Dear PRAN MEMBERS
As the nights draw in and winter approaches, the pressures facing households on low incomes are sharper than ever, and this month’s newsletter reflects that. We open Season 2 of our podcast with a conversation on the rapid rise of baby banks and what their growth tells us about child poverty in the UK today. Our latest blog looks at fuel poverty, with seven practical steps to keep homes warm this winter.
Throughout November, we’re shining a spotlight on early career voices. Following our Oxford forum in May, we’re sharing insights from three speakers on social justice infrastructure, access to welfare rights, and centring young people’s voices. You’ll also find details of the UK Data Service’s Data Impact Fellowship (applications close 30 November) and new research from JRF’s Insight Infrastructure Team on people’s experiences of the housing market.
Monthly News
PODCAST: Baby Banks
Ten years ago, baby banks barely existed. Today, more than 400 operate across the UK, supporting 400,000 children last year - 46 every hour. In Season 2's opener, Natalija Atas speaks with Sophie Livingstone, Emilie De Bruijn and Caroline Hewitt about the rising demand and what it reveals about child poverty today. To listen to our latest podcast, click here.
BLOG: Out in the Cold: 7 Ways to End UK Fuel Poverty
Photo Credit: Independent Age/Leanne Benson
Around 12.1 million UK households live in fuel poverty, worsened by geopolitical gas price shocks, record energy debt and soaring energy-company profits. Before the Budget, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition urged debt write-offs, a bigger Warm Home Discount, extreme weather payments, social tariffs, cheaper electricity and retaining the windfall tax. To read this blog, click here.
Early Career Forum Month
In May this year, the Poverty Research and Advocacy Network hosted Forging Connections: An Early Career Forum on Poverty and Social Justice in Oxford, bringing together 30 early career researchers, practitioners, and advocates from across academia, civil society, public services, and activism. The event highlighted the value of creating spaces for people working across different sectors to share their experiences, exchange ideas, and learn from one another. Building on these conversations, this special blog series brings together insights from some of the excellent presentations delivered throughout the day. By sharing perspectives from across research, policy, and practice, we hope to bring attention to ideas and experiences that might otherwise go unheard, encourage dialogue across sectors, and continue the connections sparked at the forum. In November, we will hear three of our speakers. Angela Barca draws on her experience at the Women's Budget Group to explore the importance of building infrastructure for social justice; Alicja Zon reflects on the gap between legal welfare rights and people's experiences of accessing them; and Reecon Bains, from Newcastle City Council, discusses the importance of centring young people's voices.
UK Data Service Early Career Research Opportunity
📢 £3,500 award for early career researchers and analysts- Data Impact Fellow applications now open
Are you a researcher or analyst early in your career? Do you want to increase the visibility, influence and impact of your work?
The UK Data Service is the UK's largest collection of social, economic and population data. Our data is used by researchers, policymakers, charities, voluntary organisations and others to better understand society and inform decision-making.
If you use data from our collection in your research or analysis, we'd love you to apply for our Data Impact Fellows scheme.
The scheme offers:
A £3,500 award to support activities that increase the impact of your work
Dedicated support, training and one-to-one guidance from the UK Data Service
Opportunities to build skills in engagement, communication and knowledge mobilisation
Opportunities to showcase your work to wider audiences and raise your profile
A chance to join a community of Fellows and connect with researchers, practitioners and policymakers
If you're not eligible yourself but know someone who might be interested, please do share this with them.
Applications close at 23:59 on 30 November 2026.
Find out more and apply online.
Update from JRFs Insight Infrastructure Team
Last week, JRFs Insight Infrastructure Team, in partnership with Demos and CASM Technology, published the latest wave of our social media listening research, focusing on housing. Drawing on thousands of online conversations, the report explores the experiences of private renters, social housing tenants, people living in insecure accommodation, and others navigating an increasingly challenging housing market. It offers a real-time perspective on how housing insecurity intersects with poverty and financial hardship in people's everyday lives.
This housing report is part of a wider programme of research that has been running for the past three years. Working with Demos and CASM Technology, we have used social media listening to better understand how people talk about and experience poverty in their own words, on their own terms. By analysing public online conversations, the project provides a unique window into the issues people themselves identify as important, revealing both the complexity of poverty and the interconnected nature of challenges such as housing, disability, employment, health and social care.
Across nine published reports, we have tracked changing experiences of hardship over time, exploring everything from seasonal pressures and major economic events to the long-term effects of policy decisions. One wave examined public responses to 14 years of policy reforms, while others have taken deep dives into topics including employment, social care and disability.
You can find the full report here: JRF-Wave-2_Nowhere-to-move_2026.pdf. If you would like to find out more about our Insight & Infrastructure team, or this project in particular, please get in touch with aleks.collingwood@jrf.org.uk,
We always love hearing from our members. If you have news, research, events or opportunities you’d like to share with the network, drop us a line at info@pran.org.uk and we’ll look to include it in a future newsletter .
In solidarity,
PRAN Team
