Inequality in Birmingham is a crisis. The 4.3m people living in and around Birmingham live in a place with incredible wealth, but that wealth in extremely unequally shared. Areas like Solihull are among the richest in the UK outside of London, while other areas are some of the UK’s most deprived. We’re working on several projects in Birmingham and the West Midlands aimed towards implementing the socio-economic duty locally.

The project has two parts. The first is focused on working with working with people with lived experience of economic disadvantage in Birmingham, training community reporters, and supporting movements for equality in the West Midlands. The second is that we’re working with Birmingham City Council to support their implementation of the socio-economic duty and gathering evidence on best practice, as well as looking at other institutions and systems within Birmingham that community reporter groups believe can create change.

Through these actions, we’re working to ensure that inequality is looked at through an intersectional lens and that the experiences of those on the sharp end of inequality are central to Birmingham’s future.

“The Equality Trust and Community Reporters Network have played a massive part in my life in the sense that I now have confidence in my voice and also the importance of recording peoples stories to bring about impactful change. I absolutely cannot wait to use community reporting to make important changes. I have so many ideas!“

Sarah H, Community Reporter in Birmingham

Community Reporting

We are working with People’s Voice Media and using their model of community reporting to develop a network of community reporters who are interested in telling personal stories about inequality in Birmingham.

Though 2023-2024, we worked with some of these community reporters to develop (via workshops, training, and mentoring) their knowledge and confidence around socio-economic inequality, how to speak to power, and how to advocate for changes to the systems that entrench inequality. We held workshops and capacity-building training for community reporters over the first six months of the project. We then developed the porject in together with these community reporters over the last six months of the project, showcasing stories and knowledge in whatever way they determined, including creating the Conversations of Change film.

We continue to train community reporters in Birmingham and support local campaigns based on their experiences.

Become a Birmingham Community Reporter

February 2025

Do you want to learn new skills, meet new people, and be part of an exciting, growing movement in Birmingham of people and organisations committed to a more equal future for Birmingham?

We’re working with people in Birmingham to use storytelling as part of ending socio-economic inequality in Birmingham – the difference in access to a decent income and standard of living, public services like education or healthcare, employment opportunities, and other support when we need it based on your social class.

We are looking for a new group of people living in Birmingham to train as volunteer community reporters, who will learn about socio-economic inequality, collect and curate stories, and work with us on making meaningful change.You’ll seek out storytellers to share their experiences, turn these stories into a powerful narrative, and together we create a vision of why, where, and how we change Birmingham for people impacted by socio-economic inequality.

If you want to know more or would like to get involved we’d love to hear from you. We extend a specific invitation if you’ve never done something like this before; if you are from Black or other Global Majority background; are a young, disabled or LGBTQIA+ person; or are from any other marginalised group. Lots of us experience unfair treatment because of who you are, the colour of your skin, how you look, your disability status, your religion, gender, sexuality, your social class, or any other way of being, and the inequality crisis affects us all differently. 

Limited places are available, so apply now!

Contact for more info: charlie.mcneill@equalitytrust.org.uk or apply via this form

Apply now!

The Socio-Economic Duty in Birmingham

The socio-economic duty (SED) requires public bodies to adopt transparent and effective measures to address the inequalities that result from differences in occupation, education, place of residence, or social class. Progress has already been made in parts of the UK. In April 2018 the Scottish Parliament enacted the Fairer Scotland Duty, which is the name given to the socio-economic duty in Scotland, followed by Wales in 2021. A number of local councils in the UK have adopted some of the key policies of the socio-economic duty. 

We’re working with Birmingham City Council to support them to implement the socio-economic duty, reflecting on best practices as highlighted in Just Fair’s briefing “Tackling Socio-Economic Inequalities Locally” – focusing especially on working with people with lived experience of the sharp end of inequality. Alongside this, we have convened an advisory panel made up of experts from the statutory and voluntary sectors with and without lived experiences of the sharp end of socio-economic inequalities. This panel will help to inform our work with other local authorities outside of Birmingham, alongside research on its implementation. 

This project is funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust under their Economic Justice stream.

Other Community Reporting Projects