national work
European year against poverty
Community Links and our partner Church Action on Poverty are running a 9 month programme raising awareness of and tackling working age poverty in the UK.
Latest news
Listening Campaigns underway
Applications for Listening Campaigns have now closed, but you can see what has been uncovered so far on the Listening Campaign page.
However you're more than welcome to run a campaign yourself, just download the campaign back below to get started, and please let us know how you get on.
Resources
- Local listening campaign pack - download in PDF or Word formats
- List of training courses offered as part of the year's activities
What is working age poverty?
Around 20% of adults in the UK live in poverty. This isn’t just people on benefits - over half are in families where at least one person works.
Many are poor because they can’t work, and benefits are not enough to lift them out of poverty. Others can work but can’t find a job. And many are in jobs that don’t pay enough to raise them out of poverty. For example in 2009, 22% of women were paid less than £7 per hour. Read more on our downloadable fact sheet
What will the project do?
By working closely with grassroots groups around the country and people experiencing poverty, it will do four things:
1) Uncover some of the policy issues that keep people poor, and take them to policy-makers.
2) Identify some of the myths about working age people in poverty, and develop a programme of work to tackle them.
3) Recognise and share examples of good practise in tackling poverty, particularly amongst small local organisations.
4) Build the capacity of small organisations to campaign on issues in their local area.
To achieve this, the programme will include:
1) A series of grassroots meetings around the country in the Spring, to identify the issues.
2) The formation of a ‘myth-busting’ group to tackle the myths we’ve identified.
3) A series of roundtables with policymakers in the Autumn, to raise the policy issues we have uncovered
4) A ‘best practise’ award to recognise projects that tackle working age poverty, held in the Autumn.
5) A programme of training events throughout the year.
How can I get involved?
If you are a community organisation and would like to run an event please contact Gary Blake 020 7473 9663 Gary.Blake@community-links.org
If you are an individual, please come along to an event near you – all the dates will be posted soon.
If you are a journalist please contact Will Horwitz on 0207 473 9669 or by email
For general information, please email EU2010@community-links.org
Who is funding the project?
The project is funded by the Department of Work and Pensions as part of the European Year Against Poverty.
What is the European Year Against Poverty?
It is a pan-European year of activities aimed at combating poverty. In the UK, it is run by DWP, who have identified four strands – working age poverty, child poverty, older people & poverty, and severe & multiple deprivation. Community Links and Church Action on Poverty are running the ‘working age poverty’ strand with partners across the UK. For more information on the year visit the EU-wide website or the DWP website
Join the Debate
Tackling poverty and unemployment are going to be dominant themes of the upcoming election. To start the debate we asked a group of experts to write for our blog on which policy change would make the most difference in reducing poverty. And by experts we don’t just mean academics and policy staff, although we do hear from some of them. We also mean people experiencing these issues for themselves. We fervently believe that someone experiencing a problem often understands it best. You can join the debate online or download a booklet summarising the issues.