Living through austerity

Introduction

JRF wants to put the experiences of poorer people and places at the heart of policy debate about the economy and tighter public spending.

We also want to give people in poverty the opportunity to tell their stories, focusing not just on their struggle but on how they cope and innovate.

In our work on 'living through austerity', which began in summer 2011, we will promote their solutions and those highlighted in our research on the challenges facing disadvantaged people and places so that we can inform debate about policy and practice change.

Key issues

• The scale of the deficit, the state of the economy, and the reductions in public spending are all likely to have a significant impact on disadvantaged people and places.
• We want policy-makers to recognise, understand and act on the impact these issues – and policy changes – have on poverty and inequality
• In this period of austerity it is more important than ever that we do what we can to ensure they do not pay disproportionately for the country's deficit.

For more information, read our Investigations.

Forthcoming work

We are commissioning two significant strands of work: a four-year research project (1) and a two-part communications project (2):

1. Social policy in a cold climate

Starting in autumn 2011 and running for four years, the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at the London School of Economics (LSE) will carry out a research project, with funding from JRF, the Nuffield Foundation and Trust for London.

It will track, understand and make known the combined effects of policy changes, tighter public spending and the economy on poverty and inequalities. Our aim is to ensure that these effects – both actual and potential – are understood and heeded by policy-makers and other people who make decisions.

2. Coping and innovating in times of austerity

Over the next two years we will provide opportunities for people and places in poverty to share their experiences of austerity: the difficulties they face as well as their resilience in dealing with them. And we want to promote the creative solutions emerging from our research alongside those seen in communities and individuals.

Our work over the next two years will include:

• a partnership with Guardian Films to make six short films about how poorer people and places are managing in austere times;
• working in partnership with other organisations to highlight the experiences of poorer people and communities and create a platform for their ideas and solutions alongside our research;
• a digital marketing campaign to promote the above.

3. Serving deprived communities in a recession

A new larger project on this theme, starting in 2012, will follow on from the initial report published in January 2012. The University of Glasgow will analyse patterns of local authority spending cuts, particularly their impact on poorer people and places. Case studies in four local authorities (three English, one Scottish) will examine budgets and services cuts in depth, as well as interviewing service managers and users.

This project will enhance the capacity of local authorities to assess for themselves the likely impacts of their austerity measures (something that does not currently exist). It will publish its findings in 2014.