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Ending poverty in the UK is a challenging task that requires long-term commitment. At Church Action on Poverty, we’re hugely grateful to the passionate, dedicated donors, activists and church leaders who stand with us. We know that many of you have been standing with us for an end to poverty for years or even decades.

In an increasingly difficult climate for charities and fundraising, our brilliant donors have continued enabling people to reclaim dignity, agency and power. Leaving a legacy is a powerful way of building on that dedication.

Since 2023, legacies have made a huge impact in our work. We’d like to thank Sheila Lovibond and her family – she left a hugely generous legacy which is supporting our work in churches and communities this year. Last year, another supporter made a significant donation from a legacy she’d received herself – enabling us to arrange the UK tour of the Dreams and Realities exhibition.

Let your legacy be one of hope and dignity. 

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

Felicity Guite, Church Action on Poverty’s Speaking Truth to Power Development Facilitator, introduces a new project that is happening in South Manchester in 2025.

‘Sharing Power to Shape Mission’ will bring together local people who have lived experience of poverty with local church leaders to develop a shared understanding and find ways of working together to tackle poverty in South Manchester and beyond.

The project is inspired by Poverty Truth Commissions, which bring together grassroots commissioners with local decision-makers from the civic and business sectors. Now we seek to bring this approach to the church. This builds on work Church Action on Poverty has been doing with the United Reformed Church on developing an anti-poverty strategy, ‘A Church With People at the Margins’.

The group have spoken powerfully about identity and stigma, and the labels and assumptions that people put on them. They have talked about the power of being able to make choices over their own lives, and how dehumanising it can feel to have those choices taken away from them.

The grassroots participants, who come from across South Manchester, have been meeting together since February to share their experiences and explore the theme of dignity. The group have spoken powerfully about identity and stigma, and the labels and assumptions that people put on them. They have talked about the power of being able to make choices over their own lives, and how dehumanising it can feel to have those choices taken away from them. The group are beginning to explore these themes in relation to their experience of church, whether that is as church-goers, as recipients of services provided by churches, or as volunteers in church-run projects.

After Easter the grassroots participants will be joined by a group of church leaders from a range of denominations. This larger group will meet together regularly for the rest of the year. The aim is to come up with two or three concrete ideas for things that the group, the church and wider community partners could do together. What the group will do has not been decided in advance – it will emerge from a process of deep listening and collaborative learning.

This approach draws on the methodology of Paolo Freire, creating an environment where all members of the group, grassroots and church leaders alike, will learn from each other and take action together based on what they learn. Together the group will create a deeper understanding of what poverty is and take steps to change that reality.

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Change happens when people come together to make it happen. Activists with experience of poverty have been doing just that, with three UK universities.

Members of the Speaking Truth To Power panel took part in a national event at London School of Economics with academics and practitioners, and then delivered online workshops at the University of Staffordshire and the University of Salford.

Panel member Wayne Green, from Shoreham by Sea in West Sussex, reflects on the two most recent events.

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.
Wayne, Penny, Steve and Tracy at the London event last winter. Two more events have now taken place at other universities.

Wayne: we're speaking to tomorrow's decision-makers

“Why universities? We felt it was important, as activists seeking to end all forms of poverty and exclusion. It is important for students who could be tomorrow’s decision makers, policy makers and future leaders, to fully understand how and why we do what we do and how to challenge power structures, with a human-centred experience besides the academic rational perspective.

“The work at times I found was slow, and now and then disagreements got in the way. But I was learning to dump much of my professional experience, relearning to be more empathetic and take more of a back seat, and try not to see it all from my perspective.

“It was hard for me. But each time we met I could see that I was changing a little more my perspective. Slowly but surely we started to gel really well as a group. And I now understand why the planning took time.

“Finally, we had built two two-hour programmes. We had full control of the design, agenda, subject matter, and timings, and we chose who best to speak on each topic. It was a really fully human-centred, collaborative and equally balanced process.

“The workshops were with the Universities of Staffordshire and Salford.

“We were there by experience to share – for example, to show what the difference is between experience and academic
knowledge, also to show the value of real experience of poverty, the pain, how to avoid tokenism, how to navigate power dynamics, types of power flows, and the value of listening by those in power.

Wayne: You have so much power

“I felt all the lecturers and departments were highly motivated, and positive in working with us, which gave us much confidence.

“We wanted to highlight to the students that they do have power, and how to be more politically active.

“Often your experience and knowledge is more than the power-holders’ or decision-makers’. We showed real-life examples of how people in poverty can still have a voice and make changes.

“For example, we told how we had attended events at Parliament, and led on campaigns in our local communities, and spoke about our experiences of campaigns at local and national levels. It was important to show them what is often missed or not shown.

“It is important for students to see and learn from real-life activists in poverty, as this sets the agenda. They too can change the world.

“I wanted to say, ‘You have so much power, it’s all around us up for grabs. Look at us, look at what we are doing. Do not be afraid.’ As I noted, poverty is a battle of invisibility, it must be won, we must be seen and heard.

Wayne: what I've learned

“What have I really learned from all of this? I think I have learned to be more humble to the other members.

“Even though I find it hard to show, I do really care about them all in the years we have grown with each other. At the end of the day who am I, but a poor weak man offering my small bit of experience to such large problems. But I do believe change can happen and the younger generations have so much more to offer than I for that change.”

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Broomhall Centre, Broomspring Lane, Sheffield
Thursday 29 May 2025, 7:30pm – 9:30pm

Churches across Sheffield are being asked to take a long hard look at the support they provide for low-income communities. Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield is responding to research showing churches are more likely to close in low-income areas than in better-off ones by organising an evening conference asking the question: ‘Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?”

  • Church Action on Poverty research found that in Greater Manchester, three out of every five churches closed by the Church of England between 2010 and 2020 were in deprived areas, while half the Methodist and Baptist churches and two out of five Roman Catholic churches that closed were in deprived areas.
  • Speakers at the conference will include:
    Niall Cooper, CEO of Church Action on Poverty;
    The Rev Lucy Sablan, who has been working in Arbourthorne and is now Rector of the Manor;
    Nick Waterfield, a Pioneer Methodist minister and community worker in the Parson Cross community.
  • There will be an opportunity to ask questions, contribute to the debate, and light refreshments will be available.

Admission is free and there is no need to book.
For more information about the event, please contact Briony Broome: briony.broome@hotmail.co.uk or 07801 532 954.

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

You're invited to attend the AGM of our local group in the North East, with speaker Amanda Bailey, Director of the North East Child Poverty Commission.

Wednesday 14 May
St Joseph’s Church, High St West, Gateshead NE8 1LX
(1 minute from Gateshead metro station and interchange)

  • 5:00pm refreshments
  • 5:30pm AGM business
  • 6:00pm local voices
  • 6:15pm Amanda Bailey

Right now, too many children in our region are going hungry and living without hope—and as people of faith, we are called to respond. It’s a matter of justice and compassion. Working together, we can make a difference.

31% (170,000) of all children and young people across the North East were living below the poverty line over the
three years to 2023-24. This is up from 30% over the three
years to 2022-23.

The North East has the UK’s second highest proportion of children living in single-parent families, and the highest
rate of children living in families where an adult or child has a disability.

HEAR THE CRY OF THE EARTH AND THE CRY OF THE POOR

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

During 2024, we carried out a survey and some in-depth conversations with some of our partners and supporters. Communications Manager Liam Purcell shares some of what we learned.

We know that, in order to end poverty in the UK, we need to be part of a really wide and powerful movement. To help us link people and groups together and support that movement, we need to listen and learn as much as we can from all the people we work with. So we’ve been finding out what we can from all kinds of people – from loyal supporters who’ve been involved for decades, to churches and donors who have only just got involved. We’d like to thank everyone who shared their thoughts with us.

One of the most important things we wanted to hear about was values – what drives people to get involved in tackling poverty and working for a better world? People spoke of:

  • Faith and Christian values, often with a  specific reference to the example of Jesus.

  • Empathy, compassion and social justice.

  • Real anger and frustration about injustice and inequality.

  • A moral obligation to take action, often because they were aware of their own privileged position.

  • The importance of solidarity and collective action.

Often, we heard that people got involved because Church Action on Poverty’s values align closely with those of their church or project. We know that those shared values are the most powerful motivator to bring us together and challenge injustice.

In our conversations, we explored that idea in more depth – learning about where our work overlaps with other movements seeking peace and justice, and hearing about what makes people feel connected to those wider movements:

  • Signing or sharing petitions.
  • Meeting with other people in person.
  • Being inspired by stories of what other people are doing.
  • Praying with other people.
  • Being part of online communities.

We also heard about people’s churches. We learned that many supporters hold leadership positions in churches, but only a small proportion of churches are actively engaged with Church Action on Poverty – there’s a big opportunity to for us to do more in partnership with local churches. We also found that most of our supporters are in ‘mainline’ traditional churches. Could we find ways to better serve other churches too, for example independent evangelical churches and Black majority churches?

Now we hope we can build on what we’ve learned and the shared values we’ve identified, to work even more effectively in partnership with all of our valued supporters and allies.

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

An evening photo of the House of Commons, from across the Thames

The Government's own statistics show that disabled people are already three times as likely to be living in food insecurity

Church Action on Poverty briefing

9 April 2025

Newly published Government data has shown the severe scale of poverty and food insecurity in the UK, and shows once again how disastrous it would be to further cut support for disabled people, as the Government proposes to do.

The newest release of the Family Resources Survey shows that one in ten UK households was living in food insecurity in 2023/24.

That equates to around 2.8 million households where people do not have consistent access to the good food they need – an increase of 600,000 in four years.

The picture is even more shocking for groups already hit hardest by Britain’s neglected housing and social security systems. The data shows that:

  • In households where there are no disabled adults, food insecurity is 6%, but in households where there is one or more disabled adults it soars to 16%.
  • Among homeowners (with or without a mortgage), food insecurity is only 3%, but in the private rented sector it is 17%, and in the social rented sector it is 31%.

The data covers the year 2023/24, so reflects the position when the current Government took office.

An evening photo of the House of Commons, from across the Thames

Food insecurity: background and context

The fact that this data is even measured is thanks to the tenacious efforts of food justice campaigners, including through the End Hunger UK campaign.

In 2020/21, the Government added a series of food-based questions to the annual Family Resources Survey, allowing the scale of the issue to be shown clearly for the first time.

The first data release, covering 2019/20, showed that 8% of households were in food insecurity. That number reduced in the subsequent two years, at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, but has since increased sharply as vital lifelines have been withdrawn.

Church Action on Poverty comment

“Millions of families in the UK worry about whether they will have enough food, and whether they can afford a nutritious and varied diet. It is a shameful indictment on successive Governments that such poverty is continuing in such a wealthy country.

“The direction of travel should be obvious to politicians: As a starting point, we need to repair our shared social security system so that everyone has enough to live on.

“There should be no cuts to social security, which is already woefully inadequate. It is immoral for the Government to raid the country’s poorest households, just so it can stick to its self-imposed financial tactics. Disabled activists like Mary, Stef and Sydnie say the impact of yet more cuts to disability support would be devastating and terrifying

In recent years, the cost of living scandal has swept more and more people into poverty, very few people’s wages have kept pace with inflation and housing has remained prohibitively unaffordable for most people.

“Against that context, Westminster politicians have been steadily dismantling Britain’s cherished social security system instead of bolstering it. This data shows that an extra 600,000 households have been made food insecure in the past four years. 

“The Government response must be to reverse those damaging trends, not to accelerate them. Repeated polls show that the public are unhappy about levels of poverty and inequality in Britain, and want action. 

“Ending poverty needs to be a national priority. Instead this Government is singling out disabled people for swingeing cuts, while allowing far richer people to bear little or no burden.”

Food insecurity: links and data

Say no to the immoral cuts

Church Action on Poverty is supporting the widespread national calls to oppose the immoral cuts to disability support.

The threatened cuts to Britain’s shared social security system are immoral, deeply harmful to some of the country’s poorest people, and are based on misleading spin.

Disabled activists Stef, Mary and Sydnie, who work with and advise Church Action on Poverty, say the further dismantling of crucial welfare support threatens to impoverish them, and flies in the face of Government promises and thorough evidence. Read more of their story and ask your MP to help oppose the cuts here.

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Legacies: invest in a future without poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future