According to data uncovered by Baroness Stroud this week, 50 per cent of children who are poor one year are not poor a year later –  so called ‘Poverty Churn’. Philippa Stroud, Chief Executive of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), highlighted this statistic during a contribution to the Committee stage of the Government’s Welfare Reform & Work Bill in the House of Lords this week. She urged the Government to focus on what makes someone poor and what we can do about it through a renewed commitment to the ‘five pathways to poverty’ identified in the CSJ’s ground breaking Breakthrough Britain reports.

CSJ IN THE NEWS: Read Philippa Stroud's article for ConservativeHome on the life chances measures contained in the Welfare Reform & Work Bill here

As the think tank behind Universal Credit, the CSJ attended a briefing on Government Universal Credit reforms earlier this week. CSJ Director of Policy, Alex Burghart, has written a blog post on new findings published by the DWP which show the dramatic ‘dynamic’ effects of Universal Credit. According to Government research: 86 per cent of Universal Credit claimants were trying to work more hours, compared to 38 per cent under Jobseekers Allowance. The CSJ will be publishing new research in 2016 calling on the Government to help the low paid develop new skills and progress into higher paid work, through a new ‘Universal Support’ package.

Click here to read Alex's blog

CSJ POLICY: Dynamic Benefits

CSJ IN THE NEWS: The Financial Times mentioned the CSJ and our role in the creation of the Universal Credit in an article on Tuesday here

It is ten years since David Cameron became Leader of the Conservative Party and also ten years since he asked the CSJ to provide a roadmap for welfare reform in future Cameron Governments. This was one of David Cameron’s first acts as Leader of the Conservative Party and led to the first Breakthrough Britain report which identified the ‘five pathways to poverty’, now a central part of Government thinking on improving life chances.

The CSJ will be supporting the recently re-launched All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fatherhood in 2016 as part of our work to promote policies around family stability. Developing new policies to support father involvement with their children will be a key theme of our campaigning work in the New Year. The CSJ met with Working With Men Chief Executive, Shane Ryan, this week to discuss plans for the APPG and new approaches to support positive engagement with fathers and fatherhood in the policy process.

As part of the CSJ’s research project on prison education and training, CSJ Researcher, Lucy Kinder visited HMP High Down. High Down is a category B men’s local prison which means most of the inmates are there for only a short amount of time directly before, or after, they are sentenced. Almost 20 per cent of prisoners are in High Down for less than a month. The high ‘churn’ rate presents a number of challenges for rehabilitation – not least that it is hard to turn lives around when they might be inside for only a matter of weeks. This makes addressing the need for housing and employment support crucial. The CSJ will be publishing new research into Prisons and the Criminal Justice system in 2016 and feeding into Michael Gove’s review in this area.

Childcare Minister, Sam Gyimah, made a big speech on Childcare last week and CSJ Deputy Director, Cara Usher-Smith, calls on the Government to make ‘family friendly’ policy about more than just nursery places.

Click here to read Cara's blog

CSJ POLICY: Fully Committed

CSJ Chief Operating Officer, Nathan Gamestar, writes in support of the Government's National living Wage reforms in the week a new Government campaign is launched  but urges the Chancellor to do more to upskill the low paid.

Click here to read Nathan's blog

CSJ POLICY: Tackling Low Pay

CSJ Campaigns Director, Frank Young, looks at CSJ research into Problem Solving Courts as Michael Gove makes this his latest reforming mission. So called ‘Drug Courts’ could dramatically cut reoffending, change lives and cut costs.

Click here to read Frank's blog

CSJ POLICY: Ambitious for Recovery

CSJ Researcher, Saskia Greenhalgh, responds to the failure of Caroline Ansell’s Private Member’s Bill on the Family Test to reach a Second Reading and asks where next for the Family Test.

Click here to read Saskia's blog

The CSJ is unique amongst think tanks in having an alliance of over 350 grassroots charities and small voluntary organisations that are working to tackle social issues in the most disadvantaged parts of Britain.

This week we would like to highlight the work of St Petrock’s, one of this year’s CSJ Award winners.

St Petrock’s is a small, local charity tackling homelessness in Exeter. They have provided support and advice to over 8,200 homeless and vulnerably housed individuals. Their personalised approach includes helping their clients gain access to appropriate health and welfare services, as well as providing on-going support to those people it accommodates directly. St Petrock’s encourages people to re-build their lives and develop the skills and confidence to live independently.

www.stpetrocks.org.uk