The Minimum Income Standard (MIS), a method for constructing minimum household budgets based on public consensus, helps to operationalise Townsend's concept of a 'participatory social minimum'. Since 2008 MIS has tracked changes in the contents and cost of minimum baskets of goods and services. The article reflects on aspects of this research: the living standard that MIS represents, how consensus is reached and its record of providing consistent results over time. Understanding these features allows policy makers, practitioners and analysts to use the results of MIS appropriately, alongside other research, to benchmark the success of measures to promote adequate incomes.

Not enough is known in the UK about how economic phenomena and policy changes have impacted families' ability to feed themselves. This article employs a novel way of identifying the types of UK families at risk of food poverty over time. Applying a relative deprivation approach, it asks what counts in the UK as a socially acceptable diet that meets needs for health and social participation and how much this costs. Comparing this to actual food expenditure by different family types, between 2005 and 2013, it identifies which are spending less than expected and may be at risk of food poverty. The analysis finds the proportion has increased over time for most family types and for lone parents and large families in particular. The discussion considers findings in light of changing economic and policy contexts and the implications for policy responses of how food poverty is defined and measured.

The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) research gives an insight into living standards in the UK, and provides a way of tracking the (in)adequacy of incomes over time. As such it offers useful context for discussions of inequality. At the core of the research are deliberative groups held with members of the public who identify and discuss the goods and services that are considered necessary for a living standard that provides a socially acceptable minimum.

Debate regarding the relationship between individual and state has been prominent throughout the current UK government's term in office and localism has come to occupy a central role in current policy. This article argues that attempts to deliver this localist vision should focus on the critical role of social trust and that this is best developed through collaboration. The actions identified as necessary for delivering decentralisation are considered alongside a review of the view of localism articulated in Coalition policy. The article then explores collaboration and co-production as a means of strengthening social networks and delivering the promises of localism.

There is growing concern about a crisis in housing affordability in the UK, renewing longstanding debates about what constitutes 'affordable' housing. The growing use of the private rented sector by low income households has also led to increased interest in understanding the impact of housing costs on living standards. This paper builds on existing work on 'residual income' measures of housing affordability, accepting that what households can afford to pay for housing is related to their ability to cover other costs, and so not directly proportional to income. It proposes a new approach to defining and measuring housing affordability, based on the Minimum Income Standard (MIS).