises.

For further information, visit: UN Social Justice Day. In addition, visit the International Labour Organisation’s event page and tune in to their live stream.   

"Bristol Poverty Institute commemorates #SocialJusticeDay. Working towards reducing poverty in all its forms everywhere."

The Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) 

For the past 25 years, the Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) and Towsend Centre for International Poverty Research has facilitated multi-disciplinary policy focused research into the eradication of poverty and the pursuit of greater social justice. We have collaborated with United Nations and international organisations, governments, NGOs, charities, and the private sector, united by the common goal of SDG1: to reduce poverty in all its forms everywhere and leave no-one behind.

Our work focuses on a wide range of poverty-relevant issues from various disciplinary perspectives, with strengths and convergence around the themes of child health, education, livelihoods and debt, and food and water, among others.

Our aims are: 

  • The production of practical policies and solutions for the alleviation and eventual ending of world poverty. 
  • Greater understanding of both the scientific and subjective measurement of poverty. 
  • Investigation into the causes of poverty. 
  • Analysis of the costs and consequences of poverty for individuals, families, communities, and societies. 
  • Research into theoretical and conceptual issues of definition and perceptions of poverty. 
  • Wide dissemination of the policy implications of research into poverty. 

We are driven by our overarching objective of reducing the extent, scale, and severity of poverty worldwide and advancing social justice in the UK and other countries.

This is why we have joined the United Nations led commemoration this year, as the call for ‘building a society for all’ lies at the heart of our Institute’s work, just as social justice is one of the cross-cutting strategic goals of the University of Bristol.

See more: Bristol Poverty Institute 

BPI’s work

Social justice is deeply ingrained in the ethos of our institute, serving as a guiding principle for the diverse range of activities and initiatives we undertake here at the BPI. In our pursuit of multidisciplinary research and vibrant knowledge exchange platforms, we recognize the true significance of such social-justice-driven research and platforms when they actively contribute to the empowerment and transformation of communities.

While it is impossible to encapsulate all our endeavours in the realm of social justice within this space, we are eager to share some of our most impactful contributions to driving positive change and equity in our society. Some examples of our social justice related work are as follows:  

  • Transforming the definition and measurement of poverty and social exclusion: Our institute has been involved in the development of the ‘consensual method for measuring multidimensional adult and child poverty‘, which measures poverty by assessing direct measures of living standards and identifies deprivation as an enforced lack of socially perceived ‘necessities’. This method is currently used in the UK and in every country in the EU.
  • Improving global efforts to reduce child poverty and deprivation: Our approach to assessing child poverty pioneered the creation of the first scientific assessment of the extent and nature of extreme child poverty in the developing world – including access to adequate shelter, safe drinking water and sanitation, education, information, healthcare, and food. UNICEF launched its Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities in 2008 in 54 countries with over 1.5 billion children where the BPI team supported governments and UNICEF country offices in applying our multi-dimensional approach. Read more on this on our Research Impact page.
    "Child poverty in the developing world publication"
  • Reducing inequalities in educational attainment: Our research, integral to the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances, shaped government strategies from 2010 to 2015, particularly in areas of Social Justice and Child Poverty. It underscored the significance of early childhood education, prompting initiatives to bolster health visitor numbers and expand programs supporting families. Additionally, our findings influenced policies addressing educational disparities among black and minority ethnic learners, resulting in targeted interventions to enhance outcomes.
  • Poverty and health inequalities: The University’s pioneering life-course research has profoundly influenced policy and practice, particularly in addressing health inequalities. By revealing the impact of early-life factors on health conditions like stroke and stomach cancer, and highlighting the association between poverty and childhood injuries, our studies have guided targeted interventions to mitigate these effects.
    Moreover, our work has shifted the narrative on health inequalities, focusing on the complex mechanisms through which poverty affects health outcomes rather than simply attributing them to individual behaviours. With ongoing research in methodologies like epigenetics, we continue to inform global anti-poverty policies, improving the lives of millions worldwide. 

These are just a few examples where our work and research have influenced public policies in areas relating to healthcare, education and childhood poverty; thematic areas that cross-cut the wider thematic areas of poverty and social justice. In addition to these examples, we have many more in areas such as housing and homelessness, access to financial services, and marginalization that we address in our five research clusters. 

For more information, visit: Bristol Poverty Institute – Poverty Research Impact 

"Bristol Poverty Institute's five research clusters; Education and inequalities; Livelihoods and debt; Food and nutrition; Child health and development; and Multidimensional poverty measurment"

  • Support for researchers: As a central part of our work, the BPI is dedicated to fostering a dynamic, inclusive research environment. This commitment is reflected in our provision of a SharePoint site designed to support University of Bristol colleagues collaborating with the Bristol Poverty Institute. This platform offers guidance and resources, including information on BPI’s Research Clusters, internal and external funding opportunities, and links to other useful University resources.
    Our five research clusters aim to unite experts from various disciplines across the University to identify synergies, exchange expertise, and pursue collaborative opportunities: Child Health and Development; Education and Inequalities; Food and Nutrition; Livelihoods and Debt; and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement. For more information, visit: Bristol Poverty Institute – Research Clusters (Link for UoB staff only).

    Aligned with the work of the BPI, members of our board have a prolific background in social justice, linked to each of their areas of expertise.

  • Camila Morelli: “Animating the Future” Project. In collaboration with academics from Peru, indigenous researchers, and professional animators, Camila leads the “Animating the Future” Project. This initiative explores the life trajectories of indigenous migrant youth (from rural to urban areas) in various regions of Peru, aiming to preserve the stories and traditions of Amazonian peoples through participatory methods. Participants are encouraged to share their experiences firsthand through visual expression methods. We found that involving youth actively in documenting traditional cultures through visual methods can be a powerful way to achieve this goal, creating a space where young people who feel unseen can gain a sense of visibility” – C. Morelli. For further information, please visit: Using Animation to Help Young Amazonians Tell Their Story

BPI’s latest social justice related news and activities  

  • Seedcorn Fund. We are pleased to announce our latest internal funding opportunity is now open! This fund is designed to support and catalyse poverty-relevant research at the University of Bristol (UoB), providing a pipeline from our activities to larger funding bids. Interdisciplinarity and social justice will be key aspects of all successful bids and UoB academics will be able to apply for awards between £3000-£6000. We anticipate funding 2-3 projects in the 2023-24 academic year. There will be further funding available in 2024-25, with more information available in due course. For the current round of funding, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all funds have been allocated or the final submission deadline, 1 May 2024, has been reached, whichever is sooner. For further information, please visit: Seedcorn Funding Scheme

  • Upcoming BPI Conference 2024. Poverty and Social Justice in a Post-COVID World (5-6 June 2024). The conference will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various dimensions of poverty and the challenges societies face in a post-COVID world. The first day, held in person, will address the gaps and challenges in the UK – related to themes such as health, education, employment, livelihoods, debt, and structural inequalities – through interdisciplinary and cross-sector panels. The second day, conducted online, will analyse international post-COVID recovery through regional panels covering Asia and Oceania, Europe and Africa, and the Americas.
    For further information, please visit: BPI Conference 2024 
    "Save the date for the seventh Peter Townsend Memorial Conference: Poverty and social justice in a post-COVID World. To be held June the 5th and 6th 2024"

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[1] Ban Ki-Moon, former Secretary-general of United Nations Message on the World Day of Social Justice 2014 on https://news.un.org/en/story/2014/02/462202-world-day-social-justice-un-urges-action-end-poverty-overcome-inequality. (Last seen 13.02.2024).

BPI 2023 wrap-up blog post

As we welcome in 2024, the BPI team are reflecting on the challenges, successes and opportunities we have experienced through 2023, and looking ahead to the coming year and beyond. Join us for a whistle stop tour of a few of the highlights in this blog post! If you want to keep up to date on activities and opportunities across the Institute, do make sure you sign up to our monthly newsletter via this page and/or email the BPI team to sign up to our main mailing list.

January

In January 2023, the BPI’s main focus was on producing and submitting a bid to the internal Strategic Research Investment Fund (SRIF). With input from the BPI Advisory Board, the BPI Manager Dr Lauren Winch put together a strong bid with a number of work packages, and we were delighted when funding for all work packages was confirmed in March. Funding has been secured for a range of activities up to July 2025, which includes new posts within the team, an exciting new interdisciplinary seedcorn fund, and a BPI conference in 2024.

February

On 12th February we were delighted to welcome Dr Nkechi S.Owoo to Bristol as a Bristol ‘Next Generation’ Visiting Researcher. Dr Nkechi, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, spent six weeks working with the BPI Director, Professor David Gordon on the effects of climate change on health outcomes. Nkechi is one of Africa’s foremost young scholars, and her research focuses on spatial econometrics in addition to microeconomic issues in developing countries, including household behaviour, health, poverty and inequality, gender issues, population and demographic economics, as well as environmental sustainability.

Photo of Dr Owoo

March

Some of our activities in the first part of the year were significantly impacted by strike action across the University sector. This included plans for a cross-sector event on Housing, ‘Home’ and Poverty scheduled for 15th March, which had to be postponed until May. We did, however, deliver a fantastic event in collaboration with the South West International Development Network (SWIDN) to celebrate International Women’s Day on the 8th March, chaired and facilitated by BPI Board Member Dr Tigist Grieve. At this collaborative online event entitled ‘From Menarche to Menopause‘ we heard from several expert speakers from the academic and not-for-profit communities about their work and research related to menarche, menstruation, menopause and mental health worldwide. Together the event explored issues affecting women and girls and discussed what we can do as a wider community to tackle these issues. More information is available on the event page.

Event promotion poster

Dr Nkechi Owoo also continued her work with the BPI in March, before returning home to Ghana. This included an engaging hybrid seminar on ‘The Effects of Climate Change on Health Outcomes in Ghana’. A recording of the seminar along with more information is available in the events resources section of our website.

March was a particularly busy month for the BPI Director, Professor David Gordon, who travelled to Sweden after Nkechi’s departure to work on an evaluation of the AgeCap programme in Sweden, and then chaired an all-day meeting for the Academy of Finland the following week.

April

In April, we teamed up with the University of Bristol’s Health Psychology and Interventions Group (HPIG) for an afternoon of thought-provoking discussion at a cross-sector workshop. Entitled “Don’t Be Poor”: Collaborative approaches to health behaviour change interventions, this workshop was aimed at those wishing to explore the real-world context of health interventions and how we can better bring together our skills and collaborate across disciplines when designing interventions and conducting healthcare research to bring tangible benefits to those most in need. We were really pleased that the event attracted a wide range of attendees from across different sectors, with some really positive takeaways including an enhanced awareness and understanding of dimensions of poverty and vulnerability which can intersect with health behaviours.

The title of this event was inspired by some work undertaken by Professor David Gordon and colleagues over twenty years ago. This was inspired by some ‘top tips’ for better health from the Chief Medical Officer as part of the Government’s published response to the Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health report. These ‘top tips’, whilst valid in themselves, neglected to really address the causes or potential solutions to health inequalities. This therefore prompted a somewhat satirical response from Professor Gordon and his colleagues which highlighted the kinds of policies which would be needed to actually reduce health inequalities in the UK. One of their key ‘tips’ for better health was simply: “Don’t be poor”. It seems these lessons may still need to be learnt.

Screenshot of recommendations from report

May

May was another really busy month for the BPI, with a range of events and high-level meetings. This included, for example, successfully delivering our half-day multi-sector event on Housing, ‘Home’ and Poverty, feeding into the new GW4 strategy, meeting with members of the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty to outline collaborative work on climate change and child poverty, and convening a meeting for the Directors of all seven of the University of Bristol’s Specialist Research Institutes.

The Housing, ‘Home’ and Poverty event was a real highlight, bringing together representatives from different sectors and backgrounds to explore the intersections between poverty and elements of housing, the concept of ‘home’, and other related issues. The event included presentations, breakout sessions, a powerful testimony on the experience of these issues in conjunction with living with disabilities, and networking opportunities. Presentations from the event can be downloaded from our event resources page, and you can also find out more about the event itself in our blog post.

Screenshot of breakout room themesPhoto collage of breakout groups

June

In June we welcomed Dr Tanveer Naveed from the University of Gujrat in Pakistan who also came to Bristol via a Bristol ‘Next Generation’ Visiting Researcher award, the same scheme which funded Nkechi’s visit earlier in the year. Tanveer’s research interests and contributions focus on measuring valid and reliable education, assets, health and human development indices, and developing scientifically rigorous measures for multidimensional poverty and child poverty that are applicable in low- and middle-income countries. During his visit, Tanveer collaborated with the Professor David Gordon on multidimensional poverty measurement, particularly in Pakistan.

Photo of Dr Tanveer Naveed

June also saw the publication of a fantastic new book on Decolonizing Education for Sustainable Futures from BPI Advisory Board Member Professor Leon Tikly, along with Bristol academics Dr Artemio Cortez OchoaProfessor Julia Paulson and Warwick’s Professor Yvette Hutchison. This book explores the link between sustainable futures and decolonized education, offering theoretical and practical insights on creating decolonized futures through innovative approaches and reparative justice in education.

Image of book cover

July

Our visiting researcher from University of Gujrat, Dr Tanveer Naveed, gave two fantastic seminars in July. The first was on The Construction of Household-based Asset Index: Measurement of Economic Disparities in Pakistan by using MICS Micro-data, and the second on The Estimation of Human Development Index at Household Level and Estimation of Human Development Disparities in Pakistan. Resources from both seminars can be found on the BPI website.

Screenshots of opening slides from Tanveer's presentations

We also had some changes in the BPI team in July. We bid farewell to our long-standing Senior Administrator Joe Gillett, who was moving on to undertake some research of his own building on his PhD research. We also said goodbye to Katherine Fitzpatrick, who had come in on a fixed-term contract to help us out with some packages of work. Both will be very missed from the team, but we were delighted to welcome Tracey Jarvis as our new permanent Senior Administrator taking over from Joe. Tracey got up to speed really quickly, and has been a fantastic asset to the team.

August

August is always a quieter month in terms of events and meetings, as many people take a break over the summer. It was still a busy month for the BPI team, though, developing plans for the upcoming autumn term and launching recruitment for our new BPI Development Associate who will lead on our new Seedcorn Fund in 2024.

September

September saw a wave of high-profile events for the BPI in collaboration with colleagues including UNICEF and the New School in the USA. Our largest activity was a side event at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Science Summit, hosted at UNICEF’s Head Office in New York on the topic of Advanced Tools for Analysing Poverty, Climate and Environmental Changes. Chaired and co-designed by the BPI Director, Professor David Gordon, this event brought together researchers engaged in novel approaches to develop measures, monitoring, and understanding for both the causes and the consequences of poverty. Despite many decades of progress, hundreds of millions of people still live in extreme poverty. Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and political turmoil, armed conflicts, and environmental challenges do not only threaten to halt recent improvements but reverse many of the gains in poverty reduction. Whilst numbers in the room were limited, the session attracted hundreds of attendees from all around the world on the live stream.

UNGA Science Summit logo

Following on from this, we were also involved in a parallel event hosted by the New School on Improving Child and Family Poverty Measurement which brought together some of the world’s leading researchers into poverty and deprivation measurement and anti-poverty policies who had travelled to New York for the UNGA Science Summit.

Poster for the Improving Child and Family Poverty Measurement event

October

October saw the new academic year getting into full swing, and we held a really nice, informal ‘Meet the BPI’ event on campus. The aim of the event was to give both academics and Professional Services colleagues from our University the opportunity to meet the BPI team, find out what we do, learn more about the support and engagement opportunities available through the BPI, and mingle with like-minded colleagues over a cuppa. We had a really good turn out, and it was a great opportunity to catch-up with familiar faces and meet some new ones and identify some potential new synergies and spaces for engagement and collaboration.

The 17th October every year is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), and each year the  Global Coalition to End Child Poverty – which we are an active member of – plan activities to coincide with this. Last year we published a policy briefing on Ending Child Poverty: A Policy Agenda, and this year we launched a Call to Action for Governments to expand social protection and care systems and promote decent work to address child poverty. This Call to Action was developed jointly by UNICEF, Save the Children, Young Lives, Arigatou and the Bristol Poverty Institute, and was officially launched at a live online event on IDEP itself. Find out more in our news story.

Screenshot of IDEP call to action promotion

November

November was our busiest month of the year for events, with a packed schedule including a hybrid seminar, a co-hosted conference session, and an interdisciplinary forum. We kicked off the month with our hybrid event exploring Towards Net Zero and Tackling Poverty, where we introduced findings from our Travel Carbon Project which was undertaken by Professor David Gordon and one of his PhD students who is already a qualified medical doctor, Dr Cynthia Fonta. Their aim was to calculate both the costs and years of life which could be saved by carbon offsetting the University’s work-related emissions through funding clean cooking stoves and/or potable water provision in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. They shared their findings and the potential implications with a hybrid audience at this event, alongside an engaging presentation from Dr Sam Williamson, who is doing work on sustainability and cooking in a range of contexts including Nepal, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

Presentation slide summarising the key aims of the Travel Carbon Project (as outlined in the main text)

The following week, we co-hosted a session on The Seen and Unseen Dimensions of Poverty at the fantastic Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC) anniversary conference. This well-organised and well-attended event was celebrating 25 years of the PFRC, which applies multi-method approaches with specialisms drawn from social policy, human geography, psychology, and social research to explore the financial issues that affect individuals and households under the leadership of BPI Board Member Professor Sharon Collard.

Screenshot of conference programme and photograph of Professor David Gordon presenting

A final highlight was our interdisciplinary forum on Poverty and Social Justice in a Digital Future, which consisted of two thematic sessions exploring digital inequalities and the impacts of AI on poverty. The aim of this event was to build up internal awareness and offer researchers from different communities to identify synergies, with a view to being better placed to collaborate in response to future funding calls and to situate considerations of poverty and social justice within the mindsets of researchers working in the digital space for these future bids. We actively encouraged participation from researchers who weren’t currently working directly on poverty or poverty-related issues, and from all corners of the University. We had a fantastic panel of speakers from across Arts, Social Sciences, and Engineering, who gave us wide-ranging, engaging talks on new frontiers of colonialism and marginalisation, discrimination and disinformation, participatory research methods, sociodigital futures and social justice, cyber security, and machine learning and AI.

Image of event programme

December

As 2023 drew to a close, there were lots of exciting things still happening at the BPI. We were delighted to welcome Joe Jezewski to join our team as our new BPI Development Associate, as well as four new academics to our BPI Advisory Board bringing more diversity and expertise to our already strong Advisory Board. Our new Board members are:

In other news, the BPI Director travelled to Thailand to work with the Thai government and UNICEF on poverty measurement for the country. Closer to home, members of the BPI team rolled up their sleeves to bake cakes and cookies to raise money for the North Bristol and South Gloucestershire foodbank, where some of the BPI team and colleagues spent a rewarding day volunteering on 21st December. You can find out more about our experience, including some information about the foodbank and tips for donating, in our blog post.

Photo collage of images relating to BPI volunteering days at a foodbank

Looking ahead

So, it has been another busy year for the BPI, and we’re really excited to have lots of exciting things in the pipeline, including our new interdisciplinary seedcorn fund launching imminently, collaborations with a range of local, national and international partners, and a wide range of events. We’ve got our rescheduled event on gambling, poverty and marginalisation, as well as new events in development including a seminar on underemployment and Universal Credit, a participatory research methods workshop, training on achieving impact for poverty-relevant research, a seminar on socially just future cities, a food justice mingle, to name just some of them! Of course, we will also have our 2024 conference! This will be taking place across two days in June, with a focus on Poverty and Social Justice in a Post-COVID World. The first day will be an in-person event in Bristol with a UK focus, and the second day will be online with an international audience and focus. We’re aiming to have sessions across a wide range of topics including mental health, finance, and education among others, and will try and make sure there are sessions available to people in different time zones around the world. We’ve just recruited a new member of our team to help with planning and delivery of this conference, who will be joining us later this month – more info soon!

To keep up to date with the BPI’s plans you can sign up to our mailing list, subscribe to our monthly newsletter, check out our website, and/or follow us X/Twitter. You can also get in touch with the BPI team via bristol-poverty-institute@bristol.ac.uk– we’d love to hear from you!

BPI Conference 2024 - save the date image

Bristol Poverty Institute’s Foodbank Volunteering Day 2023

On 21st December a group of Bristol Poverty Institute staff and colleagues from across the University headed to the north of the city to volunteer at the North Bristol and South Gloucestershire foodbank. With the cost-of-living crisis hitting everyone hard, foodbanks are facing a horrible combination of lower donations and higher levels of need, so they are really low on stock of many key items. As part of the volunteering day, we were therefore asked to each bring several bags worth of donations to contribute, and the group (and their friends and family) were more than happy to oblige. Between us, we brought a mountain of bags of store cupboard items, toiletries, and some festive treats. Our donations were further bolstered by generous contributions from members of the University’s Division of Research, Enterprise and Innovation who enthusiastically engaged with the BPI bake sale I organised to raise additional funds for the foodbank.

Photos of baked goods for the bake sale

Thanks to fantastic efforts from our volunteer bakers and kind donations from our colleagues we raised over £200 from the bake sale, enabling me to arrive at the foodbank with a literal car-full, including dozens of tins of pulses, beans and vegetables, 36 packs of rice, 12 litres of UHT milk, 360 stock cubes, herbs and spices, a couple of kilos of coffee, 45 toothbrushes and 15 tubes of toothpaste, boxes full of shower gels and soaps, multiple packs of sanitary products, 12kg of washing powder, and 45 loo rolls, among other things.

Photos of shopping for foodbank

The day itself was busy and quite physically demanding but in a manageable and rewarding way, so definitely helped us to burn off those bake sale cookies and cakes! We arrived and were given a briefing and tour from the foodbank manager Shauna. Shauna told us that they normally help around 1500 people per month, but that they are receiving many more requests than they can manage at the moment. She explained that people receiving help from the foodbank need a referral – from a doctor, school, the job centre, or citizen’s advice, for example – and that they operate a voucher system to ensure that the right people are receiving the support. Their aim is to support people without developing reliance on it, and to try and work with people to find longer-term solutions. Shauna went on to explain that donations this year had been particularly low, although there had been a bit of a boost in the run up to Christmas as people got into the giving spirit. Nonetheless, the foodbank had had to spend over £100,000 on supplies over the past year, using a combination of donated funds along with their emergency savings. Shauna explained that it had been necessary for them to buy so much this year because on average they are giving out twice as many items as they are getting donated, so they need to purchase more themselves to make up the shortfall.

Photos of the foodbank warehouse

We were then split into four teams, and got to work. One team were boxing up all of the donations we’d brought with us, making sure everything was weighed and accounted for. The second were working through crate-upon-crate of donated items checking expiry dates and suitability, and labelling them accordingly. The third group – my group – then took these labelled items and sorted them into crates for different categories, such as tinned fruit, soups, cereals, rice/pasta/noodles, and items for special dietary requirements including vegan, halal, and gluten-free. It was the fourth group’s task to then take these crates to the relevant part of the warehouse, and sort them within the stock piles according to their expiry dates to ensure that the shortest-dated items are distributed first and therefore minimising waste. It took a little while to get to grips with what went where, but pretty quickly we established a good rhythm and the time then flew.

We were all really interested to learn a bit more about what the foodbank can and can’t donate. For example, we were asked to take out anything containing alcohol – even in small quantities, such as canned soup with some red wine on the ingredients list – as even minute amounts undetectable to the palate can trigger cravings and relapse in recovering alcoholics. Similarly, anything with poppy seeds had to be discarded due to the opiates they may contain. We also learned that they don’t give out any sugary drinks, such as fizzy drinks or pre-mixed fruity drinks, due to the weight and the relatively high sugar content. A lot of people receiving help from the foodbanks have to carry their items home on foot or on public transport, so they have to balance the nutritional value of an item with its weight. It was really interesting to learn more about this, and really useful to bear in mind when making donations in the future.

Photos of volunteers undertaking foodbank activities

It was really rewarding to feel like we were making a small difference, but a harsh reminder of the challenges foodbanks and their customers are facing. So, if you’re reading this and can afford to please do consider donating to your local foodbank. They welcome both monetary donations and donated items. There are various ways to donate, including dropping items off directly during the foodbank’s opening hours or alternatively popping a few bits into the donation boxes near the checkouts in most supermarkets. Some foodbanks, including the one we volunteered at, have a list on their website of the items they currently need the most – and the ones they don’t – to help you decide what to give. Please remember not to donate anything containing alcohol or poppy seeds, or anything with a short shelf-life or that needs to be refrigerated. Hopefully one day we’ll live in a country where people don’t need foodbanks to survive, but in the meantime we can hopefully make a bit of difference by supporting them.

A big thank you from the BPI to all of our volunteers, to the foodbank team for having us, and for everyone who contributed to the bake sale!

Photograph of BPI volunteers

What is a just transition and what might it mean for Bristol?

Author: Dr Ed Atkins

Introduction

Climate breakdown poses an urgent and existential threat to our planet and future generations. The need for effective and just responses to this crisis cannot be overstated. Transitioning to low-carbon alternatives is crucial, but it is equally important to ensure that these alternatives are not only as good but preferably better than the fossil fuel-based systems they aim to replace.

Addressing inequalities

Cities play a significant role in shaping the environmental and social landscape. However, urban areas are often marked by inequality, which can exacerbate climate and environmental injustice. Unequal access to resources and opportunities within cities disproportionately affects marginalised communities, leading to unequal distribution of environmental “goods” and burdens.

Stokes Croft

Credit Oliver Zhou via unsplash

Lower-income neighbourhoods often bear the brunt of environmental pollution, with limited access to green spaces, clean air, and clean water. Inadequate infrastructure, such as public transportation or cycling lanes, further reinforces disparities. Addressing these inequalities within cities is crucial for achieving a just transition and ensuring that climate action benefits all members of society.

A call for a just transition emphasises the importance of low-carbon alternatives being as good as, if not better than, the carbon-intensive sources they aim to replace. It recognises that a just transition encompasses more than just decarbonisation. Instead, climate action takes into consideration the immediate concerns of individuals who worry about the cost of living and their ability to make ends meet.

Interconnection of climate action, social justice and worker’s rights

The origins of the just transition concept can be traced back to trade unions’ efforts to reconcile workers’ rights and job protections with environmental and climate considerations. It gained traction through the work of Tony Mazzocchi, who popularised the idea within the US Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union. The objective was to foster alliances between environmental groups and organised labour, challenging the notion that environmental protection comes at the expense of jobs.

Group of people sat round table listening to a speaker at just transition gathering

Credit ShamPhat Photography

A just transition framework recognises the interconnectedness of climate action, social justice, and workers’ rights. These connections are increasingly recognised. The term has been incorporated into the vocabulary of international organisations such as the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Environmental Programme, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Effectively translating the concept of a just transition into practice necessitates government intervention and proactive measures. History provides examples of comprehensive policies implemented by governments to support workers and communities undergoing significant changes. From policies to protect workers in the wake of declining fossil fuel economies in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany to the introduction of the USA GI Bill to support veterans returning from World War Two.

Helping communities and people thrive

Neglecting the importance of a just transition can hinder progress and allow inequalities to persist. This is linked to how a just transition is no longer just about worker protection but about helping communities and people thrive.

Easton Community Garden photographed at the Get Growing Garden Trail 2023, © Yasmin Centeno

© Yasmin Centeno

Bristol, like many cities, faces a range of specific inequalities that a just transition can address. From socio-economic disparities to racial injustices, these challenges must be confronted head-on to ensure a fair and inclusive transition. By investing in green jobs, renewable energy infrastructure, and sustainable businesses, Bristol can simultaneously reduce its carbon footprint and create employment opportunities that benefit all segments of society.

There are five key dimensions of justice associated with a just transition.

  1. Distributive justice focuses on ensuring a fair distribution of costs and benefits related to climate action and breakdown.
  2. Procedural justice highlights the importance of inclusive decision-making processes, allowing diverse voices to be heard and respected.
  3. Justice as recognition emphasises acknowledging and valuing different identities, experiences, and aspirations, avoiding misrecognition and stigmatization.
  4. Restorative justice seeks to rectify past harms and exclusions by implementing policies that improve the lives of marginalised communities.
  5. Cosmopolitan justice broadens the perspective to global contexts, considering historical responsibility, global pollution, and intergenerational fairness.

Achieving a just transition requires not only effective policies but also active participation and influence from communities. It should address the equitable distribution of costs and benefits, inclusivity in decision-making, recognition of diverse perspectives, restoration of past injustices, and global responsibilities.

A collective endeavour

A just transition can reverberate throughout Bristol’s social fabric, touching every aspect of life.  This means that achieving it is not solely the responsibility of politicians or corporations; it is a collective endeavour that demands participation from every sector of society. From activists to frontline key workers, Bristolians must come together to not only call for climate action but for policies that make the city better.

By weaving justice into the fabric of the city, Bristol can catalyse a powerful movement for change. When facing climate breakdown, this is not only an opportunity but an imperative.

 

Ed Atkins is a Senior Lecturer working on energy transitions and energy justice at the University of Bristol. His research broadly explores how place-based approaches might allow for more equitable climate action. In this blog he gives some background to the term ‘just transition’ and explores what it might mean for Bristol. Ed has recently published a book entitled A Just Energy Transition: Getting Decarbonisation Right in a Time of Crisis.

This blog post is republished from Bristol Green Capital with permission from Ed Atkins. Read the original article

BPI’s Housing, ‘Home’ and Poverty Event

On the 18th May 2023, the Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) delivered a thought-provoking event on Housing, ‘Home’ and Poverty bringing together representatives from different sectors and backgrounds to explore the intersections between poverty and elements of housing, the concept of home, and other related issues. The event featured expert speakers, breakout sessions, and facilitated breakout discussions on a range of poverty-related themes. You can access resources from the event, including slides from the speakers’ presentations and the videos featuring Christopher Burns on the BPI website.

The event kicked off with a scene-setting introduction from the Manager and Director of the BPI, Dr Lauren Winch and Professor David Gordon. Following an introduction to the Bristol Poverty Institute itself from Lauren, David provided an overview of research that explores the intersection between housing and poverty, highlighting that half of all children in social and private rented accommodation. Hitting close to home, David outlined how deprivation in Bristol led to a higher COVID-19 mortality rate.

Slide showing that housing costs are a major cause of poverty in the UK Photograph of David Gordon giving a presentation

We then heard from Christopher Burns, who had kindly sent the BPI a short video introducing his lived experience around housing and poverty. The BPI would once again like to take this opportunity to thank Christopher for his valuable and poignant contributions, as well as thanking the Addressing Poverty with Lived Experience (APLE) Collective for putting us in touch with Christopher. Christopher also featured in the second video shown at the event from Inside Housing’s ‘Give Poverty a Voice’ campaign, which echoed many people’s concerns surrounding rising energy prices and fuel poverty where he described how he uses his art through APLE to share his experiences, his perspectives, and his feelings, and how it is a form of escapism for him.

Still from video of Christopher Burns talking about his experience of housing, disability and poverty

 

The event then moved onto our speaker presentations. First, we heard from Dr Beth Stone, Lecturer in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol, who gave an engaging presentation on Homelessness and Disability in the UK. Beth’s presentation was solution-oriented, explaining the core issues in the relationship between homelessness and disability, examining the barriers to effective support and relief, and highlighting the practical steps to address the challenges.

Presentation slide featuring some practical steps to address ongoing challenges

The BPI were then delighted to welcome Dr Darren Baxter, Principal Policy Adviser (Housing and Land) at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Darren’s illuminating presentation on Making a home in a broken housing market offered invaluable insights into how we can achieve equitable housing for all, emphasising how inequalities in wealth are exacerbating an already dire situation. Darren discussed his opinions on the route to equitable housing, which involved a better managed private rented sector, diversify home ownership, and support low-income renters.

Photograph of Darren Baxter giving a presentation

Following a refreshment break, filled with engaged discussion (and excellent cookies!) the attendees reconvened in the main room where BPI Manager Lauren provided an overview of the upcoming breakout sessions. We then divided into five groups exploring different themes related to the overarching topic of Housing, ‘Home’ and Poverty.

Slide listing breakout group rooms and themes

During the breakout sessions, participants addressed thought-provoking questions to delve deeper into housing and poverty-related issues such as financial resilience, social inclusion, and policy engagement. These included exploring the intersection of housing and ‘home’ with specific topics, identifying challenges, discussing potential research questions, and considering the role of the BPI in supporting these initiatives. The general discussion covered the responsibility of universities in addressing rising housing costs and the essential elements a comprehensive UK housing and home policy should include.

Photographs of breakout group discussions

The breakout discussions were animated and engaging, and there was a real buzz in the main room when we came back together for a debrief and sharing of key messages from the breakout groups. The event was then brought to a close with a fantastic presentation from the University of Bristol’s Professor Alex Marsh, who provided an engaging summary of the event embedded within his own reflections on the topic and key issues.

Screenshot of slide containing summary of key themes.

Attendees then continued the conversation at networking drinks, exploring the topics of the day, and identifying potential spaces for collaboration and routes to impact. The Housing, ‘Home,’ and Poverty event brought together passionate individuals to discuss pressing issues and explore collaborative solutions. The insights and recommendations shared during the talks, breakout sessions, and plenary discussions provide a foundation for future action. We are really looking forward to carrying these discussions forward and working towards creating a fairer and more inclusive society, where housing and a home are accessible to all.

   Photograph of event attendees mingling