Trussell Trust campaign to reverse the biggest overnight cut to social security since the Second World War.

On 6 October, the UK Government took £20 a week from the pockets of six million low-income families, cutting their incomes by up to a fifth as the cost of living is set to soar. This was the biggest overnight cut to social welfare since World War II and could see 1.2m people across the UK having to skip meals just to get by. Food banks will continue doing all they can to help people struggling to afford the essentials, but no charity can replace the dignity of having enough money to buy your own food.

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It’s all about people: visit Neil Thompson’s humansolutions website

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Spotlight – The Spirituality and Religion Practice Manual

Spirituality, whether or not rooted in religion, is a core feature of what it means to be human. In this important practice manual, two very experienced writers and educators explain  why spirituality and religion should be a fundamental consideration for the people professions, broadly defined – that is, professions based on helping people tackle their problems and fulfil their potential.

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How to Do Social Work: A basic guide from one of social work’s leading authors

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Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Don’t allow other people’s pressures to distort your priorities

It is important not to feel under pressure to dance to someone else’s tune. For example, something seen as urgent by someone else does not necessarily mean you have to change your own priorities to accommodate it. This does not mean that we should not help people who need something doing urgently, but it does mean that the fact that something is urgent for somebody else should not be allowed to distort your own priorities. Sadly I have come across many situations where Person A has something urgent (but not especially important) that they want Person B to do and, when Person B does it, the result is that something much more important from Person B’s own to do list does not get done – often with more serious consequences than if Person A’s task had not been done. By all means take requests for urgent help seriously, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that you have to oblige if that means you are creating potentially worse problems than you are solving.

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The Authentic Leader A new approach to leadership in Neil’s important book.

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3 Best practices for accurate and inclusive visuals around workplace mental health communications

With 2022 now well under way, employers and people teams—90% of them at that—are expanding their efforts to support the mental health of employees. Simultaneously at the individual level, Google’s Year in Search data for 2021 showed searches for mental health are similarly at an all-time high.

With growing efforts come a growing number of articles, guides, and imagery of mental health, and it’s critical that employers and media alike make intentional choices when selecting visuals. An abundance of research shows that these choices will tangibly shape the way in which we come to understand mental health, others experiencing mental health challenges, and if, when, and what kinds of support people seek.

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LinkedIn: Connect online & join Neil Thompson’s HUMANSOLUTIONS discussion group

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Plan to change social housing rules to help domestic abuse victims

Domestic abuse survivors will find it easier to move away from perpetrators under proposals announced by ministers. The plans, which are being put out to consultation, would see the so-called local connection test scrapped. The test can stop victims from applying for social housing if they do not have a connection to a local area, potentially forcing an abuse survivor to live in the same community as their abuser.

A second consultation will consider whether and how to change current rules that make it difficult for victims to remove their perpetrators from joint tenancies, which can mean victims either feel forced to stay in their home or are at risk of being made homeless by their abuser.

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A fresh look at social work theory and methods

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UK Poverty 2022: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK

What is the picture of poverty at the start of 2022, coming up to two years after a global pandemic struck? To an extent the picture is unclear: we don’t yet have official poverty data covering the pandemic period, and we know that the quality of the very surveys we rely on for this information were affected by the onset of the pandemic.

But many sources make it clear that while some groups have been well supported and face better prospects as we enter 2022, others face deep and persistent poverty. In a way this is much better than might be expected given the economic and social shock the country has been through. We know poverty at any stage in life can lead to negative impacts and so it is critical to scrutinise the data thoroughly to work out who is worst affected, determine how trends are changing over time and see what future prospects are.

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A practical guide to supervision of students & other forms of workplace learning

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Spotlight – The Social Worker’s Practice Manual

The ideal practice guide for every social worker and social work student. Based on Neil Thompson’s extensive experience of bringing theory to life in a practice context, this invaluable manual is an essential guide for all practitioners, from student on placement through newly qualified worker to old hand.

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Effective Teamwork: The importance of working together

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Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Get the information you need

Over the years I have come across many decisions that have proven after the event to have been unwise of misguided. There is no single reason for this, but a common theme has been people making decisions without having the information they need. Often what happens is that there is pressure to make a decision quickly and this can lead people into moving forward with their plans too soon because key elements of information were not available at the time the decision was made. So, in making any decision we have to be clear about which is wiser: deciding now without that information and risking getting it wrong, or take the time to find out – thereby making a much sounder decision – but risking causing problems associated with the delay involved. Unless there are reasons why we need to make the decision very soon, it is generally wiser to get the information we need before deciding on our course of action.

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Learn with Neil Thompson: Sign up to Neil’s YouTube channel

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