A tower block, against a blue sky

Social Policy

Making best use of social, environmental and economic resources to deliver sustainable social justice: the fair and equitable distribution of natural, social and economic resources between people, countries and generations.

nef aims to find ways of achieving sustainable social justice: a fair and equitable distribution of natural, social and economic resources between people, countries and generations.

What kind of welfare system will help deliver this? An unprecedented squeeze on public spending is threatening to demolish what’s left of the post-war welfare state.  If the ‘Big Society’ is going to be the answer to this problem, we must find ways to bring out the best in the idea and make sure it works in the best interests of those who are power and powerless.

A welfare system that is fit for the future will get three interdependent 'economies' - the resources of planet, people and markets - working together. It will give priority to preventing needs arising in the first place, make better use of human resources that are currently under-used and under-valued, and tackle the underlying causes of inequality.

The Social Policy Programme is supported by the Hadley Trust

Key facts

  1. 1
    4.4 million people in the UK live in poverty
  2. 2
    2 million people in the UK lost their jobs in 2008
  3. 3
    UK food prices rose by more than 11% in 2008

Projects

  • Oak leaves | by Fergal OP

    The Core Economy

    The market economy has always depended upon unpaid human relationships and resources: the core economy.

  • A butterfly pollinates a flower.

    Co-production

    Co-production empowers people to create the public services they use. When communities and voluntary groups work alongside service providers, the results are better for everyone.

  • Shadowy figures at Paddington railway station, London

    Income, time and carbon

    Sustainable social justice is only possible with a redistribution of income, time and carbon emissions.

  • Commuters walk across a misty Reuters Plaza in Canary Wharf

    Towards 21 hours

    Exploring the feasibility of a much shorter working week to redistribute paid and unpaid work; release time to live more sustainably and challenge the ‘work to spend’ culture that fuels economic growth and climate change.

  • Seedlings growing in pots

    Food and Social Justice

    How can we make our food system safe, equitable and sustainable in a time of oil depletion and climate change?

  • The High Line in New York, a disused railway line which is now a public park

    The Great Transition

    Finding ways to survive and thrive through financial crises, climate change and the peak and decline of global oil production.

Publications