December 2021 Newsletter
06 December 2021A new name
We have news, or as they say on Twitter 'some personal news'. We have changed our name to abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.
Earlier this year Standard Life Aberdeen plc rebranded to become abrdn plc, following the sale of the Standard Life brand. Our trustees took this opportunity to choose a name which better reflected what we are aiming to achieve. After consultation with a range of stakeholders, abrdn Financial Fairness Trust was selected.
The new name captures our ambitions and aspirations, outlining our mission to improve financial fairness in the UK. Other than the name, you won’t notice any changes. We will continue to fund research, campaigning and policy work, collaborating with partners to make the UK financially fairer for people on low-to-middle incomes. This includes a wide range of work on issues such as pay, borrowing, pensions, social security, taxation, savings and spending.
Decisions about the organisation’s strategy and what it funds will continue to be made by our independent board of trustees, chaired by the former Chancellor Alistair Darling.
Our website will be www.financialfairness.org.uk and we’re @Finan_Fairness on Twitter (please follow us for news if you don’t already).
We are grateful to many of our key stakeholders who helped us to develop our new name and to abrdn, who continue to support us in our work.
New grant awards
We are also pleased announce a number of new grant awards today, more details about the grants are available on our website
Organisation |
Project |
Award |
Demos |
Attitudes to inheritance |
£108,772 |
Parenting NI |
Single parents on low incomes in Northern Ireland |
£76,973 |
Shelter Scotland |
Housing support for minority ethnic groups in Scotland |
£139,516 |
University of Bath, Institute for Policy Research |
Universal Credit and work |
£124,108 |
University of Coventry, Centre for Business in Society |
Young people and money management |
£59,845 |
University of Oxford, Centre on Migration Policy and Society |
Improving support for migrants with no recourse to public funds |
£123,000 |
University of Sheffield |
Empty homes in the UK |
£112,109 |
University of Southampton |
Avoiding eviction through better communication |
£90,830 |
University of Warwick |
Improving financial security post-Covid |
£38,950 |
University of York and Child Poverty Action Group |
Post-pandemic possibilities - Improving social security |
£143,800 |
Upcoming event
The Great British wealth windfall
Is now the time to reform property taxation? From Resolution Foundation and abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.
Thursday December 9th, 9.30am – 10.45am
In-person event and live interactive webinar.
Register here
Publications out this month
This month we will be launching:
• the latest edition of our financial impact tracker, examining recent changes to household finances;
• a rapid evidence review of research examining the financial impact of the pandemic;
• an in-depth look at improving capital gains tax, with our partners at the Resolution Foundation;
• qualitative research on young adults living at home with their parents and the financial benefits and challenges this poses; and lastly
• a new financial fairness podcast, which kicks off with an interview with our chair, Alistair Darling.
Next funding deadline
Our next deadline for grant applications is 4 February 2022 (1pm). We expect to fund around £3m in grants next year. Do you have an idea? Have a read of our Funding Guidelines to see if it’s something which fits our mission to improve living standards for people on low to middle incomes and tackle financial problems they face.