Citizens UK

02/10/2026

It’s time we care for care workers.

Care work is skilled work, which requires you to be responsible for someone in their hour of need. No one taking on this responsibility should be paid the bare minimum.

We must ensure that all care workers are paid at least the real Living Wage.

Find out more 👇
https://www.citizensuk.org/campaigns/careworkers-campaign/

02/10/2026

This Summer, communities across the UK faced some of the country’s hottest temperatures on record.

Eight million people in England live in homes that pose a serious threat to their health and safety.

Iryna, a Citizens UK leader and mum of two from West London, shares her experience of living in a home that was not equipped to handle the extreme weather this summer.

No matter where we live, where we’re from, or how much money we have, we should all have a safe and healthy place to call home, today and in the future.

Climate change makes inequality worse – people on lower incomes, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with health issues and those experiencing housing insecurity are disproportionately affected by its impacts, particularly in poor-quality homes.

As the climate crisis worsens, heatwaves are likely to become stronger and more frequent. We are calling for safe and healthy homes now.

Watch Iryna’s story 👇
https://youtu.be/u9sO_-DYeKk

01/10/2026

With this Summer’s record-breaking temperatures, many of our homes have been too hot due to poor insulation. 🌡️

This has impacted day-to-day life across the country, including happiness and behaviours in the home.

To measure the effects, we commissioned polling from Survation (Aug 2026), finding that women were more likely than men to say they’d been made less happy at home by the recent heatwaves, producing a ‘heatwave gender gap’.

Findings also showed age being a factor, with nearly half of young adults (18-34) reporting that they were less happy in their homes during the heatwave.

Interestingly, the data also showed a change in well-being - roughly 1 in 3 of all participants reported feeling more irritated and said they found it harder to relax during the heatwaves.

As part of our Climate Justice campaign, we’ve been listening to communities across the country. Hot homes and disrepair are issues that come up again and again.

People are being let down by Government and landlords who fail to repair their home – an issue exacerbated by the extreme weather changes we see today.

That’s why we’re calling for real change that ensures every home is better equipped for the realities of our changing climate.

We know it doesn’t have to be this way, which is why we’re working with local people across the country who are organising to find solutions that keep us and our planet healthy.

Learn more about the campaign 👇
https://www.citizensuk.org/campaigns/climatejustice/

Read the full story 👇
https://www.citizensuk.org/about-us/news/nearly-half-of-young-adults-less-happy-in-homes-during-heatwave/

01/10/2026

For the past decade, communities have been showing what’s possible when they have a voice in the decisions that affect their health.

Yesterday, Citizens UK held a Health and Community Organising Summit with NHS leaders, academics, funders and community leaders to share learnings, strengthen relationships, and explore what the next phase of working together could look like.

As so many of us have experienced, our health is shaped by various factors: whether you have a decent home, whether you’re paid enough to live on and whether you can access the services you need.

Through organising, we’ve been tackling the things that make people unwell in the first place, building stronger relationships with health institutions and finding new ways to prevent poor health, not just treat it.

South London Listens, a community partnership project between schools, faith groups, and community organisations working with the NHS in South London to tackle injustices in the mental health care system, is a powerful example of such work.

And it goes beyond GPs and hospitals:
- Through our Living Wage campaign, NHS institutions have committed to paying the Real Living Wage, putting more money back into workers’ pockets.
- Through our housing work, the NHS has agreed to use its land to help tackle London’s housing crisis.

This is what can happen when communities and public institutions work together, across difference, to find solutions that work for everyone.

As Saran, a Parent Action leader, powerfully reflected at the Summit: "We came looking for a place to belong. We found a community that builds bridges with institutions. And then we became part of changing things: with you."

Read more about South London Listens: https://www.citizensuk.org/chapters/south-london/south-london-listens/

18/09/2026

We want everyone in London to be paid the real Living Wage. 🌇

For four years, Citizens UK leaders and organisers have worked alongside businesses, civil society and local government to end the injustice of in-work poverty in London.

Together, through the Making London a Living Wage City campaign, we’ve won better pay for thousands of Londoners and helped make the capital a fairer place to work.

📢Now, the partnership has entered a new phase: Making London Work for All.

In this next stage, we'll be building on our wins and focusing on growing Living Wage, Living Hours and Living Pension in priority sectors like health and social care.

Find out what’s next with the Making London Work for All campaign: https://www.citizensuk.org/campaigns/making-london-work-for-all/

08/09/2026

We know that a fairer society is possible when diverse communities stand alongside one another.🫂

We are stronger together, and so making change on the issues that matter means finding connection across divides.

At Citizens UK, we use Weaving Trust events to build trust across difference in communities. Bringing together those who would not usually meet, these events are about sharing stories and having conversations. 💬

The topics of these conversations range from ‘tell me the story of your favourite cake’ to ‘what are your hopes and fears for your community.’

The result: a forging of common goals and joyful relationships that have the power to win change.

Read this reflection from Martin Wall on a Citizens Somerset Weaving Trust event -

Martin Wall from West Somerset Quakers reflects on a recent Weaving Trust event, which has strengthened connections across Citizens Somerset.

07/09/2026

It takes courage to speak out against injustice and hold those responsible to account. ✊

The courage to voice your anger; to stand up for what you believe in; and to act on it.

For our senior organiser, Dilraj Kaur, courage is always at the centre of organising work. Whether it be looking out for leaders, speaking up to power, or translating anger into action - winning change requires resilience.

Organising isn’t always easy, and change doesn’t always happen quickly. But when we find the courage to act together, everyday people have the ability to shape the world.

Discover more about our core values: https://www.citizensuk.org/about-us/our-values/

03/09/2026

No child should go hungry at school because of their immigration status. 🍽️

Yet there were children from families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) that were denied access to the support that other families receive.

This simply wasn’t right. Community leaders across Citizens UK wanted to take action, so they got involved with the free school meals campaign in 2019. Through listening to children, parents and teachers, London Citizens member organisations and UCL Institute of Education heard about the impact this was having on families.

Children spoke about feeling like they didn’t belong because they weren’t British citizens, and some had become used to going without food at school.

One teacher said: “I think they become so used to [living on] so small amount of food that it becomes natural for them to live like this.” 💬

Change didn’t happen overnight. At first, access to free school meals for children in families with NRPF was only temporary.

But communities kept pushing, and in March 2022, the Government announced that access would become permanent. ✊

Today, this change continues to help ensure that children, regardless of their parent’s immigration status, can access a meal at school.

This is what happens when communities organise: we shift the balance of power and win change for a better, fairer society. ⚖️

Read more about this powerful campaign:

How community organising helped win Free School Meals for students with parents who have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)

20/08/2026

Across the country, a growing network of Students’ Unions are joining Citizens UK to win change on the issues that matter to them. 👩‍🎓

As members of our people-powered alliance, each Students’ Union gets access to:
- coaching and campaign development by a dedicated organiser,
- community organising training,
- and leadership development.

Last week, Tom Snape, Senior Organiser for Birmingham, led our annual Students' Union community organising residential at Aston Students' Union.

Students’ Union staff and officers came together to think about how community organising could help their union have an even greater impact alongside their wider communities. 🎇

Interested in working with us as a Students’ Union?

Find out how to get involved: https://www.citizensuk.org/join/join-us-as-a-student-union/

19/08/2026

At Citizens UK, our values shape not just what we do, but how we do it. 🫶

From developing local leaders to driving nationwide change, our work to overcome injustice is underpinned by six core values: Solidarity, kindness, courage, integrity, inclusion and relationality.

They guide how we organise, how we build relationships, and how we work together to create lasting change and build trust across difference in our communities.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be diving into what each of these values mean to our staff in practice.

First up, hear from our Senior Organiser, Tom Snape, about why kindness matters in our work. 💛