Our work

On this page:

• Research, policy and campaigns
• Education and working with young people
• Welfare rights
• Strategic litigation

Research, policy and campaigns

We carry out research into the causes of and solutions to child poverty in the UK and campaign to end it. Our specific areas of work are:

• Early Warning System - we collect experiences from across the UK about how social security affects families and children, so that we can build evidence to push for change.
• research projects - we carry out specific research projects about poverty in the UK so we know our work is evidence-based.
• policy campaigning - we push for change at the highest levels of government to make sure that children and families are heard. This includes working with parents who are part of the Changing Realities project.  
• we publish a journal, Poverty, and policy-focused books about poverty in the UK.

Policy and research pages

News, blogs, briefings and reports

Education and working with young people

We carry out education research and analysis to inform and influence local, regional and national education policy across Britain. We work closely with schools and local authorities to produce resources and training to support them to make practical changes. We work with young people to make sure their voices are heard within education and policy-making.

Our specific areas of work are:

• Cost of the School Day - working with schools on ways to keep costs down and reduce the impacts of poverty on children and young people during the school day.
• Youth voice and Voice Network - networks and groups for young people to get involved in campaigning and putting practical solutions in place to support children and young people on low incomes in their school communities.
• Research, reports and briefings.

Education pages

Welfare rights

Handbooks, publications and information

We publish the Welfare Benefits Handbook, which is regarded as a necessity in welfare advice teams around the UK. We also produce a number of other books and publications, including the Welfare Rights Bulletin for advisers and frontline staff. We also publish extensive information online about welfare rights and related topics.

Support and advice for advisers

We provide support and advice to advisers through our adviceline, our universal credit advice service, our First Tier Tribunal support project and our judicial review project. In Scotland, targeted projects support advisers and frontline staff working with particular groups of people or those in particular situations.

Training and eLearning for advisers

We deliver comprehensive training and eLearning to support adviser to develop their welfare rights skills throughout their career.

Welfare rights pages for advisers

Strategic litigation

We bring test cases to establish legal precedents in social security law. We use evidence from our Early Warning System and other welfare rights and policy work to see where we can make a difference and we take on cases which will have a positive impact for a group of people who are disadvantaged by current decision-making.

Test case pages

Our impact

CPAG is exceptionally well-regarded in the poverty sector. Find out more about our impact.