The Poverty Truth Movement: Fostering Communities of Care and Solidarity, a Participative Action Research Project

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In 2018, Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, visitedthe UK on a fact-finding operation to establish the impact of a decade of austerity cuts to theBritish welfare state. Drawing on interview data, testimonies and reports from charitable andthird sector organisations, and both qualitative and quantitative social scientific data, Alstonreported that one fifth of the UK population (14 million people) were living in poverty, with 1.5million British citizens currently experiencing destitution. According to the Institute and Faculty ofActuaries (2019), life expectancy has fallen by six months for the first time since official longevityreports began. The Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated poverty in the UK, with severeeconomic impacts, and higher death rates concentrated in those regions and communities alreadymost impacted by austerity cuts. For example, data from the British Medical Journal reveals thatpeople from poor neighbourhoods are twice as likely to die from the virus (BMJ, 2020).