Loughborough University
Leicestershire, UK
LE11 3TU
+44 (0)1509 222222
Loughborough University

Centre for Research in Social Policy

Illustration of people in a park

Centre for Research in Social Policy

The Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) specialises in applied research and policy analysis on issues around poverty and the living standards of low income households.

Shopping basket full of food

MINIMUM INCOME STANDARD

The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) is an on-going programme of research to define what level of income is needed in order to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living in the UK today.

Find out more
UK map surrounded by money

THE LIVING WAGE

The Living Wage is the minimum amount paid voluntarily by accredited employers to allow workers to make ends meet: £9.00 an hour, or £10.55 in London. The calculation of these rates use CRSP's Minimum Income Standard to work out what income households need.

Find out more
Blog photo

CRSP Blog

Visit our blog.

Find out more

The Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) is an independent research centre based in the School of Social Sciences at Loughborough University. Over the past 30 years, it has built a national and international reputation for high quality applied policy research.

The Centre’s biggest role at present is the researching and analysis of A Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom. Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this is the leading standard of its kind in the UK, where it is being used to set the living wage, and is being replicated in other countries seeking to establish benchmarks for acceptable household income levels rooted in social consensus.