Empowering communities: UCL’s Policy Commission tackles the cost-of-living crisis
UCL Grand Challenges, UCL Public Policy, and the UCL Institute of Education examine the multifaceted impacts of the crisis and advocates for equitable policy interventions.
Grand Challenge: Justice and Equality
The cost-of-living crisis of the 2020s continues to shape lives across the UK, disproportionately affecting marginalised communities and exacerbating inequalities. Recognising the long-term implications of these challenges to communities across the UK, UCL Grand Challenges and UCL Public Policy launched a rapid policy commission. This initiative was designed to examine the multifaceted impacts of the crisis and advocate for equitable policy interventions.
An intersectional lens on the crisis
Based on a collaboration initiated in 2023, involving UCL IOE’s Professor Ann Phoenix, UCL Deputy Director of Public Policy, Dr Olivia Stevenson, UCL Grand Challenges Assistant Director, Siobhan Morris and Tortoise Media, the commission’s cornerstone was its intersectional methodology, acknowledging that the cost-of-living crisis does not affect people from different demographic groups in the same ways.
By examining the intersection of factors such as age, gender, disability, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, the commission sought to uncover the everyday realities of those most affected. The analyses this produced underscored the fact that policies must be tailored to address these intersections if they are to ensure equitable outcomes.
Collaborative dialogues: The ThinkIn Series
Central to the commission’s efforts was a partnership with Tortoise Media to host a series of ‘ThinkIn’ discussions. These forums convened a diverse array of over 80 participants, including from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Citizens Advice, Local Government Association and individuals with lived experiences of poverty. Such rich dialogues facilitated a comprehensive understanding of the crisis’s breadth and depth.
One striking insight arising from these discussions was the recognition that many affected groups remain invisible in official statistics. For instance, members of the LGBTQS2S+ community and people with disabilities are often not adequately included in data collection.
Additionally, racialised and ethnicised groups, such as Black people in the UK, may experience higher rates of unemployment and lower occupational attainment, yet these disparities can be obscured by broad statistical categories, such as ‘BAME’, which leads to underreporting and blurring of the impact on different social groups. This highlights the need for more inclusive data collection methods.
Policy recommendations: Beyond temporary fixes
The commission’s findings culminated in the report: The Cost-of-Living Crisis in the UK: All in It Together? This critiqued existing policy interventions as being overly focused on short-term relief, overlooking the longstanding systemic issues perpetuating a ‘poverty pandemic’ rather than a cost-of-living ‘crisis’. It also noted that short-term policy responses have not been sufficient to address the scale and nature of the crisis.
The report advocated for enhanced data collection, better cross-government collaboration and long-term investment, viewing the elevation of living standards not as an expense but as a strategic investment in the nation’s future prosperity. Inclusive and robust data collection would provide a clear picture of living standards in the UK, enabling policymakers to better identify areas of need and design more targeted, effective interventions. Issues around inequality and low living standards cut across Whitehall, from health to education and justice, making collaboration between government departments essential to addressing these complex, cross-cutting challenges and improving outcomes nationwide.
The ThinkIn sessions generated a robust exchange of ideas and perspectives. The collaboration also produced accessible materials, including Sensemaker Guides and Tortoise readouts, broadening the reach of the findings to audiences of over 106,000 people. In addition, the commission submitted evidence to the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee as part of the ‘Impact of the rising cost of living on women’ inquiry. The report gained media coverage and generated debate, sharing the commission’s insights more widely in support of a more just and equitable society. Jess Winch, News Editor at Tortoise Media, said:
It has been a privilege to work with UCL on this important project. The cost-of-living crisis – or the cost-of-living reality, as one speaker described it – has no end point in sight and is not impacting everyone equally. We hope that the discussions will help inform more effective government policy in the short-term and build a stronger social safety net over the coming decades.