Barrow Cadbury Trust welcomes the news that Police and Crime Commissioners are to be abolished. Some PCCs responded positively to the T2A young adult agenda and other long-standing concerns around policing, and we commend them for their approach  However, the potential for the role to have substantial impact was never realised. This was not helped by a failure to explain their role and potential to the voting public. According to the Home Secretary scrapping the PCCs will save £100m over this Parliament. This funding should be ringfenced for proven approaches to reducing crime and ensuring more people are supported to move away from the criminal justice system.

The Treasury has published the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy. Its publication is recognition that financial exclusion remains a persistent and systemic issue across the UK and Fair By Design hugely values the hard work of the Committee members and team that have delivered the Strategy. Fair By Design see this as a stepping stone, not the final say, on how to address the structural drivers of the poverty premium and financial exclusion because…

1. It is a Strategy of consolidation, not transformation. 
The Strategy demonstrates that there are numerous brilliant initiatives already under way across the sector to improve financial inclusion, all of which are to be celebrated and applauded. There are also some new announcements in the Strategy, such as exploring an extension to the credit brokering exemption for Registered Social Landlords and the commitment of dormant assets to a small sum loan pilot, both of which we welcome. But overall, the Strategy is one of consolidation rather than being transformational. The overview and coordination it provides are useful, but we think that the Strategy lacks the ambition and urgency required to tackle the root causes of entrenched financial exclusion and the poverty premium.

2. Where is Motor Insurance?
One area where this is particularly disappointing is motor insurance, given car insurance is the costliest poverty premium faced by low-income consumers. While the Strategy acknowledges rising premiums and the disproportionate impact on vulnerable customers, it fails to propose any direct interventions to improve affordability. It references the existing Motor Insurance Taskforce, but the Taskforce’s remit centres on market dynamics and claims costs, rather than tackling the core issue of consumer affordability and inclusion.

3. An over-reliance on industry and voluntary action
The Strategy leans heavily on industry-led initiatives and voluntary codes, which cannot guarantee consistent or equitable outcomes on their own. While we welcome the creation of an Inclusive Design Working Group and the focus on inclusive product design, these efforts must involve policymakers and regulators to deliver systemic change. Stronger Government-led measures, such as a Fair Banking Act, are necessary if we’re going to close the £2bn of unmet need for affordable credit.

4. It needs a stronger accountability framework
We value the Strategy’s focus on outcomes as this creates flexibility for the many organisations involved in delivering the Strategy to meet the needs of different consumers and markets. But it lacks clear targets, metrics, or accountability mechanisms.

Fair By Design also urges the Government to add people living in poverty and on low incomes to the group of people the Strategy is expected to have a positive impact on, as being on a low income is a key determinant of whether someone experiences financial exclusion.

Read: A Plan for everyone: why 20 million people need the Financial Exclusion Strategy to deliver

The full Strategy – https://lnkd.in/dxN8Z9U7

We’re looking for a brilliant Freelance Network Meeting Facilitator to join the Economic Justice Brum movement!

Over the past two years, we’ve been bringing together people and organisations across Birmingham: community groups, campaigners, researchers, policymakers and people with lived experience of economic injustice, to build a fairer local economy.

Now we’re ready for the next phase. We want our network meetings to be even more engaging, inclusive and energising so we’re looking for a skilled facilitator with a long-term commitment to Birmingham and its people to help make that happen.

If you’re great at bringing people together, designing participatory events, and creating spaces where everyone feels valued and heard this could be the role for you.

– Freelance: approx. 2 days a month
– Flexible working
– Contract length: up to 2 years
– Deadline: Midday, 24 November 2025
– Interviews: 1 December 2025, in Birmingham

Full invitation to tender and details on how to apply (PDF) ⬇️

Let’s keep building the movement for an economy rooted in justice, equity and community power. Please share with relevant networks!

Are you acting with other campaigners, activists and community organisers in Birmingham to change and transform systems that harm people, cause injustice and further economic inequalities? Would a grant of up to £50,000 over two years help you act to make lasting change a reality? Our Economic Justice Brum Act to Change fund might be for you! Find out more.

Fair4All Finance and WPI Economics have launched a report titled Financial inclusion and growth. The report sets out how financial inclusion can be a core part of achieving the UK Government’s growth mission.

The report looks at three key areas; savings, car insurance and better financial wellbeing, and argues that greater financial inclusion in these areas leads to increased growth.

In the case of car insurance, removing the poverty premium would generate an extra £369 million per year for the UK economy. Over the course of this Parliament, UK GDP would be £1.5 billion higher as a result.

This report follows the recent launch of Fair By Design’s new position paper week titled Driving Change: Policy Ideas to Tackle the Car Insurance Poverty Premium.

Fair By Design’s Director, Rebecca Deegan, said:  

“The new analysis by Fair4All finance is further evidence that investing in financial inclusion is good for people and good for the economy.

“Too many people are excluded or are charged more for essentials, paying a poverty premium because of factors they cannot control, such as where they can afford to live. 

“For instance, people living in deprived areas can pay over £300 more on car insurance per year than those living in more affluent areas. But as this new research shows, tackling the poverty premium in car insurance can grow the economy by hundreds of millions of pounds per year.  

“This should be a no-brainer. This is growth that puts money back into people’s pockets. We urge the Government to be bold as it develops the Financial Inclusion Strategy over summer, and include concrete actions to reduce poverty premiums in insurance and credit.”

This new report from British Future and the Belong Network describes a combination of social tensions and grievances – including polarisation and division, concerns about asylum and immigration, declining political trust, economic pessimism and worries about the impact of social media. The authors warn that unrest risks being reignited unless urgent action is taken.

They also identify some strong foundations on which to build, including public confidence in cohesion at neighbourhood level and numerous examples of impactful work across the UK to empower communities, build shared identities and strengthen relationships between people from different backgrounds.

The report is a foundational input to the new Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, chaired by Sir Sajid Javid and Jon Cruddas, which convened for the first time in June 2025.

The Foundation Practice Rating (FPR) is an objective assessment of UK-based charitable grant-making foundations. It looks at foundations’ practices in three key areas – diversity, accountability, and transparency.

The 2024/25 findings show gradual improvements in the sector, with progress across all three categories. However, diversity remains the weakest area, with no foundations receiving an A rating.

The report assessed 100 foundations, with some of the smallest outperforming the largest. Of concern was that 21 of the foundations assessed had no website, making it difficult for applicants to access crucial information. Indeed, none of the 12 foundations that scored a D in all three domains had a website, further highlighting accessibility challenges within the sector.

The FPR was initiated in 2021 by Friends Provident Foundation and is funded by a group of UK grant-making foundations, including Barrow Cadbury Trust.   This year, the ‘Funders Group’ includes: Friends Provident Foundation, City Bridge Foundation, John Ellerman Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Indigo Trust, Robertson Trust, and John Lyon’s Charity.

For more information, visit foundationpracticerating.org.uk where you can download a copy of the 24/25 report.

Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews are unlikely to save young adult lives finds a new Centre for Crime and Justice Studies report. A new duty to review homicides involving offensive weapons is unlikely to achieve its aim of reducing weapons-enabled homicides, whatever else it may accomplish, the report says.

Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews (OWHRs) were introduced by the previous Conservative Government in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. Their stated purpose is to help national and local agencies understand the causes of serious violence and prevent future weapons-enabled homicides.

The report by Dr Susie Hulley and Dr Tara Young, published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, examines the potential benefits and risks of this new duty, particularly its impact on young adult safety. The authors analysed evidence about existing homicide reviews, such as Domestic Violence Homicide Reviews, which have been in operation for several decades. Homicide reviews, they argue, are not without merit. The research found that reviews can offer additional, important information about what happened, not least of all to a victim’s family and friends. However, the report finds that the recommendations from homicide reviews are frequently not acted upon, raising serious concerns about whether the learning from these cases is being effectively implemented – particularly given the lack of statutory duty or resources to do so.

If, after the pilot, OWHRs are rolled out nationally, the report provides recommendations that could mitigate some of the identified risks of existing homicide reviews, including for a publicly accessible national database of findings and recommendations. However, the authors conclude that OWHRs are unlikely to prevent weapon-enabled homicides involving young adults, and urge the Government to put well-evidenced interventions that reduce serious violence at the forefront of its approach to serious violence.

Authors of the report, Dr Susie Hulley and Dr Tara Young said:

“In light of these findings and the government’s ambitious target to halve knife crime over the next decade, we urge the Government to reconsider the cost effectiveness of a national rollout of OWHRs, and to instead focus on well-evidenced interventions that reduce serious violence and support young adults to flourish.”

Helen Mills, Head of Programmes at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said:

“If OWHRs are rolled out this report highlights important learning about how they can best work. However, we have some scepticism about whether this is the right approach. Clear evidence already exists about how to best prevent and respond to serious violence, and that the particular needs of young adults are often overlooked. Yet good practice remains frustratingly fragmented, and lacking the long-term sustainable funding it needs.