Austerity in the UK

Lunch clubs – a social lifeline

Lone parenting – isolation, loneliness, stigma

Overcrowded housing – damp and cramped

What is the impact of public spending cuts, policy change and the state of the economy on poor people and places in the UK – and how are they coping in this period of austerity?

Over the coming months, JRF will be bringing you regular 'Insights' from around the country charting how austerity and cuts are affecting individual communities. In partnership with Locality, JRF has commissioned journalist Mary O’Hara to report the views and stories of the people most affected and to speak to the organisations and volunteers working to help them. These reports and audio and video recordings complement JRF blogs and research (past and present) to give a full picture of the impact of austerity in a diverse range of communities.

Download details of our research on austerity.

From the blog

+ more blog posts

Michael Trickey

Austerity measures threatening community resilience in Wales

Jim McCormick

Welfare reform won’t work without more jobs, better pay and skills

Helen Barnard

#IDS debate ignores long-term effects of austerity

Insights

A new project aims to give a voice to the people harmed by austerity. Mary O'Hara introduces it in this New Statesman piece.

Read Voices of Austerity
There's no sign of recovery in the Rhondda Valleys, where unemployment and poverty have remained since the closure of the mines in the 1980s. Mary O'Hara finds out more.

Read Austerity in the UK - Jobs getting even harder to find as welfare reform looms
Cuts to benefits and facilities signal an even tougher future for those who rely on them, but a strong community offers some hope, residents of Marsh Farm in Luton tell Mary O'Hara.

Read Austerity in the UK - "consigned to skintness on a daily basis"
A community to the east of Glasgow has seen improvements in the past decade, with regeneration and a fall in child poverty. But cuts, debt and unemployment could undo that progress, local people tell Mary O'Hara.

Read Austerity in the UK - Progress on poverty risks being reversed
Finding work is a matter of pride, not just money, in an area with high levels of unemployment and benefits claims.

Mary O'Hara finds out more.

Read Austerity in the UK - Austerity measures adding to long-standing social issues
Jobseekers and services in a deprived area of Derby are feeling the strain of sanctions and other welfare changes, they tell Mary O'Hara.

Read Austerity in the UK - Sanctions adding to jobseekers' desperation
The combined impact of austerity measures has not yet fully hit people in a deprived Liverpool neighbourhood. The future is 'frightening', they tell Mary O'Hara.

Read Austerity in the UK - Decline starting to show as cuts hit and debts mount
The fear of rising unemployment is just one of the issues Mary O'Hara heard about when she visited Northern Ireland in the latest of her austerity reports from around the UK.

Read Austerity in the UK - Communities worried that worst is still to come in Northern Ireland
"You've young people who feel marginalised, they've no stake in society. Opportunities present themselves for them to express their anger and frustration."

Read Austerity in the UK - Austerity and the legacy of The Troubles
Rising bills and inequalities are hitting hard and residents of one Bristol neighbourhood fear the worst is to come, as they tell Mary O'Hara.

Read Austerity in the UK - Is austerity having a disproportionate effect on the poorest people?