Tag: Carnegie UK

Carnegie UK: Life in the UK didn’t improve last year

VERY LOW TRUST OF POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT IN SCOTLAND

The lives of people in the UK failed to improve in the last year, according to a new report from Carnegie UK based on their annual survey of over 7,000 people.

Published a month ahead of the autumn Budget, the policy foundation’s report shows that households are finding it a little more affordable to keep their homes warm enough than they did in 2023 or 2024.

But the study shows that economic hardship has not eased for millions, especially those living in social housing; families with three or more children; and people on low incomes.

Carnegie UK’s chief executive Sarah Davidson has called on ministers to take action to improve the lives of those left behind by successive governments.

The Life in the UK Index is designed to measure the collective wellbeing of the nation through a 26-question Ipsos survey across social, economic, environmental and democratic themes.

The headline index score – designed to measure the wellbeing of people in the country – shows no significant change between this year, last year and 2023.

Sarah Davidson, chief executive of Carnegie UK, said: “Our index shows that between May 2024 and May 2025, the average person in the UK saw no meaningful improvement in their life.

“Public services and systems are barely working for too many households, and our research shows that poorer people, larger families and people in social housing are still getting left behind.

“A month ahead of the budget, there’s an opportunity for the Chancellor to invest in closing this gap. It’s unacceptable that so many people’s wellbeing still rests on issues such as their income, housing, disability, and the place where they live.

“Our survey highlights what life is really like for people living in the UK in 2025 and it should now be the mission of government to take bolder and more joined-up action to make life better.”

Carnegie UK warns that there are large economic wellbeing gaps between different groups in society that aren’t closing. The paper states ‘while some individuals report greater financial stability and improved living conditions, others remain at risk of exclusion and hardship.’

The research shows 79% of UK adults can afford to keep their home adequately warm in 2025, up two percentage points from 2024 and six percentage points from 2023.

The report finds declining satisfaction with local job opportunities; widespread experience of problems with pollution and littering in local neighbourhoods; but a small improvement in the average person’s mental and physical health.

The research also reveals an increase in trust in the UK Government compared to the same study in 2024 but warns that most people still feel like they have no influence over the decisions that affect their lives.

For a third year, Carnegie UK’s research also shows a widespread lack of trust in politics and government with almost three quarters of UK adults (72%) reporting that they do not feel they can’t influence decisions affecting the UK.

Just over half of adults (54%) had medium or high trust in the UK Government in 2025, up nine percentage points from 2024.

Modest and unequal gains to wellbeing in Scotland

The wellbeing of the people of Scotland saw modest improvements over the past two years, according to the new report by Carnegie UK. However, the research highlights that people in social housing or living with a disability remain much more likely to face economic and social hardship than other groups in Scotland.

The Scotland breakdown of Carnegie’s Life in the UK Index for 2025 shows the wellbeing of people in Scotland improving over the last two years, with more people finding it affordable to heat their homes adequately and fewer people finding it unaffordable to go on a week’s holiday.

This change combined with other factors like improving mental health and higher satisfaction with education and skills led to an increase in overall levels of wellbeing in Scotland.

The report also finds that the wellbeing of the people of Scotland is now slightly higher than the UK average for the first time since the annual research series began in 2023.

The Dunfermline-based policy foundation says that next year’s Holyrood election is an opportunity for the country’s political parties to lay out long-term plans to tackle poverty and inequality.

Sarah Davidson, chief executive of Carnegie UK, said: “Our research shows an improvement to the collective wellbeing of people in Scotland between 2023 and 2025. That’s good news but we’re still far from a situation where everyone in Scotland has their basic needs met.

“Next year’s Holyrood elections are an opportunity for Scotland’s political parties to make real progress in closing the national wellbeing gap. Many of the greatest challenges the country faces – like working with communities to build back up deprived neighbourhoods – cannot be fixed in a year or even an electoral term.

“There’s an opportunity for the next administration to build systems and processes which join-up government action to tackle the gross inequalities and widespread poverty we all see every day. Underpinning this approach should be efforts to regularly and systematically measure the wellbeing of the people of this country.”

The Index, based on a 26-question survey of 7,106 people including 1,035 in Scotland, looks at the social, economic, environmental and democratic aspects of life in the UK. The headline index score for Scotland – designed to measure the wellbeing of people in the country – is 63 out of a possible 100. The equivalent UK figure is 62 out of a possible 100. The index has been running since 2023, and this is the first time there has been a notable difference between UK nations.

The research also continues to find very low trust in politics and government in Scotland. While Carnegie’s survey work shows a small increase in democratic wellbeing in England over the last year, no such change is seen north of the border.

About half (52%) of people in Scotland have low trust in the UK Government. This is an improvement of eight percentage points since last year, although it remains significantly higher than the UK average of 45%. By comparison, 36% of people have low trust in the Scottish Government – a figure that’s not changed significantly in the last year.

Furthermore, 34% of people now have low trust in their local council, six percentage points higher than in 2023. Younger people, disabled people and people living in deprived neighbourhoods are those least likely to feel heard by decision-makers.

Being disabled and living in a deprived neighbourhood are the two factors most strongly associated with low wellbeing in Scotland in 2025. In addition, about a third (32%) of people in Scotland are dissatisfied with job opportunities in their local area – a figure that’s not improved in the last year.

Stephen Boyd, director of IPPR Scotland, said: “This important report from Carnegie UK contains a number fascinating and revealing insights which should be of huge interest and concern to all Scotland’s politicians.

“It is encouraging that the index has seen a modest uptick in wellbeing but the findings on trust in politics and government reflect deep-seated views that politics is failing to deliver on the public’s priorities.

“The results confirming low levels of wellbeing amongst disabled people and in deprived neighbourhoods reflects the ongoing failure of both UK and Scottish governments to tackle longstanding inequalities. It is essential that manifestos for next year’s Scottish elections bring forward credible policy agendas for remedying these failures”.

Carnegie-UK-Life-in-the-UK-2025Download

Wellbeing: Boyack takes the initiative with Members’ Bill

Scottish Labour’s Sarah Boyack MSP has today lodged her final proposal for her Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Members’ Bill.

Despite ’empty promises’ for action from the SNP-led Scottish Government to legislate in this area there have been no tangible results to date.

As a result Sarah Boyack MSP has taken the initiative and pursued this issue as a Members Bill.

The lodging of the members’ bill follows an extensive consultation process which confirmed overwhelming support from stakeholders and constituents for all aspects of Ms Boyack’s Bill.

Scottish Labour’s Sarah Boyack explained: “Over 100 organisations called for this action in the run up to the 2021 elections. My Members’ Bill will end short-termism in the Scottish Government, and commit to the long-term thinking and action that has Wellbeing and Sustainable Development at its heart.

“Successive Programmes for Government have promised a bill of this nature, but as always its warm words and little action from the SNP.

“After a long and comprehensive consultation process it is clear that there is overwhelming support for action and a new Future Generations Commissioner and I encourage all members to support my bill now that it has been lodged”.

Also commenting Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK, said: “New wellbeing laws in Scotland would help to hardwire long-term thinking into our political and governmental decision-making.

“Backed by a new Future Generations Commissioner, the legal framework would help our decision-makers to look toward the horizon as well as deal with current emergencies.

“We’d urge MSPs from across the political spectrum to back these moves to help us to tackle the biggest challenges of our time.”

Democracy in Danger?

New Carnegie UK report: GDWe: A spotlight on democratic wellbeing

Carnegie UK has published a new report GDWe: A spotlight on democratic wellbeing, research and polling which shows that democratic wellbeing in England is under severe threat.

This research was conducted by YouGov polling between 12th – 13th December 2021, which coincided with a heightened focus on levels of trust in government. The results are stark:

●      2 in 5 people in England (41%) now say that democracy is not working. People see the biggest current threat to our democracy as a loss of trust (32%) followed by corruption (16%).

●      76% of the public in England don’t trust MPs, while 73% don’t trust the UK Government.

This report builds on Carnegie UK’s work on Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe) – a holistic alternative to GDP as a measure of collective wellbeing. We use data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Wellbeing Dashboard to calculate GDWe.

However this national wellbeing dataset underrepresents the importance of democratic wellbeing, with only 2 indicators out of 41 measuring this aspect of our lives. 

At Carnegie UK, when we talk about democratic wellbeing we are referring to the extent to which we all – collectively – have a voice in decisions that affect us. Wellbeing cannot be ‘done to’ people, it has to be done by and with them.

Yet, in order for people to feel positive about participating in democratic processes and decision making, it is essential to have public trust in government at all levels.

GDWe: A spotlight on democratic wellbeing found that in addition to a loss of trust there are also issues with current levels of participation in decision-making; misinformation, and misalignment with commonly held public values.

Other aspects that help make up democratic wellbeing, such as involvement in public participation and citizen engagement, are also poorly measured in the UK.

This report calls on government to invest in democratic wellbeing by increasing participatory democracy and improving transparency, as well as focusing on measures of national success in keeping with people’s priorities, rather than relying solely on economic measures.

The full report is available here and you can add to the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #GDWe

GDWe-A-spotlight-on-democratic-wellbeing-FINALDownload

Scotland’s Social Action Inquiry is looking for Guides

My name is Darryl Gaffney du Plooy, and I am one of the Co-leads for the Social Action Inquiry (Scotland). The other Co-lead is Deborah Menezes.

We are currently looking for people to help shape the direction of the inquiry. We have given these roles the name of Guides because lived experience will be crucial  for us to navigate sensibly and sensitively through the complex landscapes of Scotland’s Civil Society.

We are inviting applications from any age and all backgrounds. We have produced Easy-Read materials and are welcoming applications sent via video and audio file for people who prefer these forms of communication. 

As well as the option to submit a written application The full details on how to apply can be found at Good Moves or on our Social Action Inquiry Website.

We appreciate that our deadline (12 noon, 22nd of October) might be too short for some people but we would like to communicate that we will be looking to recruit more Guides in 2022.

I also wanted to mention that we will also soon be ready to share with you a programme of activities for us to listen, learn and build bonds with people, places, and communities in Scotland.

Our intention is for the activities to mirror our approach to the inquiry, as in, focusing on relationships, being inclusive & participatory, and orientating energy towards action.

If either or both of these developments interest you, please share and if you would like to get in touch feel free to do so. We will be delighted to hear from you.      

Best wishes

Darryl Gaffney du Plooy

Co-lead Social Action Inquiry

Darryl@socialaction.sco

Invitation for Guides of the Social Action Inquiry in Scotland 

Do you want to live in a Scotland where communities   can make positive differences to their way of life? A Scotland that values social action and helps to make it happpen?  

We invite you to be part of our Social Action Inquiry team to shape the direction of the inquiry by adding your voice and experience into the inquiry process 

What is the Social Action Inquiry? 

The Social Action Inquiry is being set up to find out more about how communities can take action that makes a difference. It will look at what helps, and what gets in the way. It’s hoped that it will help influence how Scotland rebuilds after the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Inquiry’s vision is: 

A Scotland which recognises the value of social action and its potential to enable us to overcome the challenges we face in the 21st century.  

This independent inquiry will be led by people with direct, lived experience of Scottish communities which have felt powerlessness over decisions affecting their own lives, and that this power has been exercised by others. 

It will support people to find their voices, take action, and use what they learn to help create wider change.  For more details, see our website – socialaction.scot 

To help the Inquiry we are inviting people to become Guides.   

What will a Guide do?  

To allow for the Inquiry to create a more inclusive and sustainable journey the Guides will help  shape the direction of the Inquiry.  For more details on the role please download our invitation to become a Guide file below (General or Easy-Read versions). 

Work, Hours and Pay. 

The Guides will meet once a month for one full day, online or in-person.  

The Guides will be offered £200 per day for their time.  

The panel of Guides will be reviewed every six months. This is to ensure diverse perspectives can contribute into the Inquiry.   

I would like to be a Guide. How do I do that?   

You can choose apply that in four different ways:   

  1. Write your answers on our application form (attached below).  
  2. Write a personal statement (no more than 1000 words) telling us why you would like to be a Guide.    
  3. Send us a video, no longer than 10 minutes, telling us why you would like to be a Guide. 
  4. Send us an audio file, no longer than 10 minutes, telling us why you would like to be a Guide.   

 We have chosen these four different ways because we know writing applications can be difficult for people. Guiding questions with how to design your application can be found by downloading the ‘Invitation for Guides’ file below (General or Easy-Read versions)  

When is the closing date for applications?  

Applications are open until 12 noon on the 22nd of October  

We will let people know if they are being invited to an interview by the 29th of October.  

Interviews will be arranged for the week beginning the 1st of November.    

How to submit your application.  

 A copy of the application can be downloaded below.  

 Completed written applications should be sent to hello@socialaction.scot  

Video and Audio Files should be sent by WeTransfer, or via the communication platforms Telegram or  Whatsapp to 07867 181 040.   

Please send a confirmation email to hello@socialaction.scot  informing us which platform you have used to submit your application.   

If you would like to speak to someone above being a guide before you apply or have any additional queries regarding the role or any information noted above, please email:  hello@socialaction.scot    

Downloads

Invitation for Guides Easy Read

Invitation for Guides

Application Form Easy-Read Version

Application Form

Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form

Privacy Statement and References for Video and Audio File Applications 

Leading with Kindness: Carnegie UK urges organisations to put kindness at their heart

Nearly two years ago, Carnegie UK first convened a Kindness Leadership Network (KiLN), made up of members from different sectors spread across England, Scotland and Wales, with the stated aim of supporting and challenging organisations to move kindness ‘off the page’ and into practice.

As with many things, COVID-19 changed the nature and timetable of this programme of work, but it also presented opportunities for embedding kindness in organisational responses to the pandemic.

Today, we are delighted to launch a set of materials that tells the story of KiLN which we hope will inspire and support other organisations to join this growing movement in seeking to put kindness at the heart of their practice.

1.       Our main report, Leading with kindness, narrates the journey we’ve been on since 2019: how KiLN members adapted to COVID-19, and what we learnt about what is possible when kindness becomes an operating principle.

2.       The report culminates with a Commitment to Kindness, which distils the collective experience of KiLN members into six goals designed to enable organisations of all kinds and in all places to sustain and deepen their focus on kindness.

3.      Alongside this, we worked with Simon Anderson and Julie Brownlie to produce Getting the measure of kindness – a guide that aims to support organisations to develop their approach to the persistent challenge of measurement.

4.      Finally, over the next week we’ll be releasing a number of digital stories that aim to communicate the value and importance of kindness in a new way for people within organisations, and people interacting with organisations (look out for these on social media).

However, we don’t just want to share this learning; we want it to lead to action that improves wellbeing.

Therefore, if these reports resonate with the journey that you and your organisation are on, we invite you to endorse the Commitment to Kindness, to use it as a framework to enhance your organisation’s approach to implementing kindness, and to join a growing movement of ‘kind organisations’.

Finally, we would love to hear your thoughts and reactions, which you can share with the team via ben.thurman@carnegieuk.org and with others at @CarnegieUKTrust

#CommitmentToKindness.

With best wishes

SARAH DAVIDSON

Chief Executive, Carnegie UK

Twitter: @CarnegieUKTrust

www.carnegieuk.org

Learning how to live well together: Carnegie UK announces new strategy

I am delighted to share Carnegie UK’s new strategy: ‘Learning how to live well together: our strategy for change’.

Improving wellbeing has been Carnegie UK’s mission for over 100 years. With our new strategy and accompanying rebrand, we are signalling a refocus on that core purpose, putting it at the heart of all of our work.

We believe that if there was ever a moment for a wellbeing organisation to lean into its mission, then that moment is now. Our new strategy is centred on our model of collective wellbeing: what is required for all citizens to live well together.

Achieving collective wellbeing requires social, economic, environmental, and democratic wellbeing outcomes to be seen as equally important and given equal weight. We will be advocates for public policy approaches that embrace and reflect this balance.

Whatever we are working on, our values of being motivated by change; collaborative; challenging, and kind will shape our approach. These are new values for the organisation and reflect what are recognised as our existing strengths, as well as our aspirations for the future.   

As Carnegie UK embarks on this new strategy we do so very much in the spirit of partnership. 

The social change eco-system is extensive and complex. Different players bring different approaches, perspectives, and skills. It is important to us to understand our place in this system and to make a distinctive and useful contribution, complementing that of others and being a good collaborator and partner. 

We are also committed to keeping learning. The field of wellbeing has developed a great deal over the past decade, but there is much more to discover, and we are keen to add to the collective evidence base.

We also want to know more about how change comes about, and how to use the resources at our disposal to make an effective and persuasive case for the actions and practice which will lead to improvements in wellbeing.

I am hugely grateful to all of those who have supported us in the development of our new strategy. This includes the whole Carnegie UK team, our Board of Trustees and the many partners and stakeholders who have engaged with us at different stages of the journey and generously shared their views and experience.  

I hope that you enjoy reading about our new strategic direction. Please do visit our website where you can find more information about our approach and our initial programmes of work.

Sarah Davidson

Chief Executive, Carnegie UK

Twitter: @CarnegieUKTrust

www.carnegieuk.org

Building Back for the Better

– a perspective from Carnegie UK Trust –

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched every part of our society: our economy; our environment; our social connections; and the relationships we have with our governments.

As we embark on the process of recovery, the Carnegie UK Trust believes that there is a collective responsibility to use what we have learned, not just to repair the damage, but to reconsider the fundamentals of economic, social and democratic structures that are no longer delivering positive outcomes for citizens and communities.

Others have referred to this process of collaborative sense-making as “building back better”. “Building Back for the Better: a perspective from Carnegie UK Trust” is our own contribution to that debate.

We have used what we know from our long history of research and practice development to set out a series of propositions, backed up by recommendations of practical things that could be done to improve wellbeing. The propositions are:

  • National wellbeing can be the goal
  • The relationship between the state and the citizen can be reset
  • The future can be local (as well as global)
  • Our relationship with work can be remodelled
  • We can build a new level of financial resilience
  • Technology can be for all

These will not be the only things that require to be considered for the medium-term recovery, but we hope that by taking a wide perspective we can connect the recovery effort with the transformative change to prevailing systems that so many have identified a need for, both before and during this pandemic.

Over the coming months, we will continue to work with organisations across all our networks to understand the impact of the pandemic on the people they work for. This will include central and local government; third sector and community organisations; credit providers; good work stakeholders, and many others. Where gaps remain in the space for collective sense-making, we will explore new opportunities to stimulate the necessary discussions.

If you would like to contribute to these conversations, please email me (Sarah@CarnegieUK.org) or join the debate online by tagging @CarnegieUKTrust – we would be pleased to hear from you.

Best wishes,

Sarah

Sarah Davidson

Chief Executive, Carnegie UK Trust

Switched On: digital access ‘still far from universal’

Digital Inclusion: young people are missing out

The Carnegie UK Trust has published a new report: Switched On, bringing together research and evidence about key issues related to digital inclusion with a particular focus on children and young people. The report emphasises that adequate digital access is still far from universal. Continue reading Switched On: digital access ‘still far from universal’