Deepening poverty: why the health innovation response must recognise the integral role of the VCSE

The findings of the ‘UK Poverty 2026’ report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation are unsurprising yet shocking. In the wake of years of austerity, followed by the economic impact of a global pandemic and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, it reveals that poverty is rising dramatically in headline terms.

But the rate at which it is deepening should be of real concern to all of us working in health and care.