Matt Padley

Delivering Localism: The Critical Role of Trust and Collaboration

Debate regarding the relationship between individual and state has been prominent throughout the current UK governments term in office and localism has come to occupy a central role in current policy. This article argues that attempts to deliver this localist vision should focus on the critical role of social trust and that this is best developed through collaboration. The actions identified as necessary for delivering decentralisation are considered alongside a review of the view of localism articulated in Coalition policy. The article then explores collaboration and co-production as a means of strengthening social networks and delivering the promises of localism.

A Dignified Standard of Living in Mexico: Results of a Pilot Study of the Minimum Income Standard Approach

This paper explores the ways in which consensually-defined, socially-constructed living standards could be helpful in providing new ways of understanding living standards in Mexico. A pilot study formulating a “Minimum Income Standard”, carried out in the country in 2016, asked members of Mexican society what they consider to be necessary to achieve a dignified standard of living in urban Mexico today. Participants discussed the meaning of a dignified standard of living and translated such definition into concrete items in a hypothetical living room and in leisure time. Our study reveals that social participation, security, and employment are seen as important elements to live a dignified standard of living, which permeate the rationale for identifying the goods and services seen as needed to achieve a dignified living standard. The definition of a dignified standard of living could usefully inform and contribute to the ongoing debate on wage adequacy in the country.

What the Minimum Income Standard Tells us About Living Standards in the United Kingdom

Abstract The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) research gives an insight into living standards in the United Kingdom, and provides a way of tracking the adequacy of incomes over time. As such it offers useful context for discussions of inequality. At the core of the research are deliberative groups held with members of the public who identify and discuss the goods and services that are considered necessary for a living standard that provides a socially acceptable minimum. Groups decide not only what is enough to maintain health and well-being, but also what is needed for social inclusion. This chapter begins with an outline of MIS before exploring what the qualitative data from the research tell us about how people conceptualise socially acceptable living standards. These data also reveal how particular items, opportunities and choices are considered important in enabling individuals to feel socially included and how that has changed over time. The chapter then looks at how this living standard relates to UK household incomes and at the adequacy of income relative to MIS, in the years following the recession. We identify the groups at greatest risk of having inadequate incomes and explore how this risk has changed during a period in which there has been a sustained decline in living standards. In combining qualitative and quantitative findings from a decade of research, this chapter provides rich insight into living standards and their relation to income within the United Kingdom.