CHALLENGE

The UK Government were planning to cut Universal Credit by £20 a week in October 2021.

The Trussell Trust predicted that this cut would have pushed over a million people to need a food bank. It seemed like the only way to stop the cut was for a public outcry against it.

The Trussell Trust joined a coalition of other organisations including The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Save The Children called Keep The Lifeline to campaign against the cut to Universal Credit. 

OUR APPROACH

Make noise about the planned cut to the general public to drive awareness, empathy and understanding. 

Evoke as many people as possible to speak out against the impending cut to capture the government’s attention. And alongside this, inspire people to take action by writing to their MP and putting pressure on the government to keep the lifeline.

WHAT WE DID

DEVELOPED a bold, creative campaign idea with Rally, supported by a sophisticated digital strategy that builds off our own campaigning knowledge and experience, and that of the Trussell Trust’s.

PRODUCED powerful campaign videos with Trago Studio to enrage and engage the public to take action.

ACTIVATED CELEB & INFLUENCER SUPPORT to maximise reach and inspire conversations.

DESIGNED CAMPAIGN CONTENT for the Trussell Trust’s organic and paid activity.

ORCHESTRATED A CREATIVE STUNT in Westminster around the Spending Review calling on the Government to make a U-turn on the cut to UC.

CREATED  REAL IMPACT by driving people to take action by emailing their MP, sharing their UC story whilst raising the profile of the Trussell Trust.

IMPACT

PUBLIC PRESSURE

Over 26,000 people wrote to their MP, covering every constituency in the UK but two (20k of these were new supporters)

A total of 27,316 emails were sent to MPs throughout the campaign period

771 media mentions

1,000 messages for Rishi Sunak from our CTA

Celeb & influencer support included that of Stephen Fry, Gina Miller, Gina Martin, Levi Root, Femi and Dr Amir Khan.

POLITICAL PRESSURE

The Trussell Trust’s work was mentioned 5 times and food banks generally 55 times in first two weeks of Parliament after recess (highest mention this year!)

Secured a PMQ with launch of survey results with Labour MP Mick Whitley

Built relationships with a range of Tory MPs

Open acknowledgment from a variety of political actors that social security was inadequate

POLICY WINS

Reduction in taper rate which will ease the pressure on about 2 million people on UC

£2-3 billion investment in UC

£500 million household support fund

UC extension

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“The creative, pragmatic and energetic people at If Not Now brought everything we were looking for to our Keep the Lifeline campaign and more. Without their excellent project management skills, fresh and innovative thinking and their can-do attitude, we wouldn’t have seen our audience engage with this public-facing policy campaign in the way they did.

A true member of our project team, they managed to achieve that difficult balance of developing a strategic and creative approach as well as getting stuck right in with delivery.”

Hannah McCulloch, Strategic Communications Manager of the Trussell Trust