Future of Social Security Grouping
The purpose of the Future of Social Security (FSS) grouping is:
- to provide a forum for heads/senior leaders of key organisations and Experts by Experience, to consider shared positions on the future of social security.
The FSS is:
- strategic and proactive (the already existing Social Security Consortium enables information sharing among policy officers and joint responses to calls from government);
- underpinned by a theory of change that says one way change happens is when lots of different people start saying the same thing;
- based on consensus building being central;
- developing outcomes that accord with a definition of being no-one’s ideal but with which everyone can live; and,
- its functioning is determined entirely by those who participate.
Initiatives to date have included:
- shared asks for the 2017 Budget;
- a draft set of principles to underpin social security;
- shared asks for the 2018 Budget;
- shared calls to lift the benefits freeze, 2019
The development of the FSS:
- has been organic, growing out of conversations about whether there is potential for consensus on ways forward around social security and merit in developing shared proposals;
- it is currently supported by Lloyds Bank Foundation and Trust for London, enabling the involvement of Experts by Experience and coordination/facilitation by Michael Orton of Warwick University (michael dot orton at warwick dot ac dot uk).
