The Health Foundation’s REAL Centre (research and economic analysis for the long term) provides independent analysis and research to support better long-term decision making in health and social care.
This briefing paper considers suicide prevention policies and strategies throughout the UK. It outlines national and local approaches to prevention policy in some key policy areas.
An alarming 28% of tax credit claimants who are required to move to universal credit (UC) as it replaces older benefits have not claimed UC and have had their tax credits stopped by the DWP as a result, new Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) analysis shows.
As the cost of living crisis remains ever prevalent across the UK, chances for children have surveyed over 1200 frontline workers who collectively support over 200,000 children and young people. The findings are stark, with a significant increase in children living in destitution and or some school is becoming a luxury they are struggling to afford.
Organisations representing hundreds of thousands of health and care professionals, and the millions who use their services, warn that so many people are routinely going without the essentials it poses a serious risk to the UK’s health.
This briefing brings together disability data from a range of sources, providing information on the size and characteristics of the UK’s disabled population, and highlighting disparities between the life experiences of disabled and non-disabled people
New figures secured by Age UK show that almost 4 in 5 of all those eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Fund missed out on the £400 they were due
House of Commons Library briefing on children and young people’s mental health policy
Several shockwaves have been sent through the UK Labour Market over recent years. Covid-19 saw all non-essential economic activity grind to a halt, leaving millions of workers furloughed and a smaller (though not insignificant) number fall out of the labour market due to long-term sickness or caring responsibilities, many of whom are yet to return. More recently the cost-of-living-crisis has also left its mark, the clearest manifestation being the real-term pay cut most UK workers are currently facing, despite nominal wage growth being at historically high levels – hitting 7.2 per cent in April 2023.
There has been growing political concern and criticism about benefits sanctions in recent years. As well as causing severe hardship for those affected, driving many to rely on emergency support such as food banks, sanctions are rightly seen to epitomise the often punitive nature of our social security system. This has led to scrutiny of the effectiveness of sanctions, with a focus on what happens to people who are subject to them.