Rising fuel and food prices are a problem faced around the globe. How is local government supporting residents with innovative solutions? Our 1 November bulletin has the answers. Read here. Open to Global Local subscribers and LGIU Members.

LGIU Chief Executive Jonathan Carr-West outlines the double bind of councils facing rising costs and helping their residents deal with getting by. Originally published in the Municipal Journal, read here. Open to all.

Cllr Ruth Berkley gives a first hand account of the work being done in South Tyneside to support residents. The approach is driven by empathy and partnership. Open to all.

This briefing looks at what local authorities are doing to help residents through the cost of living crisis. Councils have devised, or are backing, schemes that help people to keep warm, save energy, and feed themselves and their families. Read here.  Open to Global Local subscribers and LGIU members.

The government food strategy aims to deliver ministers’ ambitions for a prosperous UK agri-food sector, contributing to levelling up, greater food security in an unpredictable world, and healthier, affordable and more sustainable diets for all. Local government is expected to play an important role in delivering the priorities. Read here. 

This briefing looks at the challenges facing disabled people and sets out options in the form of a new toolkit for councils to consider. It highlights the poverty and additional cost of living challenges faced and the wider challenges for the UK’s 14.6million disabled people. Read here. 

The way we live, work, communicate and access services is increasingly digital. Without digital access, people are excluded from many fundamentals, exacerbating existing social inequalities. The Digital Poverty Alliance reviews the evidence on the extent and nature of digital poverty in the UK and argues for holistic and sustained action. Read here. 

This briefing deals with a short paper published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the impact of the cost of living crisis on low income households. The paper is based on a poll of over 4,000 low-income households between May and June 2022. Read here. 

This briefing asks if it is time that councils and the wider housing world stopped using the term ‘affordable housing.’ It looks at the challenge for councils in ensuring that the housing needs of communities are met.  Read here.

This briefing focuses for the most part on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR’s) March 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook which accompanied the Spring Statement on 23 March, together with the OBR’s assessment of the Chancellor’s fiscal plans. Read this briefing.

Two years since the pandemic started, some groups face better prospects in 2022 but others are mired in deep and persistent poverty, according to the JRF’s latest report. Whilst the direst economic predictions about the pandemic has not materialised, the poorest households face rising inflation, soaring energy costs and tax rises. Read here.

This briefing covers the 2021 report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on trends in living standards, poverty, and inequality in the UK. The IFS publish regularly on living standards and inequality but in this report, there is a focus on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read here.

Every year the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) publish their Minimum Income Standard which allows people to meet material needs and participate in society. This briefing focuses on how people on benefits or on the National Living Wage can reach the MIS in light of potential Covid-19 impacts. Read here.

This briefing discusses how the Health and Social Care Levy will work and its likely impact on household finances, along with an outline of the likely impact of ending the Universal Credit uplift – in the context of other additional burdens on household incomes. Read here.

Following recommendations from William Beveridge, the welfare state was introduced in the UK in 1945 to provide social security and a minimum standard of living for ordinary people. This briefing examines the parallels between 1945 and today’s pandemic-challenged society and the arguments for a new Beveridge settlement. Read here.

Wellbeing has become an established concept in policy making: the idea being that policy should promote not just income but ‘what really matters to people’. A report commissioned by the charity, Turn2Us, presents a new model of thriving, co-produced in a participatory process involving service users, academics and practitioners. Read here.

This briefing looks at how local and central government across the UK should respond to the urgent issue of fuel poverty in both the short and long term. Read here.

Energy issues are in the news at the moment as wholesale gas prices rise and the collapse of utility companies continues. This briefing reviews the potential for local authority engagement in energy grid activities and looks at the options for local government action in energy infrastructure, supply and distribution? Read here.

Rising energy prices are pushing more households into debt and poverty which will have significant implications for the public sector, including local authorities. This briefing utilises case study examples that explore how local authorities can take the future of energy systems into their own hands. Read here.

A national strategy to reduce fuel poverty in Scotland has been unveiled – including tighter regulation of housing and better support for households who face barriers making their homes more energy-efficient. This swift read looks at the key proposals. Read here.