Social Policy Association

The professional association for lecturers, researchers and students of social policy in the UK and internationally

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50th Anniversary Blog Series

2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the SPA. To celebrate this milestone we commissioned 50 blog posts from leading experts in the field, edited by Kevin Farnsworth and Zoe Irving. You can read all 50 of these posts below.
 
“Social policy matters. Rigorous, independent, robust study of it matters, as does teaching the next generation to be more policy-literate. At 50 the SPA is as important to all of these as ever, helping to develop, integrate and safeguard the subject and its members and contribute to better social policies.”
(50 words to mark 50 years, Adrian Sinfield)
Food poverty and Christmas appeals for foodbanks are up this year. The UK needs systemic change.

No 10: Where next for foodbank use?

December 20, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

by Kayleigh Garthwaite Tuesday 28 November was the launch of the London Evening Standard’s Christmas appeal, ‘Help a Hungry Child’. Pages 8, 9, 10 and […]

Microfinance is an example of a social innovation that has benefitted many people around the world.

No 9: Brave new world or second dark age? Social policy and social innovation

December 13, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

by Stephen Sinclair It has been estimated that almost half of the jobs in the US could be made redundant by automation and new technologies in […]

No 8: Universal Credit: A benefits system to increase debt

December 6, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

by Steve Iafrati Narratives explaining poverty as caused by personal failings and poor decisions are nothing new. The characterisation of the likeable but foolish Mr […]

Investing in apprenticeships is one way the the UK government can boost productivity post-Brexit, says Peter Taylor-Gooby.

No 7: Brexit won’t work without a new welfare state

November 29, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

by Peter Taylor-Gooby We stand on the brink of a new golden age of the welfare state. As the UK staggers towards Brexit, it is […]

David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, spoke out after the Grenfell Tower fire, and argued for the importance of 'bringing back the social.'

No 6: Back to the future? Reclaiming the social after Grenfell Tower

November 22, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

by John Clarke The Grenfell Tower fire has shaken many aspects of the prevailing British political culture. Most strikingly for me, in the aftermath of […]

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and other civil rights leaders met with President Lyndon Johnson, who launched the war on poverty, at the White House in 1964.

No 5: Where do we go from here? Fifty years on from the ‘War on Poverty’

November 15, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

by Stephen Crossley In 1967, Martin Luther King began work on a book titled ‘Where Do We Go from Here?’, in which he argued that […]

Fiona Willaims pays tribute to victims of terrorism and the Grenfell Tower fire with her poem As If.

No 4: As if: After Manchester, London Bridge, Grenfell Tower

November 8, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

by Fiona Williams   For weeks I’ve been grabbed by the throat: deep sobs that hijack the roll out of sleep, gasping for air as […]

No 3: Why the two-child policy is the worst social security policy ever

November 1, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 19

by Jonathan Bradshaw What is the worst social security policy ever? There are many competitors for this accolade in our history — less eligibility in […]

Adrian Sinfield speaks about the history of the Social Policy Association at the organisation's 50th anniversary celebration at the House of Lords in October 2017.

No. 2: ‘Making hope possible rather than despair convincing’: The first 50 years of the Social Policy Association

October 27, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 0

Social policy matters. Rigorous, independent, robust study of it matters, as does teaching the next generation to be more policy-literate. At 50 the SPA is as important […]

What can the field of social policy learn from the Grenfell Fire tragedy? Ruth Lister reflects in her presidential address to the Social Policy Association in July 2017.

No 1: The power of hope in the face of injustice: reflections on Grenfell

October 16, 2017 S-P-A-Administrator 2

Address of Baroness Ruth Lister, Chair of the SPA, to our annual conference held at The University of Durham, July 2017. Four weeks prior to […]

Posts pagination

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Recent Posts

  • Social Policy Education: Where Are We And Where Are We Heading?
  • Is it always Groundhog Day for the Minister of Health? Looking back to 1976.
  • Sustainable Welfare Workshop: What is the role of social policy in moving towards a post growth society?
  • The Hidden Cost of Italy’s Care System: Pension Gaps and the Precarious Future of Ukrainian Care Workers
  • Free Masterclass in Social Policy for PhD Students: Research methods applied to social policy research [24 March 2026]
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  • Social Policy Education: Where Are We And Where Are We Heading?
  • Is it always Groundhog Day for the Minister of Health? Looking back to 1976.
  • Sustainable Welfare Workshop: What is the role of social policy in moving towards a post growth society?
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