Four community campaigners supported by Church Action on Poverty have met with a Government minister in London, to call for a new approach to working with people in hardship.
Mary Passeri, Stef Benstead, Sydnie Corley and Wayne Green met Stephen Timms MP, minister for social security and disability.
We had requested the meeting so the group could talk about how the Government will meaningfully engage people with direct experience of poverty, when it reviews systems such as the Work Capability Assessment, and the way the Government views and talks about people whose illness or disability means they are unable to work.
The group had a productive and fruitful 30-minute meeting and secured a commitment to a follow-up meeting.
I feel that although he listened to us, he had his own agenda very much at the forefront of his mind. I do think that perhaps we genuinely challenged his idea of disability and work, and I believe that the fact he himself offered a follow-up meeting was very promising. Hope that we are able to continue in this vein, perhaps giving us all the opportunity for constructive conversation.
(Mary Passeri, group member)
The Speaking Truth To Power programme supports people with direct experience of UK poverty to speak up and take action on its causes.
We have brought together people with a diverse range of personal experiences, to speak up locally and nationally, and are working together to access and share tools, training, opportunities and ideas.
Several members of the group have disabilities, and others are carers for people who are disabled or seriously unwell, and the group has wanted to ensure their voices, and others in similar situations, are heard and heeded by Government.
At the same time, another group has been working with academics from several universities, to help strengthen the voices of marginalised groups in academic research and social policy work.
Felicity Guite, facilitator of the programme, said: “Our expert advisers genuinely spoke truth to power during 2024. We hope to do even more in 2025, ensuring that the voices of people in poverty are directly heard by leaders and decision-makers.”