Millions of people across the UK experience a lack of security in areas like money, housing, health and care. When these insecurities build and combine, it multiplies their effects. Experiencing a lack of security across different areas can impose emotional burdens, harm wellbeing and keep people out of the workforce. Multiple insecurities force a focus on short-term crisis management, rather than long-term planning for the future.
A multidisciplinary team of researchers, led by Professor Becky Tunstall and including LSE’s Laura Lane, Dr Abigail McKnight and Irene Bucelli, have explored how multiple insecurities affect life chances and wellbeing and how joined-up policy could help. As part of their research, they spoke to 36 people experiencing multiple insecurities in four deprived neighbourhoods in Sheffield, Milton Keynes, and Mablethorpe. Artist Laura Sorvala’s illustrations capture the impact of insecure lives and the policy interventions that could help build more secure futures.