The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is an independent

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

based in the United Kingdom, co-founded in 2004 by

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was S ...

Tim Montgomerie Timothy Montgomerie (born 24 July 1970) is a British political activist, blogger, and columnist. He is best known as the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice and as creator of the ConservativeHome website, which he edited from 2005 unt ...

Mark Florman Carl Alan Mark Florman (born 2 November 1958) is a British businessman and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and former CEO of the merchant banking group, Maizels, Westerberg & Co. and Time Partners Limited. Florman led the review of governance f ...

and

Philippa Stroud Philippa Claire Stroud, Baroness Stroud (born 2 April 1965) is a British think tanker. She is the chief executive officer of the Legatum Institute, and a co-founder and former executive director of the think tank the Centre for Social Justice. ...

Political positions

The organisation's stated aim is to "put social justice at the heart of British politics". While the think-tank states it is politically independent, it has been labelled one of the most influential on the British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

under the leadership of

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

Policy programmes and impact

One of the CSJ's most notable reports was ''Breakthrough Britain''. It has also produced well-publicised reports on gang culture, modern slavery, addiction, family breakdown, and educational failure. In 2012 the CSJ announced that it would carry out the study ''Breakthrough Britain II''. The CSJ has also played important roles in the design and development of

Universal Credit Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker' ...

and in championing the introduction of the

Modern Slavery Act 2015 The Modern Slavery Act 2015 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is designed to combat modern slavery in the UK and consolidates previous offences relating to trafficking and slavery. The act extends essentially to England and W ...

2019

* A report called on the government to increase the state pension age to 75.

2018

*
A Woman-Centred Approach
' called on the government to scrap plans for up to five new women's prisons and to put funds towards community-based alternatives. The

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...

subsequently announced that plans for new women's prisons were being abandoned and set out proposals to pilot five residential centres for women in the community.

2017

*
Housing First
' recommended placing homeless people dealing with problems such as alcohol and drug abuse in permanent accommodation and giving them access to care and training. The approach, known as

Housing First Housing First is a policy that offers unconditional, permanent housing as quickly as possible to homeless people, and other supportive services afterward. It was first discussed in the 1990s, and in the following decades became government policy ...

, had been tried out in the United States and adopted by Finland with positive results. Conservative Communities Secretary

Sajid Javid Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

had said that he was keen to examine the scheme. While the CSJ called for a nationwide roll-out of Housing First, the Government announced and allocated £28m funding for a number of Housing First pilot sites in the West Midlands, Liverpool and Manchester. *
Growing the Local
' called on the government to give Police and Crime Commissioners additional flexibility to increase the police precept, a set of proposals subsequently adopted and providing additional resources for policing and crime. *
Lowering the Stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals
' called on the government to reduce the stake from £100 to £2 for fixed odds betting terminals, which the government duly did in 2018.

Structure and operation

Initially the CSJ's work was project-based with projects and staff members changing regularly. Recently, however, under Andy Cook, the latest Chief Executive, the CSJ has created a number of dedicated policy units with specific unit heads to lead on their designated area. The CSJ also has an alliance of "front line poverty fighting charities" and runs an annual Centre for Social Justice Awards ceremony celebrating some of the best voluntary and non-profit organisations in the UK. In addition the CSJ regularly holds events at the major political party conferences.

Notable members

Past and present: *

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...

MP, Co-Chairman of the CSJ Advisory Council * Johan Eliasch, Chairman and Chief Exec, Head N.V ; Chairman, Cool Earth; Prime Minister's Special representative on deforestation and clean energy * Frank Field MP, Member of Parliament for Birkenhead (Independent) *

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

MP, former Foreign Secretary, former leader of the Conservative Party, former Member of Parliament for Richmond, Yorkshire (Conservative) * Syed Kamall MEP, Co-founder of Global Business Research institute, MEP for London (Conservative) * Paul Marshall, Chairman of Management Committee of Centre Forum; Adviser to Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party * Kevin Tebbit, Former Director of GCHQ and former Permanent Under Secretary of the Ministry of Defence *

Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster Natalia Ayesha Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster (''née'' Phillips; born 8 May 1959), is a British aristocrat, philanthropist and winemaker. She is the widow of the 6th Duke of Westminster and mother of the 7th Duke. As of 2021, the Duchess's f ...

Funding

In November 2022, the funding transparency website

Who Funds You? Who Funds You? is a project that rates and promotes transparency of funding sources of think tanks. The project scored think tanks according to four criteria, namely whether the organisation discloses its income, whether it publishes financial de ...

gave the CSJ an E grade, the lowest transparency rating (rating goes from A to E).

References

External links

Centre for Social Justice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centre For Social Justice Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom Social justice organizations Think tanks based in the United Kingdom 2004 establishments in the United Kingdom Think tanks established in 2004