Achieving social security in insecure communities: transformative public policy and organizational capacity building

Impact: Public policy, law and services, Health and welfare, Public discourseand understanding, Pedagogic/curricula (beyond Northumbria)

Description of impact

Dr Matthew Johnson’s innovative participatory action research (PAR) has achieved significant impact internationally in the UK, Australia, Ireland and Iceland. He has achieved impact through transformative public and organizational policy to protect individuals from insecurity associated with neoliberal reform. There are three main sites of impact:

Transformative public policy: by having the UK Labour Party commit to introduce Universal Basic Income (UBI), which constitutes the single biggest change in Social Security Policy since 1945, and Welsh Labour introducing a trial of basic income for care leavers

Increased community capacity building: by changing the ways that communities in England, Australia, Ireland and Iceland deal with insecurity through new organizational policy

Transformative Widening Participation (WP) outreach practice in Higher Education (HE): by introducing a WP programme in England that promotes participation in HE by explaining disadvantage in terms of social and cultural capital

Beneficiaries: Labour Party policy makers, community organizations, NGOs and charities, medical professionals, school students, teachers, and the general public
Category of impactPublic policy, law and services, Health and welfare, Public discourseand understanding, Pedagogic/curricula (beyond Northumbria)

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