News
Barrow Cadbury Trust is very pleased to announce the appointment of Asif Afridi to the CEO post. Asif is currently Deputy CEO at brap, a Birmingham-based, UK-wide, equality and human rights charity, with an inclusive and rights-based approach to equality. Asif is a trustee of Lankelly Chase Foundation and the Baring Foundation. He was also a panel member of the Independent Inquiry into the future of Civil Society (2016-18). He has published widely on topics of poverty, racism and social cohesion, and previously worked in the field of international human rights protection. Asif will take up the post in March 2025.
Asif said: “I’ve admired the organisation’s work for many years under Sara’s leadership and I’m excited and honoured to take up this opportunity to work with such a great team and board. I’ll be doing all I can to continue to deepen Barrow Cadbury’s long-term, thoughtful, collaborative approach to tackling structural inequality and promoting social justice”.
For some time Barrow Cadbury Trust has been thinking about its presence and profile on X. The misinformation and toxic exchanges during July’s riots were a catalyst for us to find out what others in the social justice sector were thinking so we could make a judgement on whether to leave, and, if so, which platform(s) to go to. We sent out a survey to our partners and stakeholders which seems to have tapped into a general concern in the social justice sector around social media. We are sharing it here. A big thank you to everyone who completed it.
It appears from the survey and other conversations that many organisations are moving to Bluesky so we have now created a Bluesky account: @barrowcadbury.bsky.social. Fair By Design have also created a Bluesky account: fairbydesign.bsky.social. Barrow Cadbury Trust and Fair By Design will continue to post on X.
It’s clear from the survey that lots of social justice organisations are keeping a close eye on the social media landscape and on capacity and opportunities to engage with the media and politicians.
We have no vacancies at present.
Every year Better Society Capital collates and publishes data on the estimated size of the social impact investment market in the UK. This year it reports a 7% increase, from £9.4bn in 2022, to £10bn in 2023.
BSC says it is encouraging that the market has continued to demonstrate stability despite economic uncertainties and to see continued investment into tackling social issues – including child poverty, homelessness and the effects of long term health conditions.
The data includes the four areas BSC has identified as having real opportunity for growth – investment in social and affordable property, lending to charities and social enterprises, impact venture and social outcomes contracts. Find out more about the spread of investment and methodology in the report.
We’re delighted to hear The Justice Secretary’s announcement in her speech at Labour Party conference yesterday about the creation of a Women’s Justice Board.
T2A (Transition to Adulthood) Young Adult Voices is a new podcast featuring conversations between eight young adults from across the UK with lived experience of the criminal justice system. Six episodes are now available to listen to and are available on all major platforms by searching ‘Young Adult Voices’ as well as on the T2A website
In each episode, contributors unpack a new topic – covering everything from race and care experience to resettlement and prison education programmes. Their discussions offer wide-ranging insights for professionals in the justice system on how to work more effectively with young adults.
T2A would like to thank Switchback, Leaders Unlocked, the Muslim Women in Prison project, Drive Forward Foundation, and Revolving Doors Agency for supporting the individuals who contributed to the podcast.
Learn more about working with young adults
For more than a decade T2A has been building and commissioning resources to help professionals working with young adults in the criminal justice system. If you want to learn more about working with young adults, look at our guides for practitioners and our research and reports.
MPs will this week make a fresh attempt to reform the joint enterprise legal dragnet, which has seen groups of friends and associates collectively punished for the crimes of an individual.
Spearheaded by Liverpool MP Kim Johnson, MPs have tabled an Early Day Motion, calling on the Government to make good on its pledge, while in opposition, to reform Joint Enterprise law, with a view to narrow the wide scope of the current law and to provide a fairer framework for prosecution and sentencing. As a practical first step, MPs are proposing a review by the Law Commission, with a view to it developing proposals to narrow the scope of the laws on joint enterprise and establish a fairer sentencing framework for those convicted under joint enterprise.
The call comes as the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies releases a new report, written by researcher and academic, Nisha Waller. The report – The legal dragnet – highlights how the current law on joint enterprise ‘allows and indeed encourages cases to be constructed with the absence of rigour and quality’.
Joint enterprise law – referred to in legal terms as secondary liability – allows for individuals to be convicted of crimes they did not physically carry out, if they are deemed to have encouraged or assisted the perpetrator. The approach has faced mounting criticism for the way it allows minor players and those on the periphery of crimes to be tried and convicted as if they were the perpetrator, with recent reports suggesting a rise in the number of people convicted of murder and manslaughter under joint enterprise law over the past five years.
In one case, highlighted in the report, three young men were given life sentences for murder. At the time of the offence, one was present but played no physical role in the offence, another was downstairs outside the flat where the offence took place, and the third was not even present at the scene. Meanwhile, the individual who actually committed the murder remains at large.
Speaking to the House of Commons Justice Committee in 2012, Sir Keir Starmer, who at the time was the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that joint enterprise prosecution ‘does not work well’ in the case of murder convictions, where ‘someone has played a very minor part in a very serious offence but is none the less convicted’. Some juries, he added, ‘may feel that it simply does not feel fair to convict someone for playing a very small part in a very serious offence’.
One barrister quoted in the report said: ‘We’re convicting people of murder when they play a “very small role, they’re just more than merely present’. Another said:
“the law allows them to draw so many people in they don’t have to go to pinpointing an individual, so they grab as many people even as tangentially as they can… it almost feels as though even if they lose a couple of them… they’ll get enough… that’s what it feels like… throw the net as wide as we possibly can.”
Earlier this year, the Labour MP, Kim Johnson sought a change to the law, to reduce the risk of unfair joint enterprise convictions. Her initiative ran out of parliamentary time, due to the early General Election. However, the then shadow minister for youth justice, Janet Daby MP, told the House of Commons that ‘Labour has previously said that it would look to reform joint enterprise, and that remains our ambition’. In July the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, told the House of Commons that joint enterprise was an issue of ‘real concern’ for MPs across the House.
Supporters of the current arrangements argue that joint enterprise law gives the police and prosecutors flexibility to catch and convict all those who may have been involved in a crime. However, the report argues the very vagueness of the rules, and wide scope of their application, ‘leaves the state unable to confidently asset that only those truly responsible are being convicted’. Narrowing the scope of joint enterprise law, the report argues, would ensure ‘better precision from the police and prosecutors… and allow greater confidence that juries are convicted defendants based on their contribution to the crime, rather than the prosecution’s case theory and narrative’.
Reform of joint enterprise law would also allow the justice system to focus its resources, and contribute to easing the unprecedented demands faced by the courts, prison and probation services.
Report author, Nisha Waller, said: “Joint enterprise is unjustifiably vague and wide in scope. Law reform will not eradicate institutional racism and broader issues with police and prosecution practice however, the current law encourages the overcharging of suspects and allows cases to be propelled forward based on poor quality evidence. Prosecutors are then left to fill the gaps with speculative case theories and often racialised narratives from which juries are invited to infer joint responsibility.”
Helen Mills, Head of Programmes at Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said: “This report shows people are being convicted of the most serious crimes on the basis poor quality evidence and dubious stereotyping, particularly regarding gangs. The current ease of prosecution needs to be balanced with clearer thresholds about prosecuting multiple people for the crimes of one person. Reform of joint enterprise law is long overdue. The Law Commission review this report calls for would be a good first step to a safer law and for Labour to make good on its promise to reform joint enterprise law.”
Gloria Morrison of JENGbA said: “This research again exposes the dangerous flaws in using joint enterprise in murder/manslaughter trials further validating JENGbA’s concerns. Neither the courts nor the CPS are able to sort out the abuse of joint enterprise resulting in thousands of wrongful convictions.
Yet again JENGbA call for an immediate suspension of its use, particularly in light of mass overcrowding and the prison and probation crisis.”
Felicity Gerry KC, a legal expert and barrister who has represented people in joint enterprise cases said: “This report reveals the persistence of injustice in cases where the law overly criminalizes and punishes individuals under ‘joint enterprise’ laws, despite their minimal or non-existent contribution to the crime, for which others are responsible.
It underscores the urgent need for legal reform, not only as a matter of legal necessity, but as a moral imperative. Reform is crucial to restore fairness, clarify accountability, and rectify the severe legitimacy crisis in the criminal justice system, particularly in the most serious of cases”
Our CEO, Dame Sara Llewellin, has done a great deal to establish Barrow Cadbury Trust as a thought leader in the philanthropy and civil sector, and her successor is now being recruited. This is a rare opportunity for an inspirational leader, adept at strategic thinking and with a passion for Barrow Cadbury Trust’s vision and mission to join us and make a lasting difference.
The applicant will need to have a profound empathy for the values and aims of the Trust. With experience of high level leadership, the next CEO will work closely with the Chair, Board Executive Team and other staff to ensure all the organisation’s resources – our people, our skills, our money/endowment, and our reputation – are put to effective use in the vigorous pursuit of our vision, mission and values. You will be an enthusiastic advocate of the sector and its infrastructure, able to utilise strategic communication as a cornerstone approach to effective campaigning and influencing.
This is a unique opportunity. The applicant will need to bring an appreciation of the complexities of creating structural change, a successful track record of developing and implementing strategy, and a history of advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, which Barrow Cadbury Trust has a strong commitment to. We encourage applications from people with personal experience of the social justice issues we’re working on.
We are supported by our recruiting partner, Green Park in this recruitment process. To read more about this role and how to apply, please visit this microsite.
Closing date: Sunday 11:59pm 22 September, 2024
Please submit your application with your personal email address to ensure you receive acknowledgement of receipt.
Please note, to ensure confidentiality, applications submitted under a work email address will not receive acknowledgement of receipt.
Financial Inclusion in the UK 2024
The Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) at the University of
Birmingham was commissioned by the Financial Inclusion Commission to undertake a rapid review of financial inclusion. This report provides the findings of that work, focusing primarily on evidence published between January 2022 and March 2024 due to the significant changes in the economy in recent years, including COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis.
The full review looks at financial inclusion both in terms of the types of products and services
required and the groups of people most likely to be excluded, before making suggestions for
potential approaches to tackle exclusion – preferably within the framework of a national strategy.
This annual overview highlights key findings and possible approaches – again with the intention that these
are incorporated into a national strategy for financial inclusion.
Creative Brief: Birmingham Economic Justice Alliance Branding and Communications
24 July 2024
Introduction:
The Economic Justice Alliance (EJA) is a catalyst for realising economic justice in Birmingham. Formed of campaigners, community groups, civil society organisations, and communities impacted by economic injustice, the Alliance supports shared visioning and analysis while celebrating and bolstering the diverse strategies, actions, and tactics we need to win real change.
Birmingham’s economy touches its citizens’ lives in dozens of ways each day. From access to safe, affordable housing, nourishing food, to good jobs, sustainable healthcare and other public infrastructures, economic change is possible on many fronts. It needs to transform to meet the needs of Birmingham’s communities – and we need strong relationships and a shared vision of the future to meet the scale of the challenge ahead of us. By working, imagining, strategising, and acting together, we’re accelerating the pace of economic change in Birmingham.
The EJA is a growing and evolving ecosystem of groups connected by a shared commitment to economic justice. While the groups and participants vary in size, focus area, and strategies, we come together to support a shared vision to improve the lives of people in Birmingham.
The Alliance has recently developed a communications strategy and following on from this it will be launching a new website and other external communications. Ahead of this it is commissioning a creative design project to develop its brand identity and create supporting assets.
Objective:
Develop the creative tools to enable the communication and implementation of the EJA’s strategy in Birmingham.
Create a distinctive brand identity with supporting assets, gaining audience understanding of the mission and theory of change and attracting their engagement.
What is a key thing our audience(s) will believe after seeing this work?
The Economic Justice Alliance gives us a place to build the skills, relationships, and strategies we need to make Birmingham a better, fairer place to live.
Scope of work
We are looking for a branding and communications agency or individual designer that can take a broad and collaborative approach to the project. This involves working with key players at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, People’s Economy (the Alliance’s appointed communications partner) and the Alliance’s steering group to develop a suite of brand and communications assets including:
- Creative brand assets such as a logo, fonts, colour palette, social media branding, creative brand templates (including newsletter assets, documents and powerpoints), website architecture and wireframes, brand guidelines guidelines, illustration, digital assets and iconography.
We have already developed a communications strategy including defined audiences, audience value propositions, tone of voice and a storytelling model that will support this work and be provided to whoever is appointed upon project initiation.
Applications
We welcome applications from freelance designers and brand and communication agencies, ideally based in or with a strong, demonstrable connection to Birmingham and communities experiencing economic injustice. We are looking for applications from people or organisations with experience and track record of working within social impact and social movement contexts.
Timeline
The deadline for expressions of interest is 11:59pm Sunday 18th August.
We will shortlist 3-5 expressions of interest to take forward and reach out to request any further details we require and schedule an interview on w/c 26th August. A decision will be made shortly after with the intention for work to begin in early September.
Submitting a proposal
We are looking for proposals from agencies or individuals explaining:
- Why you are well-placed to carry out the work
- A description of how you would approach the project, including approaches to consulting relevant stakeholders and the number of feedback rounds
- A description of key deliverables that would be provided upon completion (see ‘Scope of Work’ for what we would like to see delivered)
- The resources you have to give to the project (ie staff or freelancers)
- Details about the staff or freelancers on the project including your links to Birmingham and/or communities experiencing economic injustice
- What you need from the Alliance and relevant stakeholders to complete the project
- Timescales – i.e. how soon you could carry out the work if a tender was awarded
- Links to and/or details of relevant recent examples of other similar work you have carried out, in particular in social impact and social movements contexts
- Details of any experience and relevant skills in designing for accessibility
- A detailed quote for the work you propose to carry out
The deadline for expressions of interest is 11:59pm Sunday 18th August. Email to Fatima Iftikhar [email protected].
Budget
£10,000 (inclusive of VAT)
We’ve worked for decades with partners to highlight the need for reform of women’s justice, including supporting the Corston Independent funders coalition, which has kept alive one of the main recommendations of the 2007 Corston Review that women should be diverted from prison and supported in the community.
And our funded partners Agenda Alliance Women in Prison and the Prison Reform Trust have campaigned tirelessly for the trauma-informed support women need if they are to successfully exit the criminal justice system.
In our work developing the T2A – Transition to Adulthood we have built up significant evidence on the need for a distinct approach for young adults 18-25 years old. We hope that when the Women’s Justice Board is formed it understands the ongoing and distinct life changes young adult women are going through and develops evidence based service for this cohort.
In 2023 the Ministry of Justice developed the long-awaited Delivery Plan for the 2018 Government Strategy on women’s offending, it is ready and waiting to be implemented with four clear aims: prevention and early intervention; reducing the use of prison whilst increasing the use of community sentences;
improving outcomes for women in custody; and improving outcomes for women on release.
The Women’s Justice Board should also adopt the recommendations from the Farmer Report on the role of families, and ensure multi-agency engagement and the involvement of third sector organisations in the delivery of services.
It also needs to explicitly include action to address the double disadvantage experienced by Black, Asian and minoritised women which has been recently documented by an alliance of organisations headed up by Hibiscus Foundation.
Partnership working with specialist charities such as those in the National Women’s Justice Coalition is the key to delivering impact. Let’s hope the new Board will seize the opportunity to collaborate with our funded partners and create a new system of transformational justice for women.