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Morgan Bestwick

@morganbestwick.bsky.social
110 followers 169 following 16 posts
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
🗣️"We see this in our research with JRF over and over, people are very worried about their finances. It is their primary concern and what's been driving them away from mainstream parties." @profjanegreen.bsky.social on @itvnews.bsky.social earlier today (from 2hrs3mins) www.itv.com/watch/itv-ne...
itv.com
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Francisca Ladouch @franladouch.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
1/ What’s the latest ONS labour market data telling us? The UK labour market shows a mixed picture: broadly flat employment, slightly rising unemployment vs a year ago, falling vacancies, but a recent improvement in real wage growth. For a summary of the stats, read the thread!
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a19ae...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
The long awaited consultation on reforms to zero hours contracts has been published today! 👇 While the ERA has passed, the details of the secondary regulations will be crucial in tackling insecure work - who will be covered by the new rights to secure contracts? And what will other rights involve?
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
What do today's labour market stats mean? Find out more from @jrf-uk.bsky.social's @franladouch.bsky.social 👇
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Peter Matejic @statspeter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Join us! This is a very important role, working with some brilliant analysts (and others!)
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
📢 We're hiring a Principal Policy Adviser to lead our Work and Care policy areas! Are you a visionary leader with the arguments, policies and ideas to address the challenges underpinning poverty in the UK? We'd love to hear from you! Full job description and application: bit.ly/4sTq807
bit.ly
Octo Candidates - Application Form - Vacancy Details
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Really significant changes in employment rights come into force this week - listen to JRF's @abbyabhaya.bsky.social on these landmark changes on @lbc.co.uk 👇
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Yasmin Ibison @yasminibison.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Greater economic security for families is a key aim of the Government, and my new @jrf-uk.bsky.social paper sets out the role of social infrastructure - community spaces, active community groups and everyday connections - in helping deliver this goal. www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo...
jrf.org.uk
Why social infrastructure matters for economic security
Economic security isn’t just about money, local connections and community support matter too. Pride in Place is a key intervention, but new analysis identifies two key challenges.
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Abby Jitendra @abbyabhaya.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Aside from everything else, deeply confused policy from govt here. Is care work (a major driver of migration) low skilled? Or is it, as another govt Department thinks, worthy of better pay and conditions through better collective bargaining (the Fair Pay Agreement policy)?
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
It’s right that the Government will improve care worker pay through Fair Pay Agreements. Care workers aren’t paid enough for the important work they do. But as well as the cost to care workers, there’s also the hidden cost of low pay. A 🧵
A quote from Abby Jitendra Principal Policy Adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on a report on care workers pay from Cordis Bright. "It's right that the Government is improving care worker pay through Fair Pay Agreements. Care workers aren't paid enough for the important work they do. But low pay doesn't just cost care workers. It makes it harder to recruit and retain staff and the hidden costs are huge. We need better pay for care workers if we want a more productive, fairer care sector."
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Alfie Stirling @alfie-stirling.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
The headlines are focused on a 5-year high for unemployment. But the other story is incredibly weak real earnings. Monthly numbers are volatile, especially when including bonuses, but it's a sign of how bad it has been that 15 months of real growth can be wiped out by one month's volatility. 1/
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Read more on NEF’s new findings here 👇 neweconomics.org/2026/02/push...
neweconomics.org
Pushed into the wrong job?
Assessing the link between conditionality and poor quality employment
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Their analysis of places across the UK finds areas where there’s a painful mismatch between the number of people looking for work, and the number of good jobs which are available to them locally. In some areas, NEF finds there are just 5 vacancies for every 100 people who are receiving UC.
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
New research from @neweconomics.bsky.social explores how far conditionality in the social security system is supporting people to get into good quality jobs.
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Disabled people have a poverty rate 8 percentage points higher than people with no disability. 🗣️ Hear Lead Analyst @datataha.bsky.social set out some of the additional structural barriers that disabled people face, and why the government must increase their support. 👇
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
🛒 'Nobody should have to skip meals to pay the bills’ Senior Analyst Andrew Wenham lays out results from our recent cost-of-living tracker and how they interact with our findings in #UKPoverty2026. The government must invest in social security to ensure no-one is going without the essentials 🔽
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
🗣️ ‘Work should be the best route out of poverty’ Analyst @franladouch.bsky.social explains that for millions across the UK, employment is not the safety net from poverty that it should be. Recent employment reforms are a good start, but the government must go further to protect working families. 🔽
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
🏘️ ‘High rents and rising mortgage costs are hitting families hard' Around 4 in 10 renters are in poverty once housing costs are taken into account, Lead Analyst @jelliott94.bsky.social explains.
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
🗣️ 'The government came to power with a commitment to end the need for food banks. This promise really matters.' Our Principal Policy Adviser @katieschmuecker.bsky.social sets out the implications of 6.8 million people living in very deep poverty at the time of the last general election 🔽
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
❌ ‘The longer we accept this as normal, the greater the damage it does’ Our Chief Analyst @statspeter.bsky.social gives an overview of the numbers in #UKPoverty2026 of children, working-age adults and pensioners living in poverty, and what the lack of progress means for society 🔽
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
👣 ‘This is a huge first step, but it can't be the only one’ Our conditional scenarios work for #UKPoverty2026 shows the impact of scrapping the two-child limit, with 500k families expected to benefit from April. But a more comprehensive plan is needed, says Lead Analyst @sam-tims.bsky.social 👇
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
⛓️ ‘Where jobs went, so did the things that held communities together' Poverty affects the whole of the UK, but it’s not distributed evenly. Our analyst @scothunter.bsky.social sets out where poverty is most acute, and the action needed for all communities to thrive, no matter where they are.
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
⚖️ 'Persistent inequalities are not inevitable' Senior Policy Adviser @yasminibison.bsky.social highlights the ethnic groups in the UK with an elevated risk of being in poverty, and structural factors behind why this is the case. Community-led approaches will be vital to making a difference.
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Iain Porter @iainkporter.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Today the OBR finally published employment impacts of Govt’s (remaining) disability benefit cuts, which weren’t ready in the spring. Confirms @jrf-uk.bsky.social analysis at the time that these huge cuts to disabled people’s incomes come with relatively few expected to move into work. 🧵1/3
Image from OBR's Budget docuoment: "Our economy forecast now incorporates the net effect of the changes to universal credit (UC) 
policies which remain in force following the policy changes made in July. We estimate these will add around 15,000 average hours equivalent (AHE) to labour supply in 2029-30. This reflects 
the net effect of: (1) the increase in the generosity of the UC standard allowance, which is expected to reduce recipients’ financial incentive to enter or remain in employment, leading to an estimated 11,000 AHE reduction to labour supply; and (2) the reductions in the generosity of and eligibility for health-related benefits in UC, which 
are expected to lower income for new claimants, increasing work incentives, and resulting in an estimated 26,000 AHE increase in labour supply. We have also assessed the new employment support programme announced in the Green Paper. Based on evidence from similar past schemes, combined with the Department for Work 
and Pensions’ range of estimates of the numbers of individuals that could be provided with support, we estimate that the programme could support 20,000 to 40,000 inactive claimants"
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Iain Porter @iainkporter.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
No one in the UK should experience destitution - wherever they were born – and destitution should never be an acceptable outcome of policy. But some policies announced in the Home Secretary’s asylum statement risk increasing destitution. 🧵1/7 www.gov.uk/government/p...
Image showing front cover of Government's statement on asylum and returns policy (titled 'Restoring Order and Control').
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Yasmin Ibison @yasminibison.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Spoke to the BBC about the drivers of deprivation and the impact on families. There's a clear link between living in hardship & feeling socially/politically disconnected. To make meaningful progress, communities must be involved in decisions affecting their lives. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
What is life really like in one of England's most deprived towns?
Hastings in East Sussex is one of the most deprived local authorities in England, data shows.
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Yasmin Ibison @yasminibison.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
🚨New deprivation data reveals continual deep regional divides across many areas in England. High levels of deprivation are concentrated in many ex-industrial northern and midlands towns and coastal areas, where manufacturing and tourism industries have been lost.
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Francisca Ladouch @franladouch.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
1/ 📉 Real earnings growth in the UK has slowed sharply and the hit is falling hardest on lower earners. A quick thread on what the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) tells us 👇
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
At @jrf-uk.bsky.social, one of the issues we’re currently thinking about is how you can bolster the protections and safety nets available for self-employed people, particularly on low incomes; if you’re working on something similar, please get in touch!
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Plus, practical recommendations on how the UK could chart a path from UC improvements for the self-employed all the way to a comprehensive employment insurance system for working people
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Currently, self-employed people can be put in a really precarious position if they fall ill, losing 81% of their incomes; this report sets out a number of the problems with our current support systems, and what the UK can learn from other countries
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Interesting new report out from @thefabians.bsky.social today on why the UK needs to extend sick pay protections to the self-employed 👇
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Katie Schmuecker @katieschmuecker.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Disability benefit cuts likely to create more deep poverty and hardship than even the bleak forecast from the Government’s own limited assessments Really important work from @trusselluk.bsky.social & WPI Economics finds c440,000 people will be pushed into hunger and hardship as a result
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Reposted by Morgan Bestwick
Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
💼 Too many people in the UK struggle to make ends meet, despite being in work. In a new Comment piece, @abbyabhaya.bsky.social and @morganbestwick.bsky.social explore how the Employment Rights Bill can and must fix insecure work, improve sick pay and boost flexible jobs. Read more: bit.ly/3SHzfRH
bit.ly
How the Employment Rights Bill can make jobs work
Work is not a route out of poverty for many in the UK, even though wages for people on low pay have increased. The Employment Rights Bill is a chance to change that.
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall's speech today laid out plans to cut disability and sickness benefits by billions. ❌ No truly moral choice would leave disabled people without support designed to allow them to lead a dignified life, or facing hardship. 1/4
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
And the confirmation that agency workers are included in new secure work rights is really positive. Previous JRF work shows how essential these new secure work rights will be to ending insecurity for lower-paid workers and tackling hardship www.jrf.org.uk/work/jobs-th...
jrf.org.uk
Jobs that work: Paving the way for good jobs through participatory co-design
We outline the process of our participatory co-design project: lessons learned, key reflections, and how bringing together different forms of expertise has given us a richer understanding of the probl...
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
To build on the foundation of these positive improvements to sick pay, the government should also put in place a process for reviewing the rate of sick pay in the longer term, to make sure it adequately protects workers who need time off for their health.
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
But while these improvements to sick pay are really positive, there are still worries about the group of lower-paid workers who may lose out compared to now if the new lower rate of sick pay is set at whichever is lower - either 80% of your earnings or the SSP rate.
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
For the UK's statutory sick pay system, removing the income threshold that locks out lower earners and abolishing waiting days are essential steps on the way to having a lab mkt that actually enables people to balance work with health needs without having to face hardship or fall out of work.
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Morgan Bestwick @morganbestwick.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Significant new rights for workers announced earlier this week, including the extension of new secure work rights to cover agency workers, and reforms to statutory sick pay questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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