Crafting an Alternative Politics of Debt - Spaces and places of politics as everyday action
Lead Research Organisation:
Goldsmiths University of London
Department Name: Politics
Abstract
The politics of debt refers to complex and contested politics of debt that defines much of economic and cultural life in present-day Britain. This knowledge exchange project explores the role the Third Sector plays in shaping the wider politic conversations around access to affordable credit and problems associated with indebtedness.
We know that in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis a growing number of civil society initiatives sought to engage individuals and communities as a way of shaping political debate. For some civil society groups the focus is on the wide range of people adversely affected by austerity measures; for others it is articulating the profound loss of trust in political and economic elites or using political action to experiment with ways individuals and communities could take back power over their own lives to reinvigorate the very practice of exercising political power.
This project explores the resilience of civil society networks and their efforts to shape the wider debate about finance, debt and the UK economy. In particular, the interface between the digital and real-life spaces of the everyday political action. In other words, how these groups can be located in places like large-scale protests, offices, or church halls, which of course are not entirely bound by space; but increasingly use digital platforms to inform/foment the new forms of political engagement. This is accomplished through four interrelated work packages designed in collaboration with project partners: (1) mapping the network of digital and real-world actors and creating a network of networks 'Debt-CN'; (2) collaborative research on debt inequality; (3) Create and support a hashtag experiment documenting the roll-out of the Credit Union Service Organisation 'CURES' and alternative credit provider 'Fair for You'; (4) Collaborative research investigating digital transformations in small-scale lending.
Offering a flexible package of knowledge exchange activities is a relatively new approach to impact that is not simply about demonstrating how academic social research contributes to the national economy and drives improvements in government policy. We adopt an embedded approach to research that involves working closely with a network of individuals and organisations to deliver tangible contribution to organisational practice. Importantly we are experimenting with new digital forums that remain underexplored in social science research. For example, the #ReinventCU experiment replicates projects like #EnfieldExperiment between academics from the University of Manchester and London Borough council to develop local economic development strategy and the #BBCBudget that attempted to understand how BBC-users interact with digital content.
Impact can be more local and more tangible than this. Where possible, we should aim to adopt a more 'embedded' approach to research which involves working more closely with the public, and public institutions, at a local level. The crucial common thread is the existence of a partnership between researchers and practitioners that generates a mutual exchange of knowledge which, in turn, improves the quality of the research and some aspect of service provision in tandem.
We know that in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis a growing number of civil society initiatives sought to engage individuals and communities as a way of shaping political debate. For some civil society groups the focus is on the wide range of people adversely affected by austerity measures; for others it is articulating the profound loss of trust in political and economic elites or using political action to experiment with ways individuals and communities could take back power over their own lives to reinvigorate the very practice of exercising political power.
This project explores the resilience of civil society networks and their efforts to shape the wider debate about finance, debt and the UK economy. In particular, the interface between the digital and real-life spaces of the everyday political action. In other words, how these groups can be located in places like large-scale protests, offices, or church halls, which of course are not entirely bound by space; but increasingly use digital platforms to inform/foment the new forms of political engagement. This is accomplished through four interrelated work packages designed in collaboration with project partners: (1) mapping the network of digital and real-world actors and creating a network of networks 'Debt-CN'; (2) collaborative research on debt inequality; (3) Create and support a hashtag experiment documenting the roll-out of the Credit Union Service Organisation 'CURES' and alternative credit provider 'Fair for You'; (4) Collaborative research investigating digital transformations in small-scale lending.
Offering a flexible package of knowledge exchange activities is a relatively new approach to impact that is not simply about demonstrating how academic social research contributes to the national economy and drives improvements in government policy. We adopt an embedded approach to research that involves working closely with a network of individuals and organisations to deliver tangible contribution to organisational practice. Importantly we are experimenting with new digital forums that remain underexplored in social science research. For example, the #ReinventCU experiment replicates projects like #EnfieldExperiment between academics from the University of Manchester and London Borough council to develop local economic development strategy and the #BBCBudget that attempted to understand how BBC-users interact with digital content.
Impact can be more local and more tangible than this. Where possible, we should aim to adopt a more 'embedded' approach to research which involves working more closely with the public, and public institutions, at a local level. The crucial common thread is the existence of a partnership between researchers and practitioners that generates a mutual exchange of knowledge which, in turn, improves the quality of the research and some aspect of service provision in tandem.
Planned Impact
This knowledge exchange project creates a much-needed platform for engagement between academic and non-academic researchers to incubate new ideas and new ways of understanding the challenges to the UK economy. This research agenda has the potential to have wide-ranging political economic and policy implications that speak directly to social welfare and economic policy goals.
Mapping and creating a network of individuals and organisations working and contributing to wider debates about finance and debt in contemporary Britain offers unique networking to a wide range of individuals in the public, non-profit and private sectors. These networking events will provide a platform for debate and discussion that will unpack the research process in ways that disrupt conventional representations of research as a linear. At the same time posing questions about the authorship and ownership of knowledge production that are often otherwise foreclosed in conventional research. This method attempts to develop a collaborative model of cross-sector and interdisciplinary research.
Communications activity will translate research into an accessible and tailored format using a flexible package of digital outputs designed and co-produced with project partners. Digital content generation and dissemination is the cornerstone of this knowledge exchange project. This will include policy briefings, articles in network newsletters, journals and magazines, regular micro-blogs and content generation on social media platforms, interactive media and podcasts. The project team will make every effort to promote our social science research to the widest possible audience and make themselves available for press briefing/releases, press conferences/interviews, radio/TV appearance.
Research and dissemination will be based on formal in-kind collaboration with project partners to co-produce outputs. We combine a series of mechanisms such as consultancy, access to organisational materials and research archives, direct engagement with user community personnel to enhance the co-production of knowledge. Taken together this research project will contributing towards evidence based policy-making and influencing public policies and legislation at a local and national level.
The potential value of our programme of research seminars can be evidenced by the work of our project partners and the range of beneficiaries from the work conducted as part of this project:
- Civil society, advocacy groups, and trade unions: this series has the potential to influence organisational culture and practice within the various participating third sector groups, in particular those that develop their research and policy prescriptions into something that influences public debate, public policy or academic research. These groups will benefit from the collaborative platform that allows them to present and develop their policy positions and collaborate with academics in the co-production of a consultation report to the Financial Conduct Authority as well as digital content.
- Policymakers and opinion formers: public sector beneficiaries include policy makers working on national economic planning that are sympathetic to Andy Haldane's call for a fundamental re-thinking of finance-led growth among the political and policy elites.
- Think tanks that research and do advocacy as well as economic commentators/press, general public: one aim of the project is to explore and translate jargon around discussions of finance and debt.
Mapping and creating a network of individuals and organisations working and contributing to wider debates about finance and debt in contemporary Britain offers unique networking to a wide range of individuals in the public, non-profit and private sectors. These networking events will provide a platform for debate and discussion that will unpack the research process in ways that disrupt conventional representations of research as a linear. At the same time posing questions about the authorship and ownership of knowledge production that are often otherwise foreclosed in conventional research. This method attempts to develop a collaborative model of cross-sector and interdisciplinary research.
Communications activity will translate research into an accessible and tailored format using a flexible package of digital outputs designed and co-produced with project partners. Digital content generation and dissemination is the cornerstone of this knowledge exchange project. This will include policy briefings, articles in network newsletters, journals and magazines, regular micro-blogs and content generation on social media platforms, interactive media and podcasts. The project team will make every effort to promote our social science research to the widest possible audience and make themselves available for press briefing/releases, press conferences/interviews, radio/TV appearance.
Research and dissemination will be based on formal in-kind collaboration with project partners to co-produce outputs. We combine a series of mechanisms such as consultancy, access to organisational materials and research archives, direct engagement with user community personnel to enhance the co-production of knowledge. Taken together this research project will contributing towards evidence based policy-making and influencing public policies and legislation at a local and national level.
The potential value of our programme of research seminars can be evidenced by the work of our project partners and the range of beneficiaries from the work conducted as part of this project:
- Civil society, advocacy groups, and trade unions: this series has the potential to influence organisational culture and practice within the various participating third sector groups, in particular those that develop their research and policy prescriptions into something that influences public debate, public policy or academic research. These groups will benefit from the collaborative platform that allows them to present and develop their policy positions and collaborate with academics in the co-production of a consultation report to the Financial Conduct Authority as well as digital content.
- Policymakers and opinion formers: public sector beneficiaries include policy makers working on national economic planning that are sympathetic to Andy Haldane's call for a fundamental re-thinking of finance-led growth among the political and policy elites.
- Think tanks that research and do advocacy as well as economic commentators/press, general public: one aim of the project is to explore and translate jargon around discussions of finance and debt.
Organisations
- Goldsmiths University of London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Women's Budget Group (WBG) (Collaboration)
- The Fawcett Society (Collaboration)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- Jubilee Debt Campaign (Project Partner)
- Centre for Responsible Credit (Project Partner)
- Zero-Credit (Project Partner)
- Private Address (Project Partner)
Publications
Davies, William
(2015)
Financial Melancholia: Mental Health and Indebtedness
Deville J
(2015)
Debtor publics: tracking the participatory politics of consumer credit
in Consumption Markets & Culture
Deville J
(2015)
Everyday Debt and Credit
in Cultural Studies
Deville, J
(2016)
Algorithmic Life: Calculative Devices in the Age of Big Data
Montgomerie J
(2016)
Caring for Debts: How the Household Economy Exposes the Limits of Financialisation
in Critical Sociology
Montgomerie J
(2016)
A Feminist Moral-Political Economy of Uneven Reform in Austerity Britain: Fostering Financial and Parental Literacy
in Globalizations
Montgomerie J
(2016)
Austerity and the household: The politics of economic storytelling
in British Politics
Montgomerie J
(2019)
Spaces of debt resistance and the contemporary politics of financialised capitalism
in Geoforum
Montgomerie Johnna
(2019)
Should We Abolish Household Debts?
Packman, C.
(2015)
Gaining Interest: A New Deal for Sustained Credit Union Expansion in the UK
| Title | Debt Community Network |
| Description | Debt Community Network #debtCN is a digital repository for all the collaborative and collective outputs generated as part of the ESRC Grant 'Crafting an Alternative Politics of Debt'. This digital platform creates a collaborative space to engage with the many aspect of the politics of debt and indebtedness; as a repository for the wide range of collective outputs created as part of Knowledge Exchange it provides a necessary archiving of work product. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | This digital repository was necessary to give credibility to the knowledge exchange among potential participants, but also served to raise the profile of our findings. It was a valuable resource in terms of engagement with potential users as well as network of actors to use the project outputs to inform policy, innovation and democratic processes of citizen engagement. |
| URL | http://www.perc.org.uk/project_pages/debt-research-net/ |
| Title | Greece on the Edge |
| Description | Greece on the Edge is a compelling short film that documents the everyday experiences of 'the Greek' financial crisis and years of severe austerity. This film offers a poignant counter-narrative to the elite focused coverage of high-level meetings between different elite political actors by foregrounding the struggles of Greek citizens. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Johnna Montgomerie (PI) features in this film that explores how money and debt form part of the everyday economic crisis in Greece. |
| URL | http://www.perc.org.uk/project_posts/greece-on-the-edge-the-film/ |
| Title | Podcast - Inequality the Issue of our time |
| Description | A digital symposium format intended to break through the silos of isolation and the barriers between academic disciplines by bringing into dialogue those at the very cutting edge of research on inequality. These dialogues are distilled into a podcast of three episodes, creating an innovative space for presenting ideas, research and solutions to the issue of our time -- inequality. The purpose is to advance our collective thinking about what creates inequality and to consider how inequity touches our lives in really meaningful ways. Many of us can recognise inequities in everyday conversation, whether about race, gender, climate, or the historical geographies of inequality caused by colonialism - our dialogue presents practical, inclusive and innovative solutions to this crucial issue. Exploring specifically the changes in the configuration of the economy itself from the past to the present-day, in which the Covid-19 shows inequality is worsening. Having established that inequality is not just a personal experience of extreme poverty or exorbitant wealth, we consider how widening inequality impacts political stability and social cohesion. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Just released will update with further details |
| URL | https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/inequality-the-issue-of-our-time |
| Description | This Knowledge Exchange Opportunity grant activity explored the many facets of the emerging politics of debt in Britain. It engaged directly with the everyday understandings of the causes and effects of household indebtedness. More constructively, it uncovered the ways in which civil society actors and individuals are taking it upon themselves to fill a significant policy gap; by becoming resilient and by exploring ways to restructure the economy in order to restore balance. There is much work to be done; collaboration and communication is necessary but sometimes lacking among the myriad actors, especially in terms of the digital spaces. The activites that took place under Knowledge Exchange combined resources, shared ideas, and co-created solutions to the problem of household indebtedness. While not nearly comprehensive enough, it offers a starting point: a space for collaborative conversation about debt and the ways in which we can work together to craft alternatives. Three interlocking themes summarize the key findings: #DebtAction was a series of knowledge exchange activities that included civil society actors and academics sharing expertise and developing a common understanding of the causes and consequences of rising household debt levels. The concept of 'action' was in response to a perceived 'void' in public policy understanding and responses to indebtedness. There are a relatively small number Government sponsored research projects and policy reports that address the problems of debt in the UK; but, in reality no one government Department (Business Innovation and Skills), Regulator (Financial Conduct Authority) or the Bank of England is capable of single-handedly changing the trajectory of household indebtedness in the UK. Even if the Bank of England could to some degree, it won't for fear of sparking another financial crisis. Thus, a policy void is created as the scale and scope of household debt increases at the same time as policy-makers seek to understand ever-smaller populations of debtors in more detail. Financial Melancholia is a series of Knowledge Exchange activities that uncovered the important way that indebtedness links to wider public health issue of mental illness. The rise of mental health problems such as depression cannot be understood in narrowly medical terms, but instead needs to be understood in its political-economic context. An economy driven by debt (and prone to problem debt at the level of households) will have a predisposition towards rising rates of depression. These findings point to the much wider problem that widespread household indebtedness ties people to the past in ways which are not well understood. This is relevant because of the current policy context which seeks to promote positive psychology techniques to get people off benefits and into the labour market; we ask how living in a 'depressed' or 'unhappy' economy can be made visible when looking at everyday life. Contrary to popular belief, we find little evidence that indebted households are less responsible in their spending habits or management of their accumulated debts. Hacking Local Debts was a series of Knowledge Exchange Opportunity events that facilitated intensive collaboration between civil society, the political engaged public and some academic expertise to collectively access Local Authority Public Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts and storing them in an Open Data format. This collaboration created a social process required to produce usable and effective data. Also it revealed the key obstacles to obtaining information on publically funded PFI contracts. Material from the workshop will be input to the Hackathon, and it is through this process the potential to use digital technologies to transform the identified issues will be realised. In simple terms it used a 'Follow the money' method explores the complex financial systems with multiple sources of and claims on revenue. Community-facing hackathons as collective data collection using FOI requests regarding PFI contracts. 'Hackathon' event that brings together experts in finance, for example: social enterprise entrepreneurs, public sector workers, academics, engaged citizens, in an intensive collaboration to produce a collective tool kit for access PFI contracts and storing them in an Open Data format. Credit Union Alternatives Knowledge Exchange activities addressed the challenges faced by British credit unions as a result of the substantive growth in total assets, total capital and members - which have more than doubled since 2005. In the face of rapid expansion it is still not clear to what extent credit unions can cater for an increasingly polarised society in which the number of the working poor continuous to increase despite record level employment? The findings of these activities isolated the good and the problematic dimensions of growth and raised questions as to what the future will hold for credit unions. In particular, how will credit unions finance the growth in savings sustainably given the lack of income opportunities? |
| Exploitation Route | #DebtAction shows quite clearly that household-level debt is a 'strategic policy silence' in contemporary Britain. In other words, most policy-makers, politicians, and economists know household debt is a problem but do nothing about it for (strategic) political reasons. What can be taken forward from this is an understanding of 'indebtedness' which denotes how debt changes the dynamics by which individuals, households and communities shape the economy. Households do not simply respond to economic stimulus, like low interest rates; they create the economy every day through their actions, reactions and inactions. This is relevant because it is far too easy to depict indebtedness as a 'personal' problem; this completely ignores that it is a widely shared problem across Britain and offers a clear warning sign of wider economic instability. The results of this Knowledge Exchange Opportunity can be taken forward by developing innovative new policy solutions to deal with rising household indebtedness that addressed is causal factors. Principally, tha by redressing decades of wage stagnation experienced by the majority of British households, as well as designing a better mass retail finance services system. More broadly, to design a more adaptive credit creation system that address the socio-economic realities of different income-level, education-level, age, asset holdings, and even geography all influence the types and levels of household debts. Financial Melancholia Knowledge Exchange activities fostered a unique and often creative solutions by civil society groups and academics as they worked together to address the problems of indebtedness in the UK. More importantly, it served as an incubator for innovative solutions. Based on our research we use 'civil society' to denote a social space made of up dedicated individuals, key organisations, community-groups and new social enterprises. The term 'third-sector' could suffice but would suggest something much larger than the network of actors that currently work on issues of debt. Also, thinking of civil society as a social space of interaction provides a better framework for understanding the results of this research. These can be taken forward by policy makers as a call to looks beyond routine statistics to understand how individuals describe the experience of being deeply in debt and the related health and social problems that this involves. Take the our primary evidence from online peer-to-peer (P2P) forums that demonstrates qualitatively how people with chronic debt problems share their experiences and offer support to each other. Our analysis of those living with debt and depression suggests that, unless policymakers learn to empathise with those struggling with entrenched financial and psychological problems, attempts at 'behavioural activation' (via approaches like cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]) will fail. Depressed individuals already feel responsible for their own poverty and failure, but the government is only offering attempts to inculcate even greater personal responsibility. Hacking Local Debts Knowledge Exchange activities mapped the size and economic significance of local authority PFI financing allows which can be used to re-imagine how local growth might take place in the future. We can see the potential impact of these Knowledge Exchange activities by way of example: citizen debt audits in Spain (PACD Municipal Debt Audit movement), debt audits in the global south, and the public debt 'truth commission' in Greece. Caroline Lucas (Green) MP is using this research to inform a potential cross-Party parliamentary commission to implement a UK debt audit. The results of this knowledge exchange shows that debt audits do not attack Local councils, but help them understand the scale of their losses in light of the largest budget cuts in a generation. From this we can take forward a method of democratic engagement that helps engaged citizens and local politicians to help them understand how the financial system functions and to ask important questions about what reforms are required to ensure public finance operates in the public interest. Credit Union Alternatives Knowledge Exchange activities can be used to within the Credit Union sector to understand how consolidation, whilst required to serve customer needs and create financially sustainable credit unions, continues to reduce the number of credit unions active in the UK. This results in the sector being split into large credit unions that offer bank-like service and those, and substantially smaller ones that retain the initial savings and loan model locally. This mean Credit Unions need to link the restrictions imposed on the type of lending that is available to credit unions, because it is the type of customer that is problematic - cash-rich savers, in particular (soon-to-be) pensioners against younger customers with limited credit needs and/or on limited income. Credit Unions need to take forward their public profile to ensure media coverage does not adds to the confusion of the future of the sector. Since the Archbishop of Canterbury announced his ambitions to move credit unions at the forefront of fighting high-cost lending, the media has positioned credit unions alongside discussions of Wonga. Thus, not only is there a danger that credit unions are increasingly associated with low-income customers, but the move also pushes credit unions into engaging in lending activities they may be ill prepared for. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.perc.org.uk/project_pages/debt-research-net/ |
| Description | This project enabled a two-way dialogue and collaboration between an interdisciplinary team of social scientists, specializing in cognate areas of finance and indebtedness, and researcher-users in the third sector to maximize the impact on policy and practice. By engaging directly with partners to co-shape the research agenda we have created user-led and collaborative work packages that engage directly with the prescient issues of indebtedness; in particular, how the 'politics of debt' shapes policy debates about the regulation of credit unions, local authority lending and debt advice. Working within the network of civil society groups seeking to shape and articulate the wider significance of debt in contemporary Britain was timely and important. This provided the right context to increased the uptake of ideas about the problem of household level debt. Specifically, the Labour Party invitation to contribute to the Shadow Chancellors New Economics Lecture Series, the Green Party taking up the proposal for Public Debt Audits, the Scottish Parliament interest in Credit Union report, and finally the project's research being used on Channel 4 Dispatches program. However, until the political climate among elite policy makers and senior politicians shifts from its current position to deny that household debt is a problem then the ultimate impact of this research will be blocked. The validity of the evidence gathered and the findings reported stand, they are the product of collaborations between academic and non-academic experts in retail financial services, credit unions, debt advice, peer advice, mental heath professionals as well as experts working as community organizers and political activists. However, until there is a political climate to accept these findings there is limited scope for direct political impact. Still the outputs from this project will continue to be useful in informing efforts to create new policies, industry best practice, and academic research methodologies - which are all relevant aspects of impact. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | Advisory Board Member - Jubilee Debt Campaign |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | As an academic advisory team member I am invited to general and issue-specific meeting to give expert advise on research and policy briefs targeted at supporters as well as national and international policy making bodies. My expertise in global financial architecture and global debt trends is used to inform organisational priorities as well as working with the Director, Ms Sarah-Jayne Clifton, to develop an all Parlimentary Committee for a UK national debt audit |
| URL | http://jubileedebt.org.uk/about/academic-advisory-network |
| Description | CP - invitation to give evidence on credit unions (September 4, 2015) Sir Hector Sants, Chair of the Archbishop's Task Group on Responsible Credit and Savings, and Andrea Leadsom MP, Economic Secretary at H M Treasury |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Labour Party policy review - presentation at Fringe |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | My proposal is still under consideration, will report results if they materialise. |
| Description | Positive Money Advisory Board Member |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Invited to become a member of the academic advisory panel of Positive Money a civil society organisation focused on monetary policy reform. At advisory panel meeting, general or research topic specific, my advice and guidance is sought on key aspects of the organisations research activities and policy advocacy to the Bank of England. |
| URL | http://positivemoney.org/about/advisory-panel/ |
| Description | Network for Social Change |
| Amount | £15,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Network for Social Change |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2015 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | Opening the Black-Box of the Household (as part of Rebuilding Economics) |
| Amount | £120,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/R00787X/1 LEAD REFERENCE RM02 - RE15677 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2019 |
| End | 12/2020 |
| Description | Political Studies Commission 2015/16 |
| Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Political Studies Association |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2015 |
| End | 09/2016 |
| Description | Rebuilding Macroeconomics |
| Amount | £3,878,416 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/R00787X/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2017 |
| End | 05/2021 |
| Description | PSA Commission for the Future of Care in Austerity Britain |
| Organisation | The Fawcett Society |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | This commission addresses the issue of state restructuring and the delivery of public services in an era of permanent austerity by examining the crisis of care in austerity UK. It will do this through a multidisciplinary approach involving politics, social policy, health and political economy. The commission will put forward recommendations that address key issues of inequality, recasting the study of politics by centrally addressing a global crisis of care that is often treated as an issue of social policy and overlooked in the study of governance. Through a gathering of expert knowledge and data from policy, local government, private enterprise groups and grassroots civil society groups and organisations this commission evaluates three crucial dimensions in the future provision of care (a) the reconfiguration of benefits and entitlement to care, (b) the role of migration and precarious labour and (c) the role of permanent austerity in the provision of care. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Fawcett Society is the UK's leading charity for women's equality and rights at home, work and in public life. The society has a long maintained high profile campaigns in areas such as the gender pay gap, economic inequality, women's role in politics, family life and women's caring roles and domestic violence. As confirmed in the enclosed letter of support, Fawcett are very enthusiastic about the proposed commission and have already provided extensive commentary and feedback on the proposal. It is anticipated that Fawcett Society President and Radio 4 Women's Hour presenter Dame Jenni Murray OBE will head the commission, but should Dame Murray be unable to take this on (due to ongoing health issues) then the Chair of the Fawcett Society, Belinda Phipps has agreed to chair the commission. Ms Phipps is a trained microbiologist and former CEO of both a NHS Trust and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). We believe that the strong support of the Fawcett Society for this project will be integral to the success and impact of the proposed commission. The Women's Budget Group engages in campaigns for economic policy that supports women's rights and has been particularly influential in its work providing gender budget analysis of UK and English local government budgets and taxation policies. The WBG brings together a range of experts from academia and civil society. Given that austerity policies are being secured via a range of budgetary cutbacks at both the national and local level, the input and expertise of the WBG will be invaluable. WBG will be represented on the commission by Prof. Ruth Pearson a trained economist an emeritus professor in the School of Politics and International Studies at Leeds University. Ruth is one of the UK's foremost feminist economists conducting research in a number of developing and developed country contexts. Together with Prof. Diane Elson, Prof. Pearson has developed work that considers how, in the context of UK austerity policy, an alternative feminist economic strategy can be developed. |
| Impact | Reports in progress |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | PSA Commission for the Future of Care in Austerity Britain |
| Organisation | University of Warwick |
| Department | Department of Politics and International Studies |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This commission addresses the issue of state restructuring and the delivery of public services in an era of permanent austerity by examining the crisis of care in austerity UK. It will do this through a multidisciplinary approach involving politics, social policy, health and political economy. The commission will put forward recommendations that address key issues of inequality, recasting the study of politics by centrally addressing a global crisis of care that is often treated as an issue of social policy and overlooked in the study of governance. Through a gathering of expert knowledge and data from policy, local government, private enterprise groups and grassroots civil society groups and organisations this commission evaluates three crucial dimensions in the future provision of care (a) the reconfiguration of benefits and entitlement to care, (b) the role of migration and precarious labour and (c) the role of permanent austerity in the provision of care. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Fawcett Society is the UK's leading charity for women's equality and rights at home, work and in public life. The society has a long maintained high profile campaigns in areas such as the gender pay gap, economic inequality, women's role in politics, family life and women's caring roles and domestic violence. As confirmed in the enclosed letter of support, Fawcett are very enthusiastic about the proposed commission and have already provided extensive commentary and feedback on the proposal. It is anticipated that Fawcett Society President and Radio 4 Women's Hour presenter Dame Jenni Murray OBE will head the commission, but should Dame Murray be unable to take this on (due to ongoing health issues) then the Chair of the Fawcett Society, Belinda Phipps has agreed to chair the commission. Ms Phipps is a trained microbiologist and former CEO of both a NHS Trust and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). We believe that the strong support of the Fawcett Society for this project will be integral to the success and impact of the proposed commission. The Women's Budget Group engages in campaigns for economic policy that supports women's rights and has been particularly influential in its work providing gender budget analysis of UK and English local government budgets and taxation policies. The WBG brings together a range of experts from academia and civil society. Given that austerity policies are being secured via a range of budgetary cutbacks at both the national and local level, the input and expertise of the WBG will be invaluable. WBG will be represented on the commission by Prof. Ruth Pearson a trained economist an emeritus professor in the School of Politics and International Studies at Leeds University. Ruth is one of the UK's foremost feminist economists conducting research in a number of developing and developed country contexts. Together with Prof. Diane Elson, Prof. Pearson has developed work that considers how, in the context of UK austerity policy, an alternative feminist economic strategy can be developed. |
| Impact | Reports in progress |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | PSA Commission for the Future of Care in Austerity Britain |
| Organisation | Women's Budget Group (WBG) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | This commission addresses the issue of state restructuring and the delivery of public services in an era of permanent austerity by examining the crisis of care in austerity UK. It will do this through a multidisciplinary approach involving politics, social policy, health and political economy. The commission will put forward recommendations that address key issues of inequality, recasting the study of politics by centrally addressing a global crisis of care that is often treated as an issue of social policy and overlooked in the study of governance. Through a gathering of expert knowledge and data from policy, local government, private enterprise groups and grassroots civil society groups and organisations this commission evaluates three crucial dimensions in the future provision of care (a) the reconfiguration of benefits and entitlement to care, (b) the role of migration and precarious labour and (c) the role of permanent austerity in the provision of care. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Fawcett Society is the UK's leading charity for women's equality and rights at home, work and in public life. The society has a long maintained high profile campaigns in areas such as the gender pay gap, economic inequality, women's role in politics, family life and women's caring roles and domestic violence. As confirmed in the enclosed letter of support, Fawcett are very enthusiastic about the proposed commission and have already provided extensive commentary and feedback on the proposal. It is anticipated that Fawcett Society President and Radio 4 Women's Hour presenter Dame Jenni Murray OBE will head the commission, but should Dame Murray be unable to take this on (due to ongoing health issues) then the Chair of the Fawcett Society, Belinda Phipps has agreed to chair the commission. Ms Phipps is a trained microbiologist and former CEO of both a NHS Trust and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). We believe that the strong support of the Fawcett Society for this project will be integral to the success and impact of the proposed commission. The Women's Budget Group engages in campaigns for economic policy that supports women's rights and has been particularly influential in its work providing gender budget analysis of UK and English local government budgets and taxation policies. The WBG brings together a range of experts from academia and civil society. Given that austerity policies are being secured via a range of budgetary cutbacks at both the national and local level, the input and expertise of the WBG will be invaluable. WBG will be represented on the commission by Prof. Ruth Pearson a trained economist an emeritus professor in the School of Politics and International Studies at Leeds University. Ruth is one of the UK's foremost feminist economists conducting research in a number of developing and developed country contexts. Together with Prof. Diane Elson, Prof. Pearson has developed work that considers how, in the context of UK austerity policy, an alternative feminist economic strategy can be developed. |
| Impact | Reports in progress |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Company Name | Community Reinvest |
| Description | Founded in 2014 by Jo Ram and Joel Benjamin (RA on Crafting an Alternative), Community Reinvest is a Community Interest Company (C.I.C.) LTD by guarantee and registered with Companies House in England and Wales. Community Reinvest believes that with divestment and reinvestment, it is possible to create flourishing low carbon, local economies. We exist to assist local authorities demonstrate civic leadership by divesting from fossil fuels and reinvesting funds in the local economy, in a manner that has clear social, economic and environmental benefits. |
| Year Established | 2015 |
| Impact | Over the last year, we worked with 350.org, Platform, and Friends of the Earth to create a map tool and database that provides detailed investment information, including amounts invested in the top 200 fossil fuel companies, for all 80 UK local authority pension funds. |
| Website | http://communityreinvest.org.uk/ |
| Description | Credit Union Event - New Developments in Community Finance: 50 years of Credit Unions, and where next? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Developed plan to further develop future growth of community finance given the rapid changes industry in the wake of the recent financial and economic crises and austerity politics-led recovery. The target audience represents a wide range of local and national organisations including: CDFIs, credit unions, other third sector organisations, housing providers, advice agencies, national and local government departments and universities. Members of grant team were asked to follow-on event in Edinburgh (Aug 2015), to develop plans for credit union services in universities. Also the development of a network in the North East - this was discussed in one particular workshop with participation of FINCAN and Five Lamps CDFI. Many participants were pleased that, given the diverse set of organisations with similar interests present in the room, the formation of a local network was the next step forward. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.perc.org.uk/project_posts/new-developments-in-community-finance-50-years-of-credit-unions... |
| Description | Credit Union/CDFI Symposium "From Vision to Impact" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Symposium entitled "From Vision to Impact" which was held on the 8th of September 2015 at The Royal Foundation of St Katharine near Limehouse in London. Key action points for developing a University Credit Union were developed and communicate to those working at university / organisation to confirm their willingness to move forward with the project at this stage. The aim is to obtain 21 signatories who are prepared to become the first members of the credit union when it is created. Fascinating to work with professionals to develop an extremely exciting opportunity to deliver a substantial and sustainable credit union for the Higher Education sector with all the benefits that will accrue. As a result the project team members were asked to be part of steering group with representation from all the key stakeholders and be part of funding bids for the initial development phase. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/FlsTGCxuUCU |
| Description | Financial Melancholia: Debt and Mental Health |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Research briefing and stakeholder discussions between academics from a variety of disciplines (including politics, economics, psychology, sociology); debt advice organisations; mental health organisations; national and local government departments in order to develop new thinking and organisational practice to deal with mounting problems related to the mental health effects of debt. With the publication of our research teams key findings we were able to draw out direct links between our findings and key issues facing debt advice charities and clinical psychology. After this workshop, the Money Advice Service (a debt charity) and Hubub (psychology practitioner group) asked members of the project team to speak so that key research findings could inform organisational practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.perc.org.uk/project_posts/webcast-financial-melancholia-mental-health-and-indebtedness/ |
| Description | Financing the Future - Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Information shared and discussion among participants from the British credit union trade associations expressed an intention is to use some of the project funding to bring visitors from other countries where credit unions have achieved a much larger scale of operations, so that it will be possible to learn from their successes. A large part of workshop involved conversation in which participants respond to the questions raised about Financing the Future. This was the basis for making a few practical proposals for consideration by all participating credit unions. The final report used our project teams research and was made available to all credit unions and other interested bodies, including local authorities, housing associations and churches, and used the project teams conclusions, and set out ways in which credit unions might develop their businesses on a fully sustainable basis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.perc.org.uk/project_posts/credit-unions-are-not-enough-to-help-people-cope-with-austerity... |
| Description | Jubilee Debt Campaign - International Working Group on National Debt Audits |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | As an academic advisory team member I am invited to issue-specific working group on national debt audits to give expert advise on research and policy briefs targeted at supporters of a UK national debt audit. My expertise is used to inform organisational priorities as well as working with the Director, Ms Sarah-Jayne Clifton, to develop future funding streams for a UK national debt audit. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Positive Money QE for the People Campaign |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | My expertise on debt and financialisation was part of a working group formed by Positive Money to explore the possibilities for implementing a policy of Quantitative Easing for the household sector. I endorsed an open letter to the Guardian newspaper outlining policy objectives for monetary reform that became the Quantitative Easing for the People public outreach campaign. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/03/a-post-brexit-economic-policy-reset-for-the-uk-is-e... |
| Description | Public Lecture CommonsFest - Athens |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | CommonsFest Athens, May 15-17th, 2015 at the Greek Archaeologists Association, Ermou 134, Thisio. The festival brought together Participating communities, social movements and emerging social economy stakeholders to explore synergies, and enhance networks that will move toward actions that benefit the greater good. The Festival included 40 speeches from scientists, activists and movement representatives active in free software, open and participative knowledge, natural building and common urban spaces, as well as from initiatives that adopt peer-to-peer production, self-management and self-organization practices. After this talk the project teams research gained international exposure and key stakeholders from across Europe are now interested in the research on the effects of debt on households. Most importantly many participants communicated to the project team that their opinion had been changed because we showed clearly how the effects of debt are both personal and political. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://commonsfest.info/en/tag/athens/ |
| Description | Public Lecture Numismatic Museum in Athens |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Johnna Montgomerie and project partner Damon Gibbons presented at an event on 17 May at the Numismatic Museum in Athens. Their discussions focused on how household debt restructuring programs could assist in recovery and help build solidarity between households in Greece and across Europe. Around 40-50 attendees were present on the day. After my talk I received multiple requests for more information by community groups, local activists and other civil society actors interested in developing proposals for household debt restructuring both in Greece and across Europe. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.perc.org.uk/project_posts/debtaction-greece-storify/ |
| Description | Students in Debt |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This afternoon event seeks to educate students about the fee-loan regime and discuss the effects of debt and indebtedness among students. Bringing in experts, we ask: what are income-contingent loans, who profits from your debt, how does the experience of having debt affect student wellbeing and life chances, and in what ways do fear of debt and the types of loans that are sold to students perpetuate inequalities? We also hear from activists on how debt can be resisted and how we can move from the idea of individual responsibility to collective action.The market created for Higher Education makes students the newest targets for NINJA loans (No Income, No Job, No Assets). Most students depend on credit to access higher education, also there are a host of other credit products - from overdrafts and credit cards to payday loans - specifically marketed to students because of their limited income. Looking to the US we know this is a 'ticking time bomb' as the young are shackled with mountains of high-cost credit that will take decades - during their prime earning years - to pay off. The UK is now seeing the emergence of its own Generation Debt - where the young must mortgage their future to gain access to today's economy. Current political rhetoric normalises these levels of debt as an 'investment' in the future or as simply necessary to cover the growing costs of education and to ensure that higher education is still available to all. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.com/e/students-in-debt-tickets-19117307381?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=... |
| Description | Workshop: Tackling the Hidden Costs of Recovery: Inequality & Insecurity in UK Households |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Bringing together academics with practitioners from UK charities and advocacy organisations and media people, the workshop analyses the gendered costs of recovery and the expanding crisis of social reproduction. Key questions included: • Which households have been hit hardest by the emerging economic paradigm? • How have households managed and mitigated the consequences of austerity, including increasing part-time work and hunger, and changing gendered patterns of work and reproduction? • What new concepts and techniques can we use to understand and represent the impact of 'recovery' on households and spheres beyond the formal economy? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/2015/02/10/discovering-discussing-hidden-costs-recovery/ |