New role at JRF
A new position has been created by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to oversee its new strategy
A new position has been created by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) to oversee its new strategy, based on the recommendations of the organisation’s 2016 report We can solve poverty in the UK.
Claire Ainsley has been appointed executive director of the JRF and will be resposnbile for taking forward the strategy, which calls on business, politicians and organisations to work together to end poverty in the UK.
Previously director of communications and external affairs at the JRF and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT), Claire Ainsley called poverty ‘one of the biggest challenges of our time’.
We can solve poverty in the UK highlighted a need for large-scale policy change, at the national, devolved and local levels, to tackle the underlying causes of UK poverty and, crucially, involved people with first-hand experiences of poverty.
Claire Ainsley said: ‘Millions of people are struggling to make ends meet across every nation and region of the UK. This is a really important time for the mission of solving UK poverty, which will only be realised by working alongside people with lived experience and other organisations to build the will and solutions for change.’
JRF chief executive Campbell Robb said part of the new strategy will be to build the public and political will to solve the problem:
‘JRF is determined to use evidence from research, lived experience, data and analysis to monitor the effects of poverty and hold governments to account as well as develop credible policy solutions and actions. But it will also require a significant cultural shift in public and political attitudes…
‘Claire has the right coordination of skills, expertise, vision and experience to derive our new strategy. I look forward to working with her as we develop the next stage of our plans.’
According to the 2016 report, which concluded that ridding the UK of poverty within ‘a generation’ is feasible, an estimated £78 billion of public spending is linked to dealing with poverty and its consequences, including spending on healthcare, education, justice, and child and adult social services.
