Riah is a member of the Better Work Network’s lived experience group. Read about their reflections joining the group and the difference they hope sharing their experience of work can make.

Ava is a member of the Better Work Network’s lived experience group. They live in West London and work as a delivery driver for a well-known online retailer. Read their perspective on the importance of connection and voice in one of the fastest growing roles in the gig economy.

Kristal is a member of the Better Work Network’s lived experience group. They live in South West London and work as a teaching assistant. Read about their experience accessing skills development opportunities at work, and how they think improved access to training could help to support employee wellbeing, performance and progression.

Low paid Londoners have borne the brunt of the coronavirus crisis, according to new research which warns that the capital will be both poorer and less equal.

As we move towards the next stage of the crisis, the government should rightly focus on tackling unemployment. However, the issue of good work – that was not long ago at the top of policy makers agenda – must not lose prominence.

While successive governments have touted ‘work as the best route out of poverty’, the rising tide of working poor across the UK tells another story. The growth in high risk, low remuneration jobs – typified by the gig economy, zero-hour contracts and other forms of casualised labour – has meant that work doesn’t always pay.

Low pay and the quality of work are problems for many people living in the capital but a new network plans to find the best ways of tackling this.

Data from the 2017 London Poverty Profile paints a mixed picture for Londoners. Whilst employment participation has steadily improved across the capital – 73% of the working-age population now in employment – other indicators tell a different tale.

Families with children are the most likely to be locked in poverty despite being in work, and the risk of in-work poverty has increased for them since 2010 – especially lone parents.