27 Mar, 2025

The latest Household Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics show that poverty continues to affect millions of children in the UK, with 4.5 million affected by poverty during 2023-2024, an increase of 100,00 on the year before. These figures should shame us all, and must be examined alongside the UK Government’s proposals to take £4.8 billion in social security support from some of the most vulnerable, and indeed poorest, among us. The Government’s own Impact Assessment suggests that 50,000 more children will be pulled into relative poverty as a direct result of these changes. But another way is possible. For the past five years, almost 200 parents and carers living on a low-income from all four nations of the UK have been working alongside researchers at the University of York and Child Poverty Action Group to document everyday life in poverty and to push for change. The project started life as Covid Realities in the pandemic and became Changing Realities in a cost-of-living crisis that has never gone away. In our work together, we have contributed real-time evidence to policymakers, challenged harmful media narratives, and developed co-produced recommendations for change.

21 Feb, 2024

Across the country, people are trying to make ends meet, build financial security and pursue their aspirations. But, in a vicious cycle of snakes and ladders, many are being pulled down into poverty.

31 Oct, 2023

As we approach another winter, politicians and the media are suggesting that the worst of the cost-of-living crisis is behind us. Headlines point to falls in the rate of inflation, and reductions in energy prices following their peak in 2022. But families on a low income with dependent children continue to face a daily struggle to get by. This is a consequence of the ongoing high costs for essentials (on which the bulk of their income is spent), and the continued inadequacy of social security support. Families are fearful of what another winter will bring, already planning for the cutbacks they will have to make. This rapid-response briefing brings together real-time evidence from families living in poverty with new, population-level analysis of the spending patterns of different household types.

09 Oct, 2023

... A rolling stone may gather no moss

... But our words together, have power With Sisyphean labours

Our rolling stones will crush austerity One rock at a time.

by Shirley Widdop

28 Jul, 2023

In this briefing we present six co-produced recommendations for change, written in collaboration with parents and carers on low incomes, that have the potential to make employment support more effective for everyone.

20 Jun, 2023

Recent years have seen an increased recognition of the need to involve people with lived expertise in campaigning, research and policymaking. While this work is important, it is certainly not easy. It needs to be pursued sensitively, and in a way that recognises the resources required to do it justice.

15 May, 2023

Universal Credit (UC) is harmful to the mental health of claimants and has a particularly detrimental impact on the mental health of lone parents, creating stress, anxiety and financial hardship. This rapid response briefing shares findings from the Changing Realities research programme, which works in partnership with over 100 parents and carers living on a low income from across the UK. It combines quantitative analysis of the mental health impacts of UC with the accounts of lone parents and carers, charting their experiences of navigating UC and the additional challenges of doing so without the financial and emotional support that can come from a partner.

21 Jan, 2023

The rapid escalation in energy prices creates particular challenges for families with dependent children living on a low-income. Families need to keep their children warm this winter. However, with household budgets stretched to breaking point, they face enormous challenges in doing so. This rapid response briefing shares findings from the Changing Realities research programme, which works in partnership with over 100 parents and carers living on a low income from across the UK. In the briefing we document the higher energy needs of families with dependent children; needs which are often overlooked by policy responses that favour temporary, flat-rate payments. We provide stark evidence of the hardship families are facing, and the strategies they are forced to adopt in their effort to keep their children warm. We provide insight into the impact and shortcomings of the existing support packages offered by the UK Government.

29 Nov, 2022

This short report sets out some of the specific ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted low-income families who have children with additional needs. Drawing on participatory research with Covid Realities participants, combined with survey data from the Disabled Children’s Partnership, the report sets out two participant-led policy recommendations: better support for parent carers, including respite care; and better mental health support for children with additional needs and their parent carers. Noting the additional challenges wrought by the current cost-of-living crisis, the report calls for a more caring and compassionate social security system for some of the most vulnerable children and families in our society.