Paul Kissack @PaulKissack Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Paul Kissack

@PaulKissack

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Group Chief Executive of Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust. Formerly HMG civil servant. Manxman now living in Yorkshire.

York, England

https://t.co/PeSFcnTyeL

Joined July 2017

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

What is really happening with poverty in the UK? 1. Poverty rates are high, with the headline rate returning to pre-pandemic levels in the latest data. 14.4m people in the UK - more than 2 in every 10 people - are living in poverty, including nearly 3 in every 10 children.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

If your cat sits on your computer keyboard half way through an online shop, always check the basket when checking out.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

On a day like this, it’s worth remembering how we ‘couldn’t afford’ the catch-up tuition plan for schoolchildren after the pandemic.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Years ago I was a Government press officer. I was quite bad at it. But I don’t think I was ever this bad.

@paulwaugh

Paul Waugh

2 years

The No10 defence if more fines come: “If you’re caught speeding at 35mph four times, that doesn’t mean that you were speeding at 140mph. It doesn’t mean that you really endangered life because the cumulative effect of all your speeding in 30mph zones amounts to 140pmh, does it?”

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

5 months

A policy idea. Collectively we could ensure all families have enough money to buy nutritious food. We could call the policy ‘social security’. It could reduce pressure on the NHS. It might just prove morally and fiscally responsible. Just an idea.

@sgfmann

George Mann

5 months

The Guardian: Revealed - huge rise in hospital admissions with malnutrition #TomorrowsPapersToday

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

As a former senior civil servant, I’m finding that Cabinet reshuffles are much relaxing if you are not a senior civil servant.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

As a Treasury official, years ago, I was trained to be sceptical about “spend now, save later” proposals. Sometimes rightly. But as a country we have been far too open to “save now, spend more later” policies. (And we are now in the “spend more” phase of many of those).

@PollardTom

Tom Pollard

7 months

Councils are spending £1.7bn a year on temporary accommodation The failure to invest in social infrastructure & preventative support over the last 13yrs means we're now hemorrhaging public funds on downstream costs, much of it flowing to private rentiers

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

11 months

10 years ago Bob Kerslake was Head of the Civil Service Jeremy Heywood was Cabinet Secretary Chris Martin was DG of 10 Downing Street. Dedicated public servants. Good people. Huge talents. All gone too soon.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Have we moved from a position where you can only have a party if you pretend it’s work, to one where you can only go to work if you pretend it’s a party?

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

The PM being fined for making this silly mistake doesn’t feel terribly important. A former Chancellor being fined by HMRC because of his tax affairs. That feels really quite important. Or am I missing something?

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

“I’m really worried about the state of poverty in Britain at the moment, and I really want people to focus on it. You don’t hear any Government Minister ever talking about poverty… and it’s their duty to do something about it”. @GordonBrown 👏

@SkyNews

Sky News

4 months

When asked if he would return to government, Gordon Brown says "I'm not the future other people are the future, I will do what I can to help in all the things I really care about". 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 years

Excited and very proud to be joining Joseph Rowntree, and committing to its vision of a prosperous UK free from poverty.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

4 years

Many of the people and communities that the JRF and @theJRHT group serve are under heightened pressure because of #COVID19 . Later this year @paulkissack joins as Group Chief Executive, helping to ensure that justice and compassion continue to guide us.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 years

My final day with @UKCivilService . A privilege to have been part of it for over 20 years. So many selfless, dedicated, talented people working to make a positive difference. I wish them well for the years ahead.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

To new followers who have joined in the last 24 hours. It's lovely having you here but, just to manage expectations, future cat or herb-related content is likely to be quite limited, despite the surprising level of demand.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Today, the Chancellor chose a real terms cut in benefits. Again. This time in the face of a cost of living crisis. It will increase destitution in 21st century Britain. The spring statement managed to be both cruel and incoherent. I can’t really recall a worse fiscal event.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

2 years

🚨 NEW: 600,000 people will be pulled into poverty due to inaction at the #SpringStatement We've modelled the impact of the failure to increase benefits in line with inflation, along with the 1.25% ⬆️ in National Insurance and change to the earnings threshold at which it is paid

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Truss and the Titanic. Both lost to an iceberg.

@BethRigby

Beth Rigby

2 years

A No 10 source told me it’s over told the PM is going

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 years

Very excited that tomorrow I finally join the team at @jrf_uk and @theJRHT . Even more than usual, I expect to spend a lot of time over the next few months asking questions, listening hard and learning. Any other advice?

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

Oh good. This arrival should make life easier.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

150 days ago, Rishi Sunak gave a firm commitment that benefits would rise by inflation. If he becomes Prime Minister he must honour his word.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

No Chancellor, you did NOT prioritise the poorest in your autumn statement. You cut their benefits. You then did it again in yesterday’s spring statement, in the face of a cost of living crisis.

@SkyNews

Sky News

2 years

. @JayneSeckerSky : The very poorest in society do not earn enough to benefit from yesterday's announcements, do they? "They actually are my priority," says @RishiSunak , adding low earners will disproportionately benefit from other policies. 📺 Sky 501

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 years

Moved to Yorkshire yesterday. Lightening display up the A1 last night. Woke up this morning to #YorkshireDay . Quite a welcome!

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Only the really “brave” politicians attack a profession which has no public right of reply.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

10 months

It is 60 years since any British Government carried out an official empirical study into the adequacy of social security. I didn’t realise that. But it does help to explain a few things #OurEssentials

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How benefit levels are set

An overview of how social security benefit levels in the United Kingdom are set.

commonslibrary.parliament.uk

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

Worth pausing to consider just how extraordinary it is that “declining life expectancy” is considered the context for 21st century economic and social policymaking in the UK.

@FinancialTimes

Financial Times

@FinancialTimes

1 year

Just published: front page of the Financial Times, UK edition, Wednesday 22 March

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

“When it comes to British domestic politics there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that matters more than this”. Thank you @AndrewMarr9 for setting the context for the 2024 General Election so clearly.

@LBC

LBC

4 months

'Poverty, the true picture all around us, is a national disgrace.' 'I hope you agree that this is deeply shameful.' @AndrewMarr9 reflects on national poverty levels following the release of the Jacob Rowntree 2024 UK Poverty Report.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

11 months

Here we go again... The basic rate of social security in the UK is at its lowest level in real terms for nearly 40 years. We should be rebuilding it so people can afford the essentials, not reducing it further and driving up destitution and hardship.

@whazell

Will Hazell

11 months

Exclusive @Telegraph : The Government is considering uprating benefits in line with earnings instead of inflation next year as part of a drive to reduce public spending and fund tax cuts

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

Most people I worked with in Whitehall WERE from outside London. They moved to London to do the jobs. There are many challenges with the diversity of the senior civil service but I’m not sure ‘coming from London’ is one of them. (But I’m all for moving jobs out).

@LOS_Fisher

Lucy Fisher

3 years

EXCL: Civil service needs to recruit more from outside London to overhaul perception of political system as “aloof, arrogant, remote”, Baroness Finn warns. PM's new deputy chief of staff also calls for Whitehall to draft in more private sector expertise

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

If today the Chancellor is all about calming fears, I hope that extends to the millions of families currently fearful of a cut in benefits. It would be morally indefensible to balance the books on the backs of the poorest, as the previous Chancellor threatened to do.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

If ever you find yourself doubting whether policy really makes a meaningful difference to people’s lives, remember this chart. Deliberate policies reduced poverty, and then different policies increased it again. Choices and consequences. This isn’t an accident.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

Let's not go into a General Election year confused about what's happening with poverty. Later this month we will publish our @jrf_uk UK Poverty annual report: a comprehensive picture of poverty as the nation prepares to go to the polls.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

A few personal reflections on social policymaking in Whitehall, and beyond. With thanks to ⁦ @UCLPolicyLab ⁩ and the Ordinary Hope team.

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Lives less ordinary: why government should embrace human complexity

Reflecting on his experience in Whitehall, Paul Kissack writes about how policymakers can’t ‘public service reform’ our way to better lives: instead we need to focus much more on the structural

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

6 months

If tough sanctions and meagre benefits were a route to economic prosperity we would be a VERY prosperous country today. We’ve been doing it for years. Maybe time to try a different approach.

@SkyNews

Sky News

6 months

Looking ahead to the autumn statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says there will be "tougher sanctions" on those who exploit the benefits system. Follow live politics updates: 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

Government decides to make 1 in 3 households in the north and midlands poorer by over £1,000 a year.

@TorstenBell

Torsten Bell

3 years

Chancellor says he's committed to levelling up... but cut to Universal Credit will hit a third of households in Midlands and the North (vs a fifth in South East)

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

I wish Tom Scholar was on Twitter!

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

To cook oven-ready meal, first D Frost.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

You’re also expanding child destitution. 1 million children experienced destitution last year. Nearly triple the number of children since 2017. Where is the plan to turn the tide on that?

@10DowningStreet

UK Prime Minister

@10DowningStreet

7 months

We're expanding childcare 👇 🧸 Extending our free childcare scheme to help more parents 👶 Giving nurseries over £200m to expand childcare places 📚 Developing plans to deliver wraparound care for parents of primary school children 👩‍👦 Making it easier to become a childminder

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

‘This myth of “welfare dependency” or benefits as “a lifestyle choice” has very little evidence to support it. And there’s similarly no evidence that benefit sanctions actually get more people into work’ Excellent from @paulwaugh

@paulwaugh

Paul Waugh

1 year

Universal Credit claimants can't afford another baseless "benefits crackdown" or a "war on welfare". Tonight's #WaughOnPolitics is in your inbox

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

An important message from our annual report today. Government policy matters. It can make a difference on poverty, quickly. The £20 UC uplift helped. Deciding to get rid of it and cut social security has made things worse. The Government is not helpless. It makes choices.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

1 year

🚨 NEW 🚨 Our annual report #UKPoverty2023 reveals 1 in 5 people are living in poverty, including a heart-breaking 3.9 million children. The report lays bare the inadequacies of our social security system, with many unable to afford the essentials. 👇

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

6 months

In a sensible world we would not go through this cruel annual process of Govt threatening arbitrary cuts to already inadequate benefits. We'd have basic benefits linked to the essential cost of living, and a consistent system for uprating them each year.

@PJTheEconomist

Paul Johnson

@PJTheEconomist

6 months

Using the October rather than the September inflation rate to uprate benefits in April would not be a small technical change. It would be a decision to make a significant and permanent cut to benefit levels. It could save c£3bn pa.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

This is my friend’s daughter Katie. In my mind it is only yesterday that Katie was an angelic toddler. Last night she smashed it on stage with The Killers in Manchester. 😮

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Is there any reasonable defence of this policy? Expensive, deadweight, benefits wealthier people, presume the geographical impact runs counter to Levelling Up. So many better to ways to have spent £6bn e.g. one-off school catch up. What is the defence?

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Homebuyers in England gain £6bn tax break from Covid stamp duty holiday

Roughly half the savings benefited those buying properties worth more than £500,000

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

We have all been in the same storm. But we haven’t all been in the same boat. Our annual report on poverty in the UK published today.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

3 years

OUT NOW UK Poverty 2020/21. Our leading independent report reveals how the impact of a decade of deprivation coupled with #COVID19 and #lockdown has hit people trapped in poverty the hardest. Government policies must keep people afloat, not pull them under

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

11 months

If we are serious about improving health we need to focus on social conditions. If we are serious about improving education we need to focus on social conditions. Imagine if every child lived in a safe, secure home with enough food to eat. What a difference it would make.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

The idea of a 'national minimum', below which the state will not allow people to fall, goes back a long way. The case has been made for well over a century. It is a compelling moral argument, as well as economic one. One day it will be implemented.

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The Guardian view on the welfare safety net: failing to catch people | Editorial

Editorial: Benefit payments should be determined by the actual cost of living, not the political fixations of Conservative ministers

www.theguardian.com

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

“If it is the case that we do live in a meritocracy and that all the best people are in all the top jobs, then why, one might ask, is the country such an unmitigated binfire”. @lokiscottishrap I find myself reflecting on this a lot.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Right now low income families on means-tested benefits are facing a gap of at least £450 between cost increases and income. Addressing that is the most urgent priority for the Chancellor today.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

The UK has developed remarkably efficient policies for moving our limited housing stock into the hands of private landlords, and then paying them. (One of my favourite housing stats: well covered in @Victoria_Spratt excellent ‘Tenants’)

@harry_qp

Harry Quilter-Pinner

4 months

Astonishing stat: 40% of council houses sold through Right to Buy are now rented by private landlords (up to 70% in some places) at double the cost of council housing. Presumably with many of those renters supported by housing benefit. Utter madness!

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

Millions of council homes were sold under Right to Buy. Many of the homes then transferred to private landlords. Taxpayers now pay those landlords via housing benefit or for temporary accommodation for homeless families. Crazy. Time for councils to rebuild their housing stock.

@DarrenBaxter

Darren Baxter-Clow

2 months

Important reporting from @SkyNews featuring new work from @jrf_uk

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

A rare trip back to Whitehall for a retirement do this evening… Reminded again that the civil service really does contain so many extraordinarily talented and hard-working folk. All too often they go unthanked, or worse. We’re lucky to have them.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

11 months

I worry about mortgage holders at the moment. But I worry much more about renters. This is why.

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@TheIFS

Institute for Fiscal Studies

11 months

NEW: Freezes to housing benefit despite skyrocketing rent growth mean just 5% of private rental properties on Zoopla can be covered by housing benefits. Read our report on housing for low-income households, funded by @jrf_uk :

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Today we saw a plan for growth: in poverty, debt and hunger.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

2 years

🚨 NEW from JRF: This is a #MiniBudget that has wilfully ignored families struggling through a cost of living emergency and instead targeted its action at the richest. It leaves those on the lowest incomes out in the cold with no extra help to get them through the winter. 🧵

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

Two new @jrf_uk reports: on housing and childcare. The common thread? Systems that too often serve wealthy owners chasing rents and profits rather than people's ordinary hopes - for a decent affordable home or decent affordable childcare. 1/4

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

Just pause and think about this... A 54% increase in the number of people pulled into destitution between 2017 and 2019 - 2.4m people, including over half a million children. So that’s the level of destitution BEFORE Covid hit.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

3 years

🚨 Our new research shows deeply concerning figures on destitution in the UK, with around 2.4 million people having experienced destitution in 2019, a 54% increase since 2017. The social security system must be strengthened to turn back this rising tide.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

Enjoyed talking with Louise Casey about poverty, social security… and HM Treasury. BBC Radio 4 - Fixing Britain with Louise Casey, Hunger

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BBC Radio 4 - Fixing Britain with Louise Casey, Hunger

Baroness Casey looks at some of the challenges facing whoever wins the general election.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

It is very odd that, in the UK, the basic rate of benefits has never been linked to real world costs of living. Great to see MPs across parties questioning this and recommending change.

@IainKPorter

Iain Porter

2 months

Today's report from cross-party committee of MPs @CommonsWorkPen calls on Govt to set out a plan to address inadequate benefits that leave people unable to afford life's essentials, pointing to @jrf_uk @TrussellTrust work on an Essentials Guarantee🧵1/6

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

The kids are thrilled to be spending the last day of their holiday visiting the world’s oldest social housing project in the Augsburg rain. @theJRHT

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

In a few weeks @jrf_uk will provide the first comprehensive update on the scale of destitution in the UK since the pandemic - the deepest form of poverty that we monitor. It will be a critical lens on the state of the UK as we enter a general election year.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

“Were the government to declare the end of poverty to be a national goal and set clear deadlines, there would be a way out of the current emergency”. Gordon Brown

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Britain seems stuck in a doom loop of poverty. I have a plan to raise billions to address that |...

Communities, charities, companies and government could work together to rescue millions of people, says former prime minster Gordon Brown

www.theguardian.com

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

Nothing less than a radical reshaping of Britain for the decades ahead will be enough to meet the challenges we face. As we enter a new year, JRF stands ready to play its part.

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The moment we are in - looking ahead to 2023

JRF is redoubling our commitment to social change, driven by the unshakeable belief that poverty in the UK can be solved. Urgent action is vital, but deeper and more radical change is also needed to...

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

Can we all just agree that Sports Personality of the Year is pretty straightforward this year?

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

6 months

This is really not good. And it is so tiresomely predictable to read such a complacent 'line to take' from the Government which doesn't even pretend to address the issue.

@lisa_harker

Lisa Harker

6 months

Child death rates in England have been falling for years but the trend reversed in the last year due to shockingly higher mortality rates for Black children and for those living in poverty

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

It’s my 15th wedding anniversary today. As a gift, Mrs K got me a tuna baguette from Pret. Pretty pleased with that.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Last week we saw the fiscally indefensible (Chart 1) The Government is now considering the morally indefensible (Chart 2)

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

No. Child poverty is rising, not falling. 1 million children are facing destitution - three times as many as just 5 years ago. A record number of children are in temporary accommodation. We need all political leaders, from all parties, to get serious about this.

@MelJStride

Mel Stride

2 months

Labour? They’re all over the place 🥀

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

Government decisions change lives. In October 2021, the Government chose to cut Universal Credit by £20 a week. They should not have done so. Today’s official figures show what happened next. Thousands more families in poverty.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

1 year

📈 Today’s annual poverty figures from @DWPgovuk show child poverty and pensioner poverty were already increasing going into the #CostOfLivingCrisis . 🗓️ Between April 2021-March 2022: 🔴 14.4 million people were living in poverty in the UK

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Building a poverty-free, sustainable future is complex, requiring imagination and experimentation. Alleviating destitution today isn’t. We have a system to do it. The Government is eroding that system and pushing more people into poverty. It’s a choice.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

2 years

This month (11 April), our basic out-of-work benefit will experience its biggest drop in value in fifty years. A decade of cuts and freezes mean this benefit has lost value in eight of the last ten years. Thread 👇 🧵

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 months

Idea of the week. How about we refocus jobcentres more on supporting people properly into good work, and less on monitoring compliance with benefit conditions?

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

3 months

Work lifts people out of poverty, but DWP spends the equivalent of 13 million hours of work coach time each year monitoring people rather than supporting them. We need to reform the current 'work first' approach to get more people into work that lasts.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

If we want to see improvements in child health we need a plan for reducing child poverty.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

The mission to end UK destitution is urgent. It requires us to take moral and fiscal responsibility. It speaks to who we are as a country. It is a mission that needs political leadership.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

7 months

In the UK in 2022 around 3.8 million people experienced destitution. This is unacceptable. We cannot turn our backs. It's time for our political leaders to tell us their plan to address destitution. #DontIgnoreDestitution

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

Thank you @itvnews @Channel4News and @SkyNews for highlighting today’s @jrf_uk report on destitution: 1/3

@itvnews

ITV News

7 months

A major report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that 3.8 million people, including more than a million children, experienced the most extreme form of poverty last year, @staceyitv reports

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

Really? The basic rate of social security has already been cut to its lowest level in about 40 years. Yet tax as a share of the economy is set to be its highest since the Second World War.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

It is 175 days since Rishi Sunak promised to uprate benefits in line with inflation. Thank you to the many organisations and individuals who, with @jrf_uk , have called on him to honour his promise. I am hopeful that today he will.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

2 years

NEW: 🚨 A letter signed by over 100 organisations committed to ending poverty urged Rishi Sunak to honour the promise he made this spring to increase benefits in line with inflation, and to do so now rather than waiting until April. Read the letter 👇

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

I’m very excited that the inspirational @HilaryCottam will be helping to guide our work @jrf_uk over the coming years.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

3 years

Over the next week we’ll be introducing you to the five new Trustees which we’re welcoming to our board. First up, internationally acclaimed social entrepreneur and author of Radical Help, @HilaryCottam

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

“It is not radical to suggest that social security rates should be enough to live on… That those with power are convinced otherwise is a bleak testament to how normalised inequality and poverty in this country have become”. 👏

@DrFrancesRyan

Frances Ryan

1 year

Here’s a truth few politicians will say: meagre benefit rates in this country are causing widespread poverty - and it’s time everyone from the long term sick to carers got a vast boost in state support. My col.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

6 months

For the second year, the Govt spends weeks threatening millions of people with benefit cuts, before doing the right thing and uprating them. Maybe next year just commit early to doing the right thing and give people a little peace of mind, rather than cruel uncertainty?

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Every spending decision in Westminster has a geographical impact: transport investment; social care reform; UC changes… It is why Levelling Up is not about specific pots of money, but how we spend mainstream funding. That’s how Govt can make things better, or worse.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

8 months

For every 1 household facing inheritance tax this year, there are well over 100 households cutting back on food and going hungry. I know where I would prefer the Government to focus its efforts.

@thetimes

The Times and The Sunday Times

8 months

As part of his pledge to announce a series of long-term decisions designed to change Britain, Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans to slash inheritance tax, dubbed “the most hated tax in Britain”

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Spend 5 minutes this lunchtime looking at this graphic and thinking about what it means.

@ONS

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

2 years

Wealth is unevenly distributed between individuals in Great Britain. The wealthiest 10% hold around half of all wealth, primarily in the form of private pensions and property

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

“A third of independent food banks said benefit sanctions and deductions were a driving factor”. Different policy options are available.

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Revealed: record number of households in UK depending on food banks

Revealed: almost 90% of food banks see increased demand, as organisers fear having to cut support or turn people away

www.theguardian.com

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

Spending a lot of time at the moment reading applications for the new JRF Director roles, and entries for the Orwell Social Evils Prize. There are a lot of talented and inspiring people out there.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

Next week @jrf_uk will help Rishi Sunak decide whether tax cuts for top earners are the priority, when we publish new data on the scale of destitution in our country.

@GdnPolitics

Guardian politics

7 months

Rishi Sunak considers tax cut for top earners after byelection defeats

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

Thank you @GordonBrown for highlighting the gap what people need for essentials and what they receive through Universal Credit: “The £120 deemed necessary for essentials by a single person is £35 more than the £86 per week currently available". #essentialsguarantee

@GordonBrown

Gordon Brown

4 months

"From north to south a hidden poverty epidemic is spreading across the country. It is fast becoming a national emergency - this is the pandemic that no Minister ever mentions"

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

11 months

When I was a civil servant I read hundreds of honours citations. Often they were about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Couples who fostered dozens of children; teachers and social workers who had gone the extra million miles…

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

Congratulations to @Helen_Barnard , one of the most expert and passionate voices on UK poverty, on her new role @TrussellTrust . Helen's contribution over many years has been extraordinary. A wonderful colleague and friend to so many @jrf_uk .

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

Poverty is deepening. Levels of very deep poverty and hardship have been growing for over two decades now. If you care about the basic dignity of people being able to live decent lives, or about their health and education outcomes, care about this.

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Thousands more Scots living in very deep poverty - charity

Anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found 150,000 more were in the worst poverty.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

6 months

Lots of political theatre so far this week. Meanwhile, here’s the reality for millions of people the Government is here to serve.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

6 months

❄️ 2 million households have turned off their fridge or freezer to save money 🗓️ Nearly half of these households did this for the first time in the last six months 🍲 2.8 million households hold debt that they had taken out to help pay for food 🧵(1/3)

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

This week saw a really important story that speaks to who we are as a country. And it wasn’t a story about the colour of a flag on a shirt.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

Sam is right.

@Samfr

Sam Freedman

2 months

Can't get over that there's been a *68%* increase *in one year* in the number of people who don't have enough food to *3.7 million* people and it's not anywhere near the biggest news story.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

Political parties will spend this year making their case to the British people... But no party will be able to realise their aspirations for Britain without a credible plan to address the deepening hardship faced by millions.

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Millions in UK need to double their income to escape poverty – but change is possible. Here's how

Paul Kissack, the chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, writes for The Big Issue about how to end poverty in the UK.

www.bigissue.com

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 years

Once again today a Cabinet minister refused to confirm benefits next year would be uprated by inflation (as normal) rather than earnings. Instead we were assured of the new PM: “Everything he’s done in politics is to seek to protect the vulnerable”. His record is more mixed…

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

The art of the possible has shifted dramatically this year - we have a responsibility to build on this. My early thoughts on the role ⁦ @jrf_uk ⁩ ⁦ @theJRHT can play in the years ahead, as we look to build a new leadership team. ⁩

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CEO blog - it's vital we build strong communities and solve poverty

The art of the possible has shifted dramatically this year - we have a responsibility to build on this, to shape a consensus that solving poverty is both right and possible.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

1 year

I find it hard to believe a new social settlement in the UK won’t be partly funded by the taxation of wealth, including residential property. It happens in many other countries. It would have many positive effects (including on house prices). And the alternatives are worse.

@Samfr

Sam Freedman

1 year

New post just out "Am I being unfair to boomers?" This one is free to read.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 months

@timleunig Quite right. Appalling. It should clearly be a 3D pie chart.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

Government is all about choices. With 1 million children facing destitution and the NHS on its knees, the Government has chosen…. A tax cut which primarily gives money to high and middle income earners.

@Steven_Swinford

Steven Swinford

@Steven_Swinford

2 months

EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Hunt will cut national insurance by 2 per cent in the Spring Budget tomorrow It will cost £10bn and be worth £450 for the average worker. He will sell it as £900 worth of tax cuts when combined with 2 per cent NI cut in Autumn Statement As per @SamCoatesSky …

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

2 months

Allowing child poverty to rise to record levels is the height of moral and fiscal irresponsibility. It is the very opposite of a long-term plan for the country.

@jrf_uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

2 months

The annual poverty figures published today show 600,000 more people, half of them children, are living in Absolute poverty, the Government's preferred measure, rising for the 2nd year in a row. The Government has failed to protect the most vulnerable 🔽 .

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

5 months

It is very hard to believe a new social settlement in the UK won’t be partly funded by the taxation of wealth.

@EdConwaySky

Ed Conway

5 months

Wealth is up. Wealth taxes are basically flat.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

5 years

Very sad to hear of death of Frank Dobson, the first Secretary of State I had the privilege to work for. The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 would not have happened without his leadership.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

4 months

So pleased to get planning approval this evening for @theJRHT to develop 117 new affordable homes in York. Continuing our founder’s work. Addressing the housing crisis. Delivering social good. Let’s build….

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

3 years

The quality of writing in this book by @Gallowaygrouse is astonishing. It makes me miss the Irish Sea. It also makes me want to buy a cow.

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@PaulKissack

Paul Kissack

7 months

Heading home from Liverpool. Well done team ⁦ @jrf_uk ⁩ ⁦ @TrussellTrust ⁩

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