We’ve cherished being part of the Let’s End Poverty campaign, with 70+ grassroots groups, churches & charities, and thousands of individuals united behind a vision for a UK where poverty can’t keep anyone down.

As part of that campaign, we’ve loved seeing Stephen and Yo’s Dreams and Realities art project touring all across England. Their portrait project told stories of 10 people from Sheffield, showing their realities and also the dreams they would pursue if freed from poverty’s grip.

We loved working with the Big Issue, Trussell and others on the Dear PM project. 15 people with first-hand experience of UK poverty wrote to Sir Keir Starmer. There was brilliant coverage in the news and at PMQs the next day, the PM said: “The letters are honest, powerful and important and I think they hold up a mirror to our country.”

The Your Local Pantry network grew to 129 neighbourhoods, including new partnerships with Barnardos, the Salvation Army and others. Our Places Of Hope report celebrated Pantries’ amazing work to bring communities together to make people-powered change possible.

Pantries provide wide-ranging support, but also access to positive opportunities. This year, 10 Pantries ran art projects. Members created portraits, pottery, murals and more.

In March, Stef (our expert adviser on disability and poverty) spoke up on Budget day in Christian media and on many BBC local radio stations. It was an outrageous and counter-productive Budget that further marginalised people on low incomes.

Stef is part of the Speaking Truth To Power project we support. In November, Stef, Penny, Steve, Tracy and Wayne spoke at a conference at LSE. The group talked about how to meaningfully work with people with experience of poverty, and how to avoid tokenism.

Then this month, Stef, Mary, Wayne & Sydnie from STTP met Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability, to talk about how the Government will meaningfully engage people with direct experience of poverty in its review of systems such as the Work Capability Assessment, and to discuss the way Government views and talks about people whose illness or disability means they are unable to work.

In the summer, we took our annual trip to Greenbelt festival in Kettering. We showcased the Dreams and Realities portraits and met many inspiring activists and campaigners, who like us believe in continuing to make the UK an increasingly just, compassionate country, free from poverty.

Between all that, we’ve been delighted to see many other local projects growing and thriving. We were part of a group working pre-pandemic to get York Poverty Truth Commission going, and were delighted to hear of its success this year. Some commissioners spoke at the Dignity For All conference we organised in June, and it was awesome to hear their stories of local change.

Also in York, we worked with Lived Insights and local media outlet YorkMix on the Unheard York project, telling powerful stories with five people who have experience of complex interconnected social issues. Charlotte, Anne, John, Dave and Tammy spoke about homelessness, mental health support, gruelling social security systems and more. Read their stories: