lytical approaches which placed blame on individuals themselves. She noted CPAG’s contribution as: consciousness raising (highlighting the link between poverty, inequality and intervention); knowledge transfer and skills building; reframing the knowledge base by reframing the research questions; and advocacy and welfare rights advice. Jane also discussed the role of CPAG in the formation of the Family Rights Group charity which started in 1975 following campaigns to highlight the limitations of the 1975 Children Act, in respect of children and their families.
Successes such as the original Sure Start agenda and the 1999 New Labour pledges to end child poverty in 2020 (which became law in the 2010 Child Poverty Act) were noted as highs. However, current challenges identified by Jane include government abandonment of the internationally acknowledged income-based definition of poverty; scrapping of poverty targets; roll back and changed agenda of Sure Start; the ‘stigmatising’ Troubled Families Programme; the spectre of privatisation of child protection services; and the introduction of the ‘de-professionalising’ Frontline social work training programme.
Finally, CPAG Policy Committee Member Geoff Fimister (who has been associated with CPAG in various capacities since 1971, including as a member of the National Executive Committee/Board of Trustees) discussed the role of social work in welfare rights and anti-poverty strategies. He analysed the role of Welfare Rights Officers in the 1960s in areas such as Tyneside and Newcastle and how they had spread across the UK and some of whom (despite cuts) are still surviving in councils today (often within Housing or Chief Executive departments). These roles were established under different structures within councils and CPAG was highly important in supporting them by providing the information they depended on. This had led to the slightly tongue in cheek comment that CPAG was at one time ‘a book selling business with a pressure group attached to it.’ Geoff described the Welfare Rights movement in the larger context as part of an anti-poverty movement that came from the USA.
For those involved in CPAG over the last 50 years and those with an interest in the history of social work or contemporary social history and politics, this seminar was a gem—entertaining and lively, it was also encouraging to witness some of the speakers’ continuing enthusiasm for the cause despite the current depressing picture. As CPAG Senior Policy and Research Officer, Moussa Haddad summed up in a recent article he has written on the topic, ‘CPAG’s history is as much a story of enduring themes and continued battles, as it is of progress, success and change’.
Caroline Norrie is Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit in the Policy Institute at King’s.
About the Social Work History Network
SWHN exists to explore the nature and growth of social work in order to inform contemporary policy and practice. Founded in 2000, it is an informal network of social workers, historians, archivists, researchers, educators, students, and social work policy makers. The Network meets three or four times a year to discuss papers given by invited speakers. Meetings are open to all.