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.

‘Stay at home’: how poor housing adds to the misery of COVID-19 lockdown

November 16, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

I noticed the participant’s voice was cracking and the presence of long silences after my questions. “I can sense you’re getting upset”, I said. “I […]

Universal Credit: evidence and experience by Fran Bennett

November 9, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

Universal Credit has dominated the social security landscape in the UK over the past ten years. Whether you see it as the answer to claimants’ […]

Challenging policy problems and what researchers can do about them by Raj Patel

November 2, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

Many social policies can be difficult to formulate and implement well because they depend on a level of knowledge, mobilisation, governance and policy control that […]

Covid-19: A shockwave for street vendors in India by Shah and Khadiya

October 26, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

The COVID-19 pandemic has created distressing uncertainties in India, a developing country with a huge populace and already existing socio-economic conundrums. In March 2020, the […]

Proposals for a better social security system: a consultation

October 5, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

Social security is a core concern of social policy and SPA members are warmly invited to give their views on proposals for a better benefits […]

Examining the Hidden Cost of Poverty by Micheál Collins

July 15, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

This blog is based on a report commissioned by the Social Justice Team at the Irish Society of Saint Vincent De Paul. Click here to […]

Modi-fare in the time of Covid-19: India’s Employment Crisis and the New Poor by Keerty Nakray

July 10, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

To date, over half a million lives had been lost globally since the reporting of the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) back in December 2019. […]

Re-evaluations of wellbeing under lockdown: implications for a socially just environmental transition by Paul Bridgen

June 29, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

The UK Covid19 lockdown, introduced as infections began to rise in mid-March, prevented the population from undertaking many of the everyday activities taken for granted […]

Tackling In-work Poverty in a Post-COVID-19 Landscape by Calum Carson

June 23, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

In 2001, a small community organisation in the East End of London called Citizens UK launched the “London Living Wage campaign”. With low-paid workers (predominantly […]

Motivation, agency and morality in the coronavirus crisis by Vicente Silva

June 15, 2020 S-P-A-Administrator 0

The recent Dominic Cummings scandal has demonstrated the importance of following basic rules in public life. The fact that the Prime Minister’s most senior adviser […]