In June 2010 home secretary Theresa May called for CRB checks to be ‘scaled back to common sense levels’. Yet a Manifesto Club report reveals that councils are wasting millions on unnecessary CRB checks – at a time of cutbacks in frontline…
On-the-spot fines have become the ‘penalty of choice’ for public authorities including the police, local authorities and schools. Almost unknown a decade ago, these £75 or £80 fines are now issued for a whole range of incidents, some as serious as theft…
A new Manifesto Club report documents how red-tape visa controls have damaged UK academic life. The report, Students Under Watch, by Valerie Hartwich, shows how visa rules have led to a massive extension of surveillance on campus, and a humiliating and hostile…
Following on from our report, The Myth of Racist Kids, we have now published an in-depth investigation of the hate-speech reporting systems that brand 34,000 children ‘racist’ or ‘homophobic’ every year. Leave Those Kids Alone, by Adrian Hart, shows the extent of…
With the coalition government planning tougher penalties for under-age serving, our new report finds that ‘Think 25’ policies are already penalising thousands of innocent adults. 28 ¾: How Constant Age Checks Are Infantilising Adults, by Dolan Cummings, finds that adults in their…
The Manifesto Club has published the first in-depth study showing the damaging effect of child protection policies on the voluntary sector. The report, Volunteering Made Difficult, includes dozens of testimonies from volunteers; and also unpacks statistics released to the Manifesto Club under…
On 17 March 2010, we submitted the Manifesto Club petition against the points-based visa system to 10 Downing Street – with over 10,000 signatures, including artists and writers such as Antony Gormley, Jeremy Deller, Maureen Duffy and Anne Fine. To mark the…
As the Home Office announces the tightening of the points-based visa system for international students, a new Manifesto Club report shows that the system has already barred thousands of genuine students from the UK. The points-based visa system (rolled out in March 2009)…
NEW: A Manifesto Club briefing finds that 13 year olds are being regularly vetted to help with younger children. See the briefing, Vetting Children A report by the Manifesto Club shows how Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks are undermining teenage volunteers. Vetting…
Policing the Public Gaze: The Assault on Citizen Photography, by Pauline Hadaway, director of Belfast Exposed gallery, reveals the growing restriction of citizen photography – by community safety wardens, private security guards, and self-appointed ‘jobsworths’. This ranges from children being told that…
The Manifesto Club has launched a report on the police abuse of alcohol confiscation powers, Robbed by the Police: Alcohol confiscation and the hyperregulation of public space. Alcohol control zones were supposedly created to tackle serious public disorder – yet police officers…