Category: News

Posted on

Automatic Voter Registration and Private Renters

People who rent their homes privately are consistently underrepresented on the electoral register. The difficulty of registering to vote is particularly stark for those who move home frequently, who must re-register each time they have a new address.

 

Electoral Commission data shows that those who have lived in their home for less than a year are registered at only 39%, compared to 95% for those who have lived in their home 16 years or more. House moving is a challenge for private renters, with the English Housing Survey finding that 37% move home more than once within the typical 5-year General Election cycle.

 

Low registration seems to be a particular issue for renters living in Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs). By contrast, people who own two homes are entitled to be registered at both.

 

New research from Generation RentCover of report: Automatic Voter Registration and Private Renters, supported by the UK Democracy Fund, finds that there were 9.41m private renters over the age of 16 in England and Wales at the 2021 Census. 8.53m (91%) were in a household likely to interact with the council for council tax, HMRC for self-assessment tax returns, DVLA for driving licences, or the DWP for Universal Credit, State Pension or other means-tested benefits, meaning that an automated voter registration system could be highly effective for renters.

 

Generation Rent also propose further measures which could support the registration of remaining renters – for example through GP surgeries or banks.

 

Crucially, this research finds that an automated registration system would be effective for registering large numbers of renter voters, for whom the current system does not work.

 

Download the full report from Generation Rent here

 

Image: Ivan Samkov, Pexels

Posted on

Evidence and Good Practice on Lowering the Voting Age to 16

In January 2025, the UK Democracy Fund published Evidence and Good Practice on Lowering the Voting Age to 16.

Ellen Berry, Head of the UK Democracy Fund, explains more about the research and recommendations in this blog post.

 

Written by Dr Christine Huebner, University of Sheffield & Dr Jan Eichhorn, University of Edinburgh, the briefing summarises key evidence on the outcomes of lowering the voting age to 16 from countries that have extended the franchise to younger people, and provides an overview of emerging evidence on what is important in the implementation and delivery of voting age reform in the UK.

 

International evidence consistently demonstrates that extending the franchise to young people from the age of 16 can increase their overall participation in democracy, and that there are no notable negative outcomes for young people or society more broadly. Research shows that young people are able to select who they vote for in the same way as other voters, with the same standard of decision making as older adults.

Votes at 16 has the potential, however, to challenge inequalities in participation and improve attitudes to democracy.

  • Votes at 16 can counter low voting amongst other demographics, having positive impacts on democratic equality and addressing low turnout.
  • There is some evidence that it can impact young people’s attitudes towards democracy and its responsiveness to their needs.
  • Evidence from Scotland shows that once the voting age was lowered, the policy became significantly more popular amongst older generations.

 

For franchise extension to reach its full potential, the below recommendations will be an important part of implementation:

  • Young people in Scotland and Wales currently have the right to vote in some elections. However, comprehensive franchise extension across all elections is more impactful.
  • Full inclusion for young people as democratic actors is an important part of implementation. Political parties can do more to engage young people, and they should be included in political debates and media coverage.
  • To take advantage of their new voting rights, young people must be on the electoral register. Currently 16- and 17-year-olds are registered at only 16%. Introducing automatic voter registration, adding young people to the register when they receive their National Insurance number at 16, would address this.
  • Considering the types of ID 16- and 17-year-olds tend to have will also be important as the Government reviews the Voter ID policy.
  • Access to good quality democratic education for young people is important. The Department of Education’s curriculum review provides an opportunity to address this, but it is not necessary for Votes at 16 to be delayed until the education issue is addressed.

 

Cover image of UK Democracy Fund briefing: Evidence and Good Practice on Lowering the Voting Age to 16Download the full briefing report here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Header image: Jane Campbell, Shutterstock

Posted on

Open letter to Prime Minister ahead of King’s Speech

Addressing inequality in the electoral system

In advance of the King’s Speech, the UK Democracy Fund coordinated a group of leading civil society organisations to come together to call on the new government to make voting easier. Building on the excellent work of many of our grantees registering people to vote, we ask for the barriers to be removed – bringing in Automatic Voter Registration and removing the Voter ID requirement.

 

You can see the open letter sent to the Prime Minister here.

 

And read more on a blog for ACEVO by Ellen Berry, Head of the UK Democracy Fund.

Posted on

General Election: Resources and links

Election 2019

 

JRRT and the UK Democracy Fund have collated several resources to help your campaigns and to provide advice and support:

 

Legal

 

Charity Law Rationale for the Promotion of Voter Engagement and Participation in Elections

This paper, commissioned by JRRT from Stone King LLP, explains how charities can target low voting demographics such as young people, renters or people from minoritised ethnicities for voter engagement and participation in the forthcoming election.  It has specific sections to help racial justice and environmental charities to understand the wide range of rationales available to many charities to advance their purposes through voter participation and will help Trustees to document this.  Download here.

 

Campaigning, Political Activity and Election Guide for Charities

A comprehensive guide from Stone King LLP, funded  by the Legal Education Foundation, for charities that wish to undertake campaigns. Download here.

 

UK Democracy Fund resources for Grantees

 

UK Democracy Fund: Voter registration and getting out the vote guide

The UK Democracy Fund was set up in 2019, and since then has invested considerably in voter participation campaigns in the UK. We have set an ambitious target of registering a million people from low voting groups before the 18 June deadline.  Through our research, and evaluation of learning from work we have funded we’ve developed a good understanding of what makes voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns successful. Find out more about how to run a successful campaign in this guide.

 

 

Collaboration and Networking

 

The Democracy Network

JRRT funds the Democracy Network, a network of people and organisations working on issues of power, democracy and voice in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are working to build a stronger democracy by connecting people and supporting collaboration, increasing knowledge, skills and resources, and coordinating effective influencing strategies and action. Find out more about their work and how to join the Network on their website.

 

Democracy Classroom

Funded by the UK Democracy Fund, Democracy Classroom from The Politics Project supports young people to engage in elections. It provides a shared hub of resources, training opportunities and events, created by a partnership of non-partisan organisations working on democracy, education and youth.

Posted on

SMK Campaigner Awards shortlists announced!

Each year, the Shelia McKechnie Foundation celebrates the best campaigns and campaigners with their SMK National Campaigner Awards. JRRT is proud to sponsor the David & Goliath category. It celebrates individuals or small campaign groups that take on much bigger organisations and challenge vested power.

 

And the shortlisted campaigns have just been revealed:

 

 

Sustainable Farming Campaign from Sustain

The Sustainable Farming Campaign is a leading voice in pushing for a sustainable farming future in the UK. They help amplify farmers’ voices in order to aid a farmer-led transition to nature friendly farming.

Read their full story here

 

The Justice For Omisha Campaign

The #JusticeForOmisha campaign is one family and their community taking on the Home Office’s hostile environment immigration system and fighting for an NHS that is free to provide universal healthcare for all.

 

The campaign has grown thanks to the efforts of a community of dedicated, fearless and caring campaigners, supported by Migrants Organise and Medact.

Read more about their campaign 

 

Fawcett Society versus The Sun

 Following The Sun’s publication of Jeremy Clarkson’s toxic and misogynistic column about the Duchess of Sussex, the Fawcett Society devised a campaign to call-out and make news media responsible for the misogyny that so often appears in our newspapers. To do this, they needed the press regulator, IPSO, to take action against The Sun. It was daunting for a small charity to go up against one of UK’s best read, commercial news brands, but it was a battle they needed to take on.

Read more about the Fawcett Society’s fight here

 

And the winners are…

Well, you don’t have long before you can find out! This year’s Awards ceremony will be live streamed from Central Saint Martins in London on Wednesday 15 May from 6:15pm to 8pm. Information about how to watch along will be announced on SMK’s website soon.

 

 

Posted on

SMK Awards: David & Goliath winner 2023

JRRT is proud to sponsor the David & Goliath Award at the SMK Awards, which celebrates individuals or small campaign groups that take on much bigger organisations and challenge vested power.

Our Award sponsorship is made in memory of former Director, Lord David Shutt.

And the 2023 winner has now been announced!

 

Congratulations to The Community Energy Revolution!

  • You want to buy locally baked bread? You can.
  • You want to buy locally brewed beer? You can.
  • You want to buy locally generated renewable energy? You can’t.

Power for People are co-ordinating grassroots advocacy across the UK for the Local Electricity Bill.

The Bill, if enacted, would empower community energy schemes to sell their clean energy back to their community. Their campaign has gathered cross-party support from more than 300 MPs.

In accepting the award, Steve Shaw and Corinna Miller from Power for People said:

“The Community Energy Revolution campaign would not have the impressive support it currently has in Parliament without the tireless advocacy of people in communities across the country. We have come a long way but are still working hard to see this change enacted – it is vital both for our communities and for the planet.”

Find out more about Power for People and join their Community Energy Revolution on their website.

 

And visit www.smk.org.uk/awards for lots more from the 2023 Awards!

 

Photo (top) courtesy of:
Hackney Banister House
 A community energy group located in London

 

 

You can watch the presentation of the 2023 David & Goliath Award below:

 

Posted on

SMK Awards 2023: Shortlists announced!

Each year, the Shelia McKechnie Foundation celebrates the best campaigns and campaigners with their SMK National Campaigner Awards. Their aim is to recognise and honour those who have made change happen – most effectively, creatively and courageously. And the shortlists have just been announced!

 

JRRT is proud to sponsor the David & Goliath category at the SMK Awards. It celebrates individuals or small campaign groups that take on much bigger organisations and challenge vested power. Our sponsorship is made in memory of our friend and former Director, Lord David Shutt.

 

Shortlisted campaigns

The campaigns nominated in the 2023 David & Goliath category are:

 

Forgotten Fish Animal Equality’s ‘Forgotten Fish’ campaign highlights the overwhelming scientific consensus that fish can feel pain and suffer, just like all animals, and therefore should receive adequate protections in law.

 

The Community Energy Revolution Their campaign aims to unblock the remarkable potential for community energy schemes to flourish across the UK, creating new jobs, lowering energy bills, and generating money for community benefit.

 

Windrush Against Sewage Pollution A grassroots group of activists based near the River Windrush in Oxfordshire, WASP hit the news in June 2022, when their ground-breaking investigative work was used by environmental non-profit Wild Justice to take the water regulator Ofwat to court over its alleged failure to stop water companies discharging raw sewage into rivers.

 

 

 

Winners of the David & Goliath Award – and all the other SMK Awards – will be announced at a ceremony in London on 24 May 2023.

Check out the shortlists for all of the categories in the Awards, on the SMK website.

Posted on

The UK’s Electoral Data Deficit: A vision for digital modernisation

Professor Toby S. James & Professor Paul Bernal, January 2023

“the UK’s electoral machinery was established in Victorian times, and large parts of the data architecture in the electoral world remains Victorian.”

This report outlines the electoral data democratic deficit in the UK and its consequences for democracy, and makes the case for urgently establishing a comprehensive architecture and approach to electoral data to enable a fairer and more inclusive democracy.

The report finds considerable problems with the current elections data infrastructure and approach. There are significant data blackholes – electoral data which is unavailable, but which would be in the public interest to have collected and published. Data is often collated in unworkable formats which restricts usability, severely limiting the ability to develop interventions to improve voter registration and turnout. There is considerable inequality in who has access to data, meaning those who are seeking to support greater equality of participation are heavily restricted or burdened in attempting to learn what works. There are also monitoring gaps in how key electoral data is used, including individual level data on whether people have voted at an election and their history of voting at previous elections. This is often being used without citizens’ knowledge of who and for what purpose the data is being accessed. There is also substantial untapped potential where electoral data could be used to support citizens to be better informed, for electoral institutions to be much more transparent, and for a wide range of actors (including regulators, media, and civil society) to leverage data to promote participation in elections.

This report provides a short- and longer-term plan for modernising the electoral data architecture and approach to ensure it is fit for purpose for the 21st century

Download the full report here

Posted on

SMK Awards: David & Goliath winner 2022 announced

A group of CYA and some of their supporters travelling to Facebook HQ in London. Photo credit: Slawomir Furgalski

JRRT is proud to sponsor the David & Goliath Award at the SMK Awards, which celebrates individuals or small campaign groups that take on much bigger organisations and challenge vested power.

Our Award sponsorship is made in memory of our friend and former Director, Lord David Shutt.

And the 2022 winner has now been announced at a hybrid virtual/real life ceremony in London…

Congratulations to the Coventry Youth Activists (CYA) 

The CYA’s #FacebookHasNoStandards campaign wants to change the way disability hate and ableism is handled by social media platforms.

There was a 52% increase in online disability hate crime online in 2021, yet attempts to report posts were usually met with the same response – that they did not breach Facebook’s Community Standards. CYA’s view was that, if Facebook had any standards, they would not allow hateful, ableist posts to remain on their platform.

CYA want Facebook to make the platform safer for disabled people. They have asked Facebook to remove ableist comments and posts, to highlight and ‘box-over’ reported posts and comments whilst they are investigated, and to invite a CYA team member to join the Facebook oversight board.

In making the award, SMK said: “The difference the campaign has had on the young people in the group has been huge. Young people with anxiety who would often find social situations overwhelming stood outside Facebook HQ sharing their own story. Young people with learning disabilities often excluded by society ran online meetings with people in positions of power to hold them to account. We think the campaign is extraordinary for its ambition, impact and empowering energy.”

 

Visit www.smk.org.uk/awards for more details …

 

IMAGE CREDIT: A group of CYA and some of their
supporters travelling to Facebook HQ in London.
Photo by: Slawomir Furgalski

 

 

You can watch the full 2022 Award ceremony below

 

 

 

Posted on

SMK Awards 2022: Shortlist announced!

We are the proud sponsor of the David & Goliath cateogory at the Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK) National Campaigner Awards, a celebration of the best campaigns and campaigners from across the United Kingdom.

The David & Goliath category recognises individuals or small campaign groups that take on much bigger organisations and challenge vested power. Our sponsorship is made in memory of our friend and former Director, Lord David Shutt.

 

This year’s shortlisted nominees are:

  • End Our Cladding Scandal; their campaign calls on the Government to lead an urgent, national effort to fix the building safety crisis exposed by the Grenfell tragedy.
  • Operation Noah’s Bright Now campaign calls on Churches to accelerate the clean energy transition by divesting from fossil fuel companies and investing in climate solutions.

 

 

Join the virtual awards ceremony

You can discover the winner of the JRRT-sponsored David & Goliath Award, and all of the other categories in this year’s SMK National Campaigner Awards, at the virtual Awards ceremony.

It will be live streamed for the first time from the newsroom of SMK’s media partner Tortoise on Thursday 19 May 2022 from 4pm to 5.15pm.

Find out more and book your free space now!