Campaigning and calling for change

As well as working alongside people experiencing poverty, homelessness and disadvantage to help them transform their lives with dignity, we call for lasting and meaningful change to the systems, policies and attitudes affecting those in need. 

Our campaigns are shaped by the voices of those who use our services, and we advocate for change across four key areas: poverty and disadvantage, children and young people, housing security and homelessness, and welcoming migrants and refugees.  

Thanks to your kind donations and support, we’ve been able to make great progress in our campaigning and advocacy work over the last year. 

We’ve raised awareness of a whole range of issues and called for the changes needed to help people transform their lives with dignity.  

Here, Annabeth from our team tells us more…

How we have been campaigning for change 

• We published a research report highlighting the staggering increase in child poverty and mental health needs in schools. The report was accessed on our website by tens of thousands of people and shared far and wide, including through media coverage and by national organisations we engage with.
• We’ve met with local MPs to discuss child poverty and asked them to advocate on behalf of local children and families experiencing poverty and hardship. 
• We have secured letters from MPs to Government Ministers, sharing the findings of our research and our recommendations for change, including an end to the two-child benefit limit. 
• MPs also submitted written questions to Parliament on our behalf ahead of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, helping keep child poverty on national agenda. 
• We’ve held productive meetings with local councillors and staff at local authorities, GM Combined Authority and the NHS to discuss our child poverty work. 
• We have contributed to round-table discussions about child poverty, including in the House of Lords where our director, Patrick O’Dowd, shared insights from our work.  
• We surveyed people accessing our services who are rough sleeping to find out more about their experiences and the changes that would help them transform their lives, and shared these with MPs local to our homelessness services. Hearing from people with lived experience helps to inform our calls for change. 
• A local MP shared about our homelessness services at a debate in Parliament, highlighting the increased demand for our services and the need for sustainable funding for services like ours. 
• We hosted a visit from the then Minister for Faith, Communities and Resettlement, Lord Khan of Burnley at our Cornerstone day centre, showcasing our welcome for people of all backgrounds and calling for better provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). 
• We’ve contributed to a number of Government consultations on topics including housing and homelessness, child poverty and fuel poverty. Through this work, we’ve influenced national policy and legislation, advocating for it to uphold the dignity of every person. 
• We have raised awareness of the valuable contributions refugees and migrants make to this country, while calling for policies that enable them to thrive and feel a true sense of belonging in their communities.  
• We’ve provided information to the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales, helping to highlight at a national level the changes needed for local people. 

Celebrating the wins 

The successful changes in policy we’ve seen over the last year will help improve the lives of many people we work with. 

We’re delighted that the two-child benefit limit will be lifted in full from April this year.

This has been one of our key campaigning priorities as it is a significant driver of child poverty. This change will make a huge difference to thousands of children across Greater Manchester and Lancashire, meaning they no longer have to grow up in poverty. 

The Government also announced last year that, from September, they are expanding free school meals to all children living in households claiming Universal Credit.

This will provide more than half a million more children in England with a warm, nutritious meal at lunchtimes, improving wellbeing and supporting learning. 

In our research report, we called for the Government to place a duty on local authorities to notify schools when a family is placed in temporary accommodation, in order to help prevent families falling through gaps in support. We’re pleased that the Government introduced this change in their recently published Child Poverty Strategy. 

Another positive change has been the reduction of debt deductions from Universal Credit, which is now limited to 15 per cent of the standard allowance. This is important in helping to ensure that debt repayments don’t take away too much of the income people need to cover essential costs. 

The Renters’ Rights Act was passed, which will provide greater protections for renters, including an end to ‘no fault’ evictions that have made thousands of people homeless. 

What’s next? 

We know that no single policy change can end poverty or prevent homelessness for all, and we will continue to campaign and call for change until every person has the chance to transform their life with dignity.  

This year, we’ll continue to engage with policymakers, including local MPs, asking for them to advocate on behalf local people who are in need of tangible system-wide change.  

We’ll introduce more opportunities for parishes and schools across the diocese to engage with campaigning, helping more people call for change in their local communities and beyond. 

We’ll also carry out further research into issues affecting people across Greater Manchester and Lancashire, which will help us to respond most effectively and call for meaningful and sustainable change, so that we can see an end to poverty, homelessness and disadvantage. 

Please consider making a donation if you are able, so that we can continue shining a spotlight on what really matters. 

Read more about our work campaigning and calling for change.