The Cost of Waiting

A cancer diagnosis in a child or young person is a devastating and life-altering event. In an instant, children and young people with cancer and their families are faced with a whirlwind of hospital visits, medical treatment and intense caregiving. Their diagnosis takes a huge, damaging toll on their wellbeing and mental health. And for many, the unexpected financial costs hit hard and fast.

People who need social care will suffer if government repeats the funding mistakes of the past

Loading unfunded costs on care providers ultimately leads to fewer people receiving social care support. That’s the key lesson in this year’s Social care 360 review, both for the government and the upcoming commission into adult social care to be led by Baroness Casey. With providers facing escalating costs this year, from an increase in the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions, the review provides an urgent warning to government to avoid the same mistake again.

Working poverty out – The role of employment and progression in a child poverty strategy

The Government is committed to releasing a child poverty strategy later this year. As part of this, Ministers will want to consider how best parental employment can help boost family incomes. But the mid-2020s present a different landscape for child poverty and parental employment from when the last Labour Government crafted its child poverty strategy. Since the mid-2000s, the employment rate of lone mothers has risen from 52 to 66 per cent, and the fraction of mothers living with a partner who are doing
paid work has risen from 69 to 77 per cent. This is good news. But many of the families in poverty and not in paid work today face significant barriers to work: half have a child aged under five; three-in-ten have three or more children; just under half have an adult with a disability or long-standing limiting health condition; and just under three-in-ten have a child with a disability.

Back to Square One: How poor debt advice is pulling people into inappropriate IVAs

Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) are a type of fee-charging debt solution, widely marketed to people with unmanageable debts. Whilst in some circumstances an IVA will be the most appropriate debt solution for someone’s situation, they are risky remedies that attach high fees, and where people are unable to keep up with repayments they can fail leaving people in a worse position than they started.