Social Policy Association

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

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SPA Blog

The Social Policy Association is a learned society and charity. Our purpose is to advance the teaching, research, and dissemination of knowledge in the field of social policy, and to represent the interests of our members.  The aim of our blog is to:

  • increase the public understanding of social policy
  • facilitate the sharing and exchange of knowledge between experts within and outside universities;
  • open up academic research to increase its impact.

All blogs published on this website express the views of the authors, and not of the Social Policy Association.

Blog: Supply is not a silver bullet: Why we can’t just build our way out of the housing crisis

April 21, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

Author: Steve Iafrati, University of Nottingham Politicians’ obsession with supply-side fixes to the housing crisis could exacerbate inequalities for people at the bottom of the […]

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Blog: The New QAA Social Policy Subject Benchmark: What’s Changed and Why It Matters

April 16, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) has now published a new Subject Benchmark Statement (SBS) for Social Policy, marking the most substantial revision of the discipline’s […]

Blog: Promoting Connectedness Across Differences Through Social Mixing in West Lothian: Insights from Phase One of a Three-Phase Research Project

April 15, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

By MD Rezaur Rahman, PhD Researcher, Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Email: mdrrahman@qmu.ac.uk. Image supplied by the author. — Meaningful […]

Blog: The Public-Private Mix in Pensions – A Comparative Perspective

March 30, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

Aart-Jan Riekhoff (Senior Researcher, Finnish Centre for Pensions) Dirk Hofäcker (Professor of Quantitative Methods of Empirical Social Research, University of Duisberg-Essen) Traute Meyer (Professor of […]

Blog: The Hidden Economic Toll of Care Across Europe

March 25, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

By David Pettinicchio, Associate Professor of Sociology/Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto – Mississauga. Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay. — Across Europe, […]

Blog: Digitising Social Protections: Exclusion and Barriers in Jordan’s ‘Takaful’ Programme

March 16, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

By Musa Majad,  MSc Development Studies student at the London School of Economics (LSE) Image: creative commons licence – https://medium.com/center-for-effective-global-action/what-is-cash-good-for-b128accca139). — The first objective of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development […]

Blog: Building Britain? Labour’s First Year of Housing Reform

March 16, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

By Steve Rolfe, Steve Iafrati, Gareth James, Henri Baptiste, and Colin Clark (members of the SPA Housing Policy Group). Image: Igor Sporynin for Unsplashed — […]

Blog: Is it always Groundhog Day for the Minister of Health? Looking back to 1976.

March 10, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

Alexander Fleming House was the home of the Department of Health and Social Security in the 1970’s (photograph by Stephen Richards and available under the […]

Blog: The Hidden Cost of Italy’s Care System: Pension Gaps and the Precarious Future of Ukrainian Care Workers

February 5, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

By Maria Izzo, Doctoral Researcher in Health and Social Policy, University of Glasgow. — Nina, a Ukrainian woman in her mid-seventies, lives and works in […]

The Social Policy Awards 2026: It’s nomination time!

January 19, 2026 S-P-A-Administrator 0

By Dr Hayley Bennett, Awards Portfolio holder, SPA Executive Committee. Image: 2025 SPA Awards ceremony, by Elizabeth Bailey. Source: EASP SPA 2025 Conference Bluesky Account (@easp-spa-2025.bsky.social).  […]

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Recent Posts

  • Blog: Supply is not a silver bullet: Why we can’t just build our way out of the housing crisis
  • Vacancy: Journal of Social Policy (JSP) seeks to appoint a Fourth Co-Editor
  • Event: Social Policy and Society – May Elections Special Round Table
  • Blog: The New QAA Social Policy Subject Benchmark: What’s Changed and Why It Matters
  • Blog: Promoting Connectedness Across Differences Through Social Mixing in West Lothian: Insights from Phase One of a Three-Phase Research Project
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News

  • Blog: Supply is not a silver bullet: Why we can’t just build our way out of the housing crisis
  • Vacancy: Journal of Social Policy (JSP) seeks to appoint a Fourth Co-Editor
  • Event: Social Policy and Society – May Elections Special Round Table
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