A research unit based at the University of York which has been developing policies to help vulnerable people for the last 35 years will be honoured this Friday in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
The university’s Social Policy Research Unit will receive a Queen’s Anniversary Prize For Higher And Further Education.
The Unit has influenced government policy and changed the delivery of services to people experiencing poverty, ageing, disability, chronic illness, family crisis, abuse or neglect.
The Units latest research, which examined the financial impact on a family of the death of a child revealed that family income could drop by 72% immediately after the loss, and as a result child benefit was extended for up to 8 weeks after the death of a child.
The Unit has also been the driving force behind such schemes as, the first refuge for children in Glasgow, a national service framework for runaways and an integrated policy for missing young people.
The Royal accolade is the fourth to be conferred on the University in 13 years. Queen’s Anniversary Prizes were awarded to the University in 1996 for the excellence of its work in Computer Science, in 2005 for the pioneering work of CNAP (Centre for Novel Agricultural Products) in Biology, and in 2007 for the contribution made by the Centre for Health Economics for the way it has helped to shape public health care.