Brill, L., B. Athwal, et al. (2011). Recession, poverty and sustainable livelihoods in Bradford. York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Based on an eight-month qualitative study of the impact of the recession on people living in poverty in Bradford, this research policy report suggests that Bradford has been hit particularly hard by the recession and identifies policy changes that could help to make the community more resilient. The research team worked in partnership with community researchers who had local contacts and direct experience of poverty, carrying out 39 interviews with people living on low incomes in four disadvantaged neighbourhoods, 14 interviews with policy-makers and service providers, and participatory research to verify initial findings and to identify potential policy changes. The report identified ill health (particularly mental health), the experience of trauma, inadequate incomes, widespread crime and anti-social behaviour as barriers for local residents to moving out of poverty, which were compounded by the experience of recession (associated with job losses and cuts and rising food and fuel costs). The report highlights the importance of an integrated and holistic approach to social policy and warns of the dangers of reforms proposed by the current UK government that could trap people in situations of 'in-work poverty'.