Centre for Research in Social Policy

Today, the Law Society is publishing my report that asks a simple question about the way people are assessed for eligibility for civil legal aid. Can those denied full legal aid because of their income afford to pay for their own legal advice and services? The criterion for considering affordability is whether such costs can […]

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Record rates of employment and small increases in pay have not halted the increase in the number of those in work living on incomes below what they need, particularly working families with children. In recent years the phrase ‘hard-working families’ has figured prominently both in defining and defending ‘difficult’ policy decisions. The programme of welfare […]

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Despite signs of economic recovery, nearly four in ten families with children are living on incomes below what they need and making up lost ground is going to take time. Recent weeks and months have seen a growing assertion that following a long period of decline, we might just have turned a corner and 2015 […]

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At the end of 2014, we learned that joblessness in the UK reached its lowest since the beginning of the financial crisis of 2008.   According to the ONS, unemployment is now 6 per cent, having reached its peak at 8 per cent in 2009. This seems to be good news, especially for young adults who […]

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