Archive for February, 2009
Informal Economy Consultancy Service
Thursday, February 26th, 2009In our informal economy work we’ve always been asked, particularly by politicians and civil servants, to “prove it exists - give us a number”.
As you know trying to prove something that is hidden is difficult to say the least. Prof. Friedrich Schneider is one of the leading exponents of measuring informal economic activity at a macro-level. His [...]
Need NOT Greed Launch at House of Commons
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009Today saw the succesful launch of the Need NOT Greed campaign at the House of Commons in Westminster. MPs and members of the House of Lords participated in conversation with people who have in the past, or still currently, work informally - out of Need NOT Greed.
In this brief Video Campaign co-ordinator Maeve McGoldrick reflects [...]
Press Release…Campaign calls for measures to stop people being forced into cash-in-hand jobs
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
A new campaign launched today calls on government to help people trapped into low paid cash-in-hand work when they could be helping the UK economy. The Need NOT Greed campaign aims to help these people escape the traps of informal work with no legal status and poor work conditions, often being exploited by unscrupulous bosses. [...]
Know Your Rights!
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009It’s great to see the Employment Agency Standards at the government department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) actively promoting their services in our area of east London. They work best through referrals at a local level.
Their latest campaign focuses on knowing your rights as an agency worker. They’re getting the tone right in their posters (see left) and [...]
Community Allowance: TV coverage
Monday, February 16th, 2009Jess Steele, Chair of the Community Allowance, took part in a panel discussion about the recession on this Sunday’s BBC Politics Show, along with Conservative MP, David Willetts (ex-shadow Minister for Work & Pensions). Watch the discussion on the BBC i-player.
If you haven’t time to see the whole programme scroll through to the 38th minute to [...]
Keep It Simple… a Valentines Day message
Friday, February 13th, 2009To “share the love” on St Valentine’s Day we are promoting the Refugee Week Simple Acts campaign and encouraging our readers to head over to www.simpleacts.org.uk and take part. Simple Acts is inspiring individuals to consider 20 small, everyday actions which if carried out by a large number of people will help change perceptions of refugees and promote better relations between refugee and [...]
Innovation or replication: should we celebrate copying?
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009Creativity and innovation are rightly celebrated - the value of generating new ideas and innovative solutions is so they can be widely shared and implemented by others. Avoiding re-invention of the wheel is the point.
But do we celebrate imitation? Whoever heard of a statue built to commememorate someone copying anothers success … or an award ceremony recognising replication of an established project?
That was the week that was - in the snow.
Friday, February 6th, 2009So there was a lot happening this week, what with the snow and transport meltdown. We had to close our services down on Monday and Tuesday, which we haven’t had to do for years.
Anyway we had a productive meeting with the DWP Minister for Work, Rt Hon Tony McNulty MP, about our informal economy and Community [...]
Welfare to Work: ACEVO, DWP Third Sector Taskforce report
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009This morning, 4th Feb, James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, received the Third Sector Taskforce’s report (Download here) on the role of the third sector in welfare to work reform. The taskforce was set up jointly by ACEVO and the Department of Work and Pensions DWP in summer 2008. ACEVO Chief Executive, Stephen Bubb chaired [...]
TUC & Community Links meeting: February 10
Monday, February 2nd, 2009We’re organising a meeting with TUC/BERR Vulnerable Workers Project on 10th February, 2-4pm at Tower Hamlets Law Centre. The meeting will look at what might be done to increase the options of workers in the informal economy moving into the formal economy.
The part of the informal economy that we are focusing on is the situation in [...]
We spent a week debating the way poverty is portrayed in the media, generating over 20 fascinating posts from a wide range of authors. 