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Ceri Hughes

@ceridwenhughes.bsky.social

850 followers 420 following 12 posts

Research Fellow at the Work and Equalities Institute, University of Manchester. Visiting Fellow at CASE, LSE. Researching experiences of insecure work, activation & the negotiation of work-related conditionality

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Ceri Hughes @ceridwenhughes.bsky.social · Oct 24

Delighted to see this article published open access. It draws on qualitative interviews with people subject to work-related conditionality to explore whether conditionality is experienced as a set of standardised time demands doi.org/10.1017/S004...

Paper title: "Re-examining 'personalised conditionality': full-time obligations, partial adjustments and power asymmetries in the UK's approach to work-related conditionality"

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Emiliano Mellino @mellino.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 Our new investigation out today reveals how thousands of people who've taken their bosses to employment tribunals & won, never got paid, even after they approached the government for help.

This has serious implications for the Employment rights bill.
www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

Thousands of rogue bosses get away with not paying tribunal awards

The government scheme ‘enforcing’ money owed to workers has been unsuccessful in a staggering three-quarters of cases

www.thebureauinvestigates.com

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Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · Sep 5

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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Kat Smith @profkatsmith.bsky.social · Aug 20

New paper with @lisagarnham.bsky.social @profellenstu.bsky.social & @clemmiehilloconnor.bsky.social finds housing 3Cs (context, cost, condition) are recognised by researchers, policymakers & publics but only lived experience accounts centre a 4th C—control: journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jc...

Housing as a social determinant of health: System perspectives from lived experience, policy and evidence | Journal of Critical Public Health

journalhosting.ucalgary.ca

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Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · Jul 22

Millions of workers experience the problems associated with insecure work.

This includes 1.1 million workers on low pay.

Read more: buff.ly/0OSArrI

Chart showing number of workers with designated characteristic: UK, 2024
There are 1.1 million workers on a zero-hours contract, but in total (in a separate dataset) 1.8 million workers said they sometimes experience short-notice shift cancellations, and 2.4 million reported feeling ‘very anxious’ about unexpected changes to their hours

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Jul 9

‘Austerity is a choice. The protection of the family at the expense of other ways of living is a choice. The transfer of public wealth to private wealth is a choice.

Is abundance possible for all? Melinda Cooper thinks it is.’

Katrina Forrester reviews her new book: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Katrina Forrester · ‘I appreciate depreciation’: Dynastic Capitalism

Austerity is a choice. The protection of the family at the expense of other ways of living is a choice. The transfer of...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Ilona Pinter 🧡 @ilonapin.bsky.social · Jul 6

Yes lack of awareness & effective scrutiny. At the end of 2024, 3.67m people had valid leave to remain or a visa which usually comes with no recourse to public funds conditions. That means a blanket ban on most income based benefits like UC, CB & no access to the equal opportunities PIP & DLA offer.

Chris Boyd @paperghost.bsky.social · Jul 6

the article doesn't mention that people who aren't settled can't claim public funds, and kemi will never do this unless someone actually presses her on it. yet another tired example of "i will implement this thing we already do"

Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · Jul 6

Quite apart from the obvious xenophobia and cruelty, you'd have thought that this lot would have learnt from Windrush what requiring vulnerable people to provide evidence of citizenship leads to. But perhaps they just don't care.

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Dr Katy Jones @katyjones.bsky.social · Jul 1

Very excited for the Social Policy Association annual conference, starting tomorrow! We'll be presenting some early findings from our @nuffieldfoundation.org project on Universal Credit, Good Work and Progression #York2025

SPA Employment policy group @spaemploysocsec.bsky.social · Jun 24

16:00-17:30 Wednesday, 2 July, 2025, SLB/005
Symposium: Inclusive work and welfare: Examining welfare and work interactions and dimensions of job quality (including Levana Magnus, Anne Daguerre, Clara Mascaro, Ashwin Kumar, Katy Jones, Paul Sissons, Vanessa Fuertes)

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Prof Ruth Patrick @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social · Jul 4

Last day at @easp-spa-2025.bsky.social & hearing from @annieirvine.bsky.social & Cindy Leung on what’s wrong with the Work Capability Assessment

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SPA Employment policy group @spaemploysocsec.bsky.social · Jun 12

Hi 👋 we're moved over from X. This is the bluesky account for the @socialpolicyuk.bsky.social policy group for Employment (and Social Security). social-policy.org.uk/news/spa-pol...

SPA Policy Groups - Social Policy Association

The SPA exists to advance the teaching, research, and dissemination of knowledge in the field of social policy, and to represent the interests of our [...]

social-policy.org.uk

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Ruth Curtice @ruthcurtice.bsky.social · Jun 11

Big day in Westminster today. But big implications for the whole country. A "zero-based" spending review means the government has been through all public spending and decided its priorities line by line. Follow for analysis through the day.

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Institute for Employment Studies @employmentstudies.bsky.social · Jun 10

Our Labour Market Stats briefing blog has just been published. The unemployment rate is at the highest level in nearly four years, and combined figures indicate that employers have adjusted to rising costs by reducing workforce size and future workforce planning. Read: bit.ly/3ZoshF2

"Overall, the combined figures suggest a cooling labour market in the UK, where employers are clearly hesitant to invest in workforce expansion. Although the data may partially reflect broader global uncertainty, it is evident from today’s statistics that employers are struggling with rising costs, which raises immediate wider policy concerns."

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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · Jun 10

Taking ten months shared parental leave was one of the best things I've ever done.

Sadly it's only big corporates that will pay for leave, as a way of retaining professional workers. I've got so many sad DMs from dads in low paid jobs who couldn't make the money work.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Give new dads six weeks off work at nearly full pay, MPs say

A report says dads should be paid 80% of earnings and allowed six weeks off work when they have a child.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Ceri Hughes @ceridwenhughes.bsky.social · Jun 5

Hi Annie. Have shared- and I look forward to hearing more about the project

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Annie Irvine @annieirvine.bsky.social · Jun 4

Are you a post-doctoral researcher with strong qualitative skills, a critical mind and a love for digging into the complexities of how people navigate work and health? Check out our vacancy at the Uni of York School for Business and Society: jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/rese... @uoysbs.bsky.social

Jobs - The University of York

jobs.york.ac.uk

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Prof Deirdre McCann @profmccann.bsky.social · May 30

Good to see HMRC targeting time-drainage mechanisms in enforcing the minimum wage. 31% of this year's named employers failed to pay workers correctly for their working time. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

BA and Pizza Express among companies that failed to pay minimum wage

More than 60,000 workers have received back pay worth £7.4m from 518 employers after HMRC investigations

www.theguardian.com

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · May 29

👇Government policy on employment is essentially operating in three different universes.

1) Universe one: higher minimum wage, day one SSP, essentially a bunch of disincentives to hire people with gaps in the CV
2) the active reform agenda of the DWP
3) random cuts fed into the OBR’s maw

Tom Pollard @pollardtom.bsky.social · May 29

This shift in Jobcentre culture & priorities would be very welcome, but the positive agenda set out in last year's DWP White Paper is going to be so much harder to realise in the context of the benefit cuts & increased conditionality announced since then www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Jobcentres will no longer force people into ‘any job’ available, minister says

Alison McGovern promises long-term career support in wake of Labour’s significant cuts to disability benefits

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Hayley Bennett @haylesben.bsky.social · May 26

It's that time of year where social policy grads and postgrads might be looking for jobs etc. Here's a list of job adverts and sites to share with your students, doctoral researchers, colleagues, or perhaps for yourselves if you're looking for a move ;)

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · May 14

Starmer’s “remarks are disgraceful. They are damaging in part because they validate the rhetoric and dishonesty of both Reform and the Conservatives. But, incredibly, they are also seriously damaging for the Labour govt itself”

V good, clear-sighted analysis
mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/05/star...

Starmer’s Disgraceful and Damaging Remarks

I’m on holiday, and wasn’t going to write a blog post this week. But after a splendid day out on the Northumbrian coast I made the mistake...

mainlymacro.blogspot.com

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Work Foundation @workfoundation.bsky.social · May 13

"Two-thirds of workers (66.8%) have been employed in zero-hour contracts for more than a year and would be eligible to get guaranteed hours if they wish." (7/7)

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · May 13

Fantastic column by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com on the consequences of the UK's experiment with changing the minimum wage:

The minimum wage is now coming for white-collar work

It’s not destroying jobs but it is catching up with the lower rungs of graduate roles

www.ft.com

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Ceri Hughes @ceridwenhughes.bsky.social · May 12

Was just coming on to say this- great fine grained analysis of changes in claimant count but need to be clear it isn’t a straightforward proxy for unemployment. You can work up to 18hrs whilst claiming universal credit & still be in this count researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CB...

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Work Rights Centre @workrights.bsky.social · Apr 30

Our 4th Legal hub training session has arrived!

Join our Head of Employment Dr Sarmila Bose to find out how Employment Tribunals work, what a good case looks like, and the additional challenges visa sponsorship creates.

🎟️Tickets are free for small charities

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-fight-...?

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CASSPPR @cassppr.bsky.social · May 7

The list of speakers is now available online!

Book now and join leading Social Policy scholars from across the UK discussing key policy areas under the broader theme "One year of Labour Government and its impact on Social Policy". Follow the link for info.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/social-pol...

Social Policy and Society Annual Event

Social Policy and Society is an international academic journal by the UK Social Policy Association (SPA) - Join us for our annual event

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · May 2

4. We now have the lowest % of people in FE & adult education since WW2. Yes, you read that right, WW2! The net result of policy chop & change, 26% fall in employer skills investment, and £1bn cut in public investment since 2010. Terrible for growth, opportunity & much more.

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Ceri Hughes @ceridwenhughes.bsky.social · Apr 17

Hey, thanks for sharing my paper. I hope something great comes up for L