UK Poverty 2026 launch webinar

Mwenza is a community organiser, academic, and artist based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. A biosocial medical anthropologist by background, she has worked on a range of research projects using qualitative, quantitative, and arts-based methods to investigate links between poverty, discrimination, health, and technology in the UK, the Nordic region, Latin America, South Asia, and East Africa. Her research draws from in-depth ethnography to examine intransigent and often invisible structures of injustice.

Food & Solidarity is a democratic membership organisation dedicated to addressing urgent material needs while building collective power through direct action in Newcastle and beyond. Food & Solidarity continue to campaign for real, systemic change to end poverty, opting to build solidarity and create the foundation for lasting change, rather than operate on a charity model. Originating in an area of very high child poverty rates, particularly among children of colour, Food & Solidarity is committed to fighting for the end of child poverty. They continue to campaign for the end to benefit caps and policies like No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), which further impoverish families.

Louisa Mitchell MBE is the chief executive and one of the founding team of AllChild. She led the co-design and launch of AllChild’s community-led system of support and opportunities for children and families in west London in 2015. She has since overseen its successful expansion, reaching thousands of children together with a wide range of charity partners across 60+ schools in four councils in west London and in the Wigan area of Greater Manchester. Louisa was awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year Honours List in recognition of her services to children and young people.

AllChild supports communities in underserved neighbourhoods across the UK to help children and young people build the social, emotional, and academic skills they need to flourish. Recognising the shortcomings of a system that reacts to crises rather than preventing them, they connect with children and young people most in need of opportunity and mobilise local private, public, and voluntary services to co-design tailored programmes of support. Delivered in-school through a team of trusted Link Workers, their Impact Programmes extend beyond individual care to drive a joined-up ecosystem of local support that strengthens communities, while also influencing national policy to promote community-led support models.

Before joining JRF, Peter worked for almost 20 years in the Civil Service. He led on a number of issues at the Department of Work and Pensions, including poverty analysis, policies, and developing measures for persistent poverty and child poverty. Previously, he worked on fuel poverty and energy price analysis. Peter is interested in all elements of poverty measurement and is passionate about making sure analysis has impact. He oversees JRF's monitoring strategy and research reports.

Suzanne has been the Chief Executive Officer of Wiltshire Citizens Advice (WCA) since 2016. WCA supports around 15,000 clients with around 45,000 issues every year. She worked in Local and Central government including as a local authority Benefit Manager, in homelessness policy and as part of the DWP Financial Inclusion Taskforce. She has also been Welfare Reform lead of a group of housing associations and has several non-executive director roles in the housing and social finance sectors. Suzanne lives in a village on the Somerset Levels so spends most of her winters surrounded by water!

Citizens Advice Wiltshire are an independent charity committed to helping people successfully deal with life’s problems. They provide the advice people need for the problems they face and improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives. They provide free, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. They value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination. Every working day more than 50 people seek their help in resolving problems. Last year in Wiltshire citizens advice helped more than 18,000 people.

Taha is a Lead Analyst at JRF. He provides quantitative analysis for JRF's work on care, family and relationships. Previously, Taha worked at Wellcome, Citizens Advice and National Housing Federation, developing a range of analytical skills across varied policy areas such as welfare, employment, housing and health. He has also conducted multiple analyses on equity, diversity and inclusion related projects and is experienced in using a range of ONS datasets, including Understanding Society.