October newsletter: share your experiences of local accountability

October newsletter: share your experiences of local accountability

Hi all,  It’s a busy autumn after a summer break, and we need your help again! One of the most important strategies in our work on LOBO loans has been supporting residents to submit objections to the loans locally. The right to do this (as well as the right to inspect council accounts) is granted by a piece of legislation called the Local Audit and Accountability Act. The collective action of submitting objections has helped to bring attention to LOBO loans. Unfortunately, we and our networks have found that it rarely works in our favour, as auditors are reluctant to... [continues]
Share your experience of using the Local Audit and Accountability Act

Share your experience of using the Local Audit and Accountability Act

Research for Action is investigating the effectiveness of the Local Audit and Accountability Act in relation to the rights it grants the public to: inspect council financial accounts ask a question to the auditor on the accounts object to items of the accounts We would like to base our evidence on the experience of as many people as possible who used the Act. Responses will inform a report we will publish in 2020.If you have used one or more of these rights we would value your responses to our questionnaire. All responses will be made anonymous and we will ensure... [continues]
July newsletter: festivals, council accounts & credit card cost cap

July newsletter: festivals, council accounts & credit card cost cap

Welcome to our July newsletter. Summer means picnics and barbeques, workshops at festivals and inspection of accounts (doesn’t it?). Here are our news for the month! NEWS Why we need a cap on credit card costs The End the Debt Trap campaign published a report on regulating the credit card market with a launch event in Parliament on 9 July. We are part of a coalition of organisations campaigning to cap the costs of all consumer credit so no one would have to pay back more in fees and interest than they originally borrowed. A cap was put in place... [continues]
May newsletter: Local elections, summit for change & more

May newsletter: Local elections, summit for change & more

Hi all, Spring is advancing fast and we at Research for Action have another newsletter full of news to tell you… TAKING ACTION Submission to Local Government Finance and the 2019 Spending Review inquiry The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee is inviting submissions to an inquiry on local government finance. It promises to “consider how effective the existing funding set-up for local government is in providing resources to meet need and demand for local services both now and in the future”. We made a submission (not public on the website yet) based on our reports Debt and Democracy on... [continues]
March Newsletter: finance and empire

March Newsletter: finance and empire

Welcome to our March newsletter. Spring is advancing fast and packed with exciting events... We are also proud to announce Research for Action is two years old this month! If you would like to support our work with a birthday present, you can donate here. Thank you for everyone who has supported us this far. EVENTS Finance Capital & the Ghosts of Empire: Revisiting Colonial Debts, Extractive Nostalgias, Imperial Insolvencies 5-6 April 2019, University of Sussex This two-day event will bring together scholars, artists and activists working in different fields to explore the role of the Empire in configuration of... [continues]

Solidarity with the Stansted 15

In March 2017, a group of 15 activists halted a flight that was due to deport people from the UK to Nigeria and Ghana. The activists, known as the Stansted 15, have been found guilty of endangering an aerodrome, a terrorism offence that has only been used once since it was introduced in 1990 and carries a maximum of lifetime imprisonment. They will be sentenced on 6 February. Of the 60 people who were due to be deported on the flight, 11 are still in the country pursuing their asylum claims. Two have been granted indefinite leave to remain, and... [continues]

Launch event: A citizen’s audit of Newham’s bank debt

Join us for the launch of Research for Action’s report on the audit of Newham’s bank debt on 30 October. After a decade of cuts, public services are at a breaking point. Social security has been eroded, rents are skyrocketing in the absence of investment in social housing and despite low wages and reduced benefits, we are being asked to pay more for services that were once free. As funding from central government is stripped, local authorities are struggling to meet our basic needs. But cuts do not tell the whole story. Like too many struggling households, councils are being... [continues]
#Newsletter: June

#Newsletter: June

Hi all, Here are the latest updates from Research for Action. This is also your final chance to opt in to receiving this newsletter. If you haven’t done so yet, we will be shortly sending you an opt-in form again. Please use it to give us your consent to email you in the future. If you don’t opt in, this is the last time you will hear from us! Fanny, Joel and Vica NEWHAM CITIZEN DEBT AUDIT Cuts and contempt - experiences of austerity and council democracy in Newham We recently published a report on Newham residents’ experiences with council... [continues]