The purpose of the Social Policy Association (SPA) is to advance research, teaching and dissemination of knowledge in the field of Social Policy, and to represent the interests of our members. To help us achieve this purpose, in 2021 the SPA launched a ‘Policy Groups’ initiative, which was extended in 2023 for a further two-year period.
During this time, Policy Groups have been organising open events and meetings for members, running social media accounts, producing blogs, publications, learning materials and more.
Building on this successful experience, we would like to invite members to apply for the opportunity to form new policy groups, as well as to get in touch if they would like to join one of the existing groups. The deadline to apply for a new group is Monday 13th October 2025. (Currently active groups will be asked to confirm their intention to continue by September 22nd)
About the SPA Policy Groups
SPA Policy Groups work collaboratively to:
- review key policy developments in the UK and beyond;
- help stimulate academic, public and policy debate about key social policy issues, as well as provide material useful for social policy students and teachers;
- form the basis of networks to bring together members of the SPA with interests in each field, for example organising symposia at the SPA conference;
- organise policy roundtables and workshops to actively engage with policy-makers, practitioners and other academics beyond current SPA membership, but with a view to encouraging people to join the SPA.
Current groups and their renewal
During 2024 and 2025 there were seven active policy groups, listed below. Groups intending to continue their activities beyond 2025 will be asked to submit an activity report and action plan 2026-2027 by September 22nd, for SPA Executive approval (group leads will receive further details in due course).
If you are interested in joining one of the existing groups and/or support them in their renewal and work with them in the future, please contact the group leaders listed below.
- Employment Policy Group – Dr Levana Magnus, University of Bristol (levana.magnus@bristol.ac.uk) and Dr Sioned Pearce, University of Cardiff (pearces11@cardiff.ac.uk)
- Housing Policy – Dr Steve Rolfe, University of Stirling (steve.rolfe@stir.ac.uk)
- Climate Justice and Social Policy – Professor Harriet Thomson, University of Glasgow (Harriet.Thomson@glasgow.ac.uk)
- Family Policy – Professor Anna Tarrant (atarrant@lincoln.ac.uk) and Dr Linzi Ladlow (lladlow@lincoln.ac.uk) University of Lincoln
- Social Harm – Dr Nasrul Ismail (Nasrul.Ismail@bristol.ac.uk) and Professor Christina Pantazis (C.Pantazis@bristol.ac.uk), University of Bristol
- Pensions Policy – Professor Liam Foster, University of Sheffield (l.foster@sheffield.ac.uk), Dr Hayley James, Aston University (h.james1@aston.ac.uk) and Dr Ellie Suh, University of Birmingham (e.suh@bham.ac.uk).
- Tax Policy – Dr Micheál Collins, University College Dublin (ml.collins@ucd.ie) and Dr Sally Ruane. De Montfort University (sruane@dmu.ac.uk)
For further information about the SPA policy groups – including introductory blogs – visit: https://social-policy.org.uk/news/spa-policy-groups/
Call for new SPA Policy Groups
The Social Policy Association is now calling members to apply for the opportunity to form new policy groups, running in first instance for a 2-year period from January 2026 to December 2027. There will be the possibility of an extension if the work of the groups is considered successful.
We would be particularly interested in groups working in the following areas of: Education; Health Care; Social Care; the interplay between social policy and citizenship/migration.
But we are open to applications for group focusing on any other Social Policy area or issue which fits with the scope and aims of the SPA.
Issues relating to equality, diversity and inclusion will be explicitly considered and reported on by each group. In particular, the ways in which policy affects Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, women, disabled people and those in other groups with protected characteristics will be reviewed in all Policy Groups.
Over their (two-year) period of activities, each group is expected, as standard, to:
- Produce two SPA blogs (one in 2025-2026, one in 2026-2027) containing a short discussion of key recent developments in the field.
- Give a brief presentation at an online launch event in spring 2026.
- Organise one or more virtual or in-person policy roundtables/workshops.
- Organise a symposium at both the 2026 and 2027 SPA conferences.
- Write a chapter for a forthcoming issue of Social Policy Review.
- Provide a list of key resources and SPA members with an interest in the field.
A web page (hosted on the SPA website) will include the following materials:
- A description of the policy groups.
- Updates and reports on the activities of the groups.
- Links to blogs and resources.
Group Teams and Leaders
The SPA will commission one core team for each of the Groups. Ideally, there should be two team leaders, one of whom will be a more experienced academic, with the other being someone at an earlier career stage. Each team is expected to normally comprise 4–8 members (all of whom should be members of the SPA) but they will also be expected to provide a network for much larger numbers of people interested in their work (who may not all be members of the SPA). Criteria for selection of the core teams are as follows:
- Membership of the SPA (essential).
- Relevant expertise and experience in the field, demonstrating an ability to meet the aims of this initiative, and produce the outputs specified above (essential).
- Inclusion of early career colleagues/PhD researchers.
- Inclusion of a diverse mix of colleagues from e.g. different backgrounds, types of institutions and disciplinary specialisms (and people from policy and practice as well as academia).
Resources available
Each team will be awarded up to £3,000 to support their work over two years. Teams can spend the resource on whatever will help them (including the organisation of roundtables/workshops), with the agreement of and in communication with the SPA executive.
The SPA executive will support the groups in advertising their activities to SPA members, including through the association’s website and social media channels.
Process for application and selection
Those wishing to apply to set-up a new SPA Policy Group should email the Impact and Engagement Portfolio lead, Prof. Alessio D’Angelo, by Monday 13th October 2025, at the following address: SPAengagement@gmail.com .
Please also contact Alessio for any further information about this initiative.
Proposals (of no more than two sides of A4) should:
- Indicate the name of the Policy Group
- Specify the names, positions and organisations of all core team members and identify which members of the team will be joint team leaders;
- Describe how the proposed team meets the criteria above;
- Set out details of how much funding is being sought and how it will be used;
- Set out details of how the team will organise themselves and share the work involved.
In addition, applications should provide a two-page CV for each proposed core team member, all of whom should have already been consulted on the proposal and agreed to be included.
On submitting your proposal, please ensure the subject of the email is ‘SPA Policy Group application’.