The Family Commission

The Family Commission was an 18 month inquiry into family life in Britain. The Commission talked to 10,000 families across the country and published its findings in October 2010.

The aims of the Family Commission were to untangle some of the complex realities of families in the UK, to understand how families manage in the changing world, what the state can and should be doing to help them do so, and to explore some of the tensions which people still feel. It sought to identify key aspects of support needed – from housing, financial support, child and eldercare to social services.

Families told us that their daily experience was of politicians’ good intentions not effectively being translated from Whitehall to the village hall, and how Britain has become trapped with an outdated system that fails to understand their aspirations and cannot cope with the fast paced changes of modern life. The perception of families is of a state that either ignores them or tries to take over.

The Commission’s report maps out a route to change the dynamic between family and state – putting families in the driving seat. To find out more, read the report Starting a Family Revolution: Putting families in charge or the the Starting a Family Revolution summary leaflet.