Overview

38 Degrees is a community of more than a million people who – in a moment away from their busy days – take small actions on issues they care about, which all add up to something bigger, a movement for a better Britain for everyone who calls our country home. 

A Britain where we all get a fair chance in life and where the place we were born, or the area we live in, doesn’t decide that chance. Where we protect our planet and hold those in power to account for doing the same, and where we are treated, and treat one another, with respect.

We come from all walks of life; we’re nurses, taxi drivers, parents, shopkeepers, pensioners and more. 

Too often people like us are told we can’t make a difference.

A handful of powerful, often wealthy people have made it their mission to divide us so that they can force through laws and rules that suit their narrow interests and line their pockets, all while trashing our living standards and our environment in the process. 

But whether we’re older or younger, from a big city or a small town, whether we’re Black, white, Asian or Brown, scraping to get by or a bit more comfortable – we know that when we come together, we can be powerful. 

Because, through our people-powered campaigning in 2022…We fought for a country where we are treated, and where we treat one another, with respect –  having played our part in pulling down a PM who partied during lockdown, while the rest of us were locked away from loved ones and denied final goodbyes.

In November, we flew a message over the I’m A Celebrity jungle to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, on behalf of families who lost someone during Covid and we lit up the national media in the process.

And when the world changed earlier this year, we responded. We extended the respect and humanity we fight for in the UK to refugees fleeing conflict. Using the war in Ukraine as a catalyst for our partnership with the Refugee Council, we mobilised thousands of people to donate £66,673.70 and take action, so that Britain could live up to the prouder moments in our history, offering a sanctuary to those in need, just as we did during the Kindertransport in WWII.

We fought for a country where everyone gets a fair chance in life. Where the place we were born, or the area we live in, doesn’t decide that chance. Where it’s not ‘one rule for them’, and another for the rest of us – by calling on the Government who crashed the economy and tanked our living standards to rip up their disaster budget and replace it with the rescue plan families and our public services needed all along.

What did we achieve?

1,282,263 people who, through 38 Degrees, took time out of their busy days to add their name to a campaign or petition, share their stories or a photograph, write to their MP, pop a poster in their window or chip in a few pounds for a newspaper advert or attention grabbing stunt. We achieved this:

Held a lawbreaking PM to account: Partygate

Lockdown looked very different inside and outside No 10… When pictures emerged of a Prime Minister partying in Downing Street while the rest of us stayed home to save lives, saying final goodbyes to loved ones on facetime or through a window, we said enough was enough.

Hundreds of thousands of us channelled our anger and disgust at the rank hypocrisy shown by those who should have been leading us through a pandemic, and sent pictures of OUR lockdowns, showing just how different they looked. What did 38 Degrees do with them? We used that infamous image of Boris Johnson raising a toast during a national lockdown, and built it pixel by pixel from the thousands of images of our lockdowns – sticking by the rules, sacrificing so much to save lives. And we splashed it across our nation’s best regional newspapers, so they couldn’t help but notice us.

Combine that iconic image with thousands upon thousands of emails and handwritten letters supporters sent to their Conservative MPs about the impact No 10’s rule breaking had on them and their families – and we helped showcase the wave of very real public anger that the then Prime Minister simply couldn’t survive.

Piled on the pressure for an energy price cap and Windfall Tax on energy giants

The threat of rocketing energy bills has caused so many sleepless nights for families across our country this year. So when Ofgem launched a consultation on the energy price cap, we helped 39,260 members of the public share their own experiences. Their actions, along with the story of one of our supporters – a mum and NHS worker living in Huddersfield – made headlines on the ITV news at 10. To make sure the then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak definitely heard us? We asked people to post their spiralling energy bills to No 11 Downing Street…and 92,000 more of us signed a petition calling on energy giants to pay their fair share, before Sunak announced a £5 billion windfall tax in the Spring statement.

Ripped up a disaster budget

In September, as the country looked for anew PM to finally deliver the rescue plan we desperately needed from a cost of living crisis, Liz Truss’ mini budget – which uncapped bankers bonuses, cut taxes for the wealthiest and protected record profits from energy giants – crashed our economy and turned the crisis into a catastrophe instead.

So what did we do? With people across our country too scared to put on their heating, struggling to put food on the table, facing rocketing mortgage payments if they could get mortgages at all and fearing for their pensions and their homes, we came together to say one thing loud and clear: RIP IT UP and rescue families and our public services instead.

Thousands of us chipped in for polling to prove just how huge the public backlash was, showing the scale of electoral wipeout that keeping this budget would mean for Conservative MPs, and zooming in on the real lives and stories at stake – we didn’t just get them to change one or two plans. We got them to rip up the entire thing, and in the process, we saw our second PM resign in disgrace this year.

Fought for a lifeline for families like Kingsley’s

As part of the rescue plan we’re fighting for, we joined forces with two people to help us make the splash we needed. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown came out fighting in support of 38 Degrees’ calls to make sure Universal Credit – a lifeline for so many families – kept up with soaring prices in the shops. And Kingsley, a little boy from Brighton, whose mum Merve relies on Universal Credit, delivered our message – backed by the former PM, Save the Children and a huge coalition of anti-poverty charities – and standing on a box of signatures from 404,790 more of us, direct to Downing Street.

Together, with former Prime Ministers and one little boy at the heart of our campaign,
we won. So many families still face a huge struggle this winter but, thanks to all of us, this is one worry to scratch off their list.

You can read what 1000+ supporters told us about how the cost of living crisis was affecting them on costoflivingmap.com – every single pin on our map tells a story.

Celebrated our BBC at 100 and proved the public back Channel 4

2022 was the year our BBC turned 100. Together, we celebrated our favourite moments – from the Queen sharing a final marmalade sandwich with Paddington Bear and Del Boy falling through the bar, to reporting we relied on: coverage of Nelson Mandela’s walk to freedom and, only recently, BBC news reporting from bomb shelters in Ukraine to bring us the truth about Russia’s war on the country. We splashed our message on billboards across the country: we the British public value our BBC and we’ll fight to protect it, in the face of Government cuts to its funding, hollowing out services we depend on and dodging the accountability only a public service broadcaster can bring.

Talking of public service broadcasters Britain can be proud of, this year we also launched a wholesale defence of Channel 4. It looks like the 257,082 people who have taken action on the Channel 4 privatisation campaign, “Telling the Government: Channel 4 is not for sale, hands off!…”, might just have made the difference. News suggests ministers may be backing off from their flawed plans to sell our broadcaster after we helped 43,538 people submit to the Government’s consultation, proving that a whopping 96% of us oppose the sale.

Came together to support people fleeing war in Ukraine

Raising £66,673.70 for our valued partners at the Refugee Council who support those fleeing conflict and help them rebuild their lives. Thousands of us also showed that
we have the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in the world, by forcing the Government to support local councils with more resources to aid resettlement when we welcome those fleeing conflict to the UK. We know people want to rebuild their lives, we told the Government to get out of their way and help them do so.

Gambling with lives

Annie Ashton tragically lost her husband to gambling related suicide after he was given ‘free bets’ by gambling companies.
So she started a petition with 38 Degrees calling on the Government to bring in new laws to protect people and make gambling safer. Already 82,000 people have joined her campaign, and together we helped make sure Annie’s story was front and centre way in the national media.

Fair Football Campaign

The national game exists in a world where the cream at the top take all of the cash, and everyone below struggles. So 38 Degrees supporters have been working hard to pressure the Government to take on the recommendations of the fan-led review and make the beautiful game even better.

2022 in Numbers: How did we do it?

1,282,263 people signed their name to a cause

4,940,263 people engaged with our content across our social channels

3,169 people started their own petition

6,231 people shared their stories to show exactly how the cost of living crisis was affecting our country

Here’s where the power in our movement came from:

We can’t make the change we all want to see in this country alone. So we’ve been working with campaign organisations and media outlets to build an even stronger movement. From partnering with The Mirror to call for Black History to be taught in our schools, and a General Election when we were on our second unelected PM in a row, to working with Warm This Winter, the Refugee Council, HOPE not hate, Gambling With Lives, Save the Children, Black Women for Black Lives, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, The Climate Coalition, Covid Bereaved Families For Justice, Tax Justice, City to Sea, Surfers Against Sewage. Together, we’re stronger.

But there is so much more to do.

2023 can be the year that we make the country we call home a better place for all of us, and it’ll happen because we’ll do it together. Hundreds of thousands of us taking time out of our days to help move us, step by step, towards the fairer, more sustainable place we’re fighting for, where we are treated – and treat each other – with respect.

Here’s to how we pulled together to get through this year, and what we’ll win together in 2023.

NHS staff had endured twelve months on the frontlines of the pandemic, working flat out and risking their lives to keep us safe. For some, this proposed ‘rise’ meant nothing more than £3.50 a week. With inflation, it represented a real-terms pay CUT. Frankly, this was outrageous. We had all clapped for the NHS, now it was time to act for our healthcare heroes.

We kicked off a massive campaign to show the Government just how unfair this proposal was, highlighting the British public’s support for NHS workers to get the pay rise they deserved. We mobilised hundreds of thousands of supporters up and down the country to amplify NHS staff’s demands and to hold politicians accountable.

Boldly leading the charge were our supporters in the NHS who were themselves impacted by this insulting proposal. 38 Degrees helped 1,000 NHS staffers send back their pitiful £3.50 weekly rise to the Prime Minister to emphasise what this pay ‘rise’ really looked like.

Among these was Barbara, a 38 Degrees supporter, who felt compelled to go to London and deliver 3,500 £1 coins in a wheelbarrow to 10 Downing Street. Barbara spoke to Good Morning Britain about NHS workers’ response to this “devastating” proposal, sharing exactly why the Government needed to “do better”.

This morning, NHS nurses will deliver a wheelbarrow with £3,500 in coins to Downing Street.

It represents the estimated 1,000 NHS workers who have returned the govt’s 1% pay rise.@ranvir01 speaks to nurse Barbara who will be delivering the wheelbarrow. pic.twitter.com/IgYt74ukUk

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 26, 2021

Barbara’s incredible action drew vital attention to this slap in the face for NHS workers, including coverage in ITV West Country News and West Wales Chronicle.

Meanwhile, over 190,000 of us signed a petition to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Chancellor of the Exchequer, where we called for NHS staff to receive the proper pay rise they deserve. Our community went on to chip in for a full-page ad in The Times, calling on the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to do the right thing. 

Almost 40,000 again asked the Prime Minister to listen to NHS workers after the resignation of nurse Jenny McGee, who personally cared for him when he was in hospital with coronavirus. Jenny felt she had no choice but to quit over the pay situation. Every time 100 of us clicked ‘ASK BORIS’, his office received an email about this. With more than 400 emails, we left the Prime Minister and his team in no doubt that we wanted to see our NHS workers rewarded after all they had done for us.

From start to end, this campaign was a hugely collective effort. Our supporters did an exceptional job of raising their voices for NHS workers, sending tens of thousands of emails to their MPs asking them to fight for a fairer pay rise. To hold MPs to account, we built an online leaderboard of their positions on this so the public could judge them by their actions.

We amplified our supporters’ messages through online ads in the Mirror and regional news websites, as well as creating social media ads. These were seen by hundreds of thousands of people, building the momentum behind NHS workers.

We also spread the word offline to make sure as many eyes as possible were on this unfair situation. Our community displayed thousands of posters across the length and breadth of the UK. We also plastered this message on the front page of the Chancellor’s local paper, the Yorkshire Post, underscoring how more than 30,000 nurses in the county had battled the virus on the frontline.

We didn’t stop there. Over 100,000 of us signed an open letter that we sent to the NHS Pay Review Body. We asked this public body to do right by NHS workers, as they had done by us. We made clear that the Government’s 1% pay rise was an insult to NHS workers and expressed concern that this lowball offer could shift the goal posts of what was acceptable. We highlighted the fact that the British public overwhelmingly believed NHS staff deserved a real pay rise to reflect the blood, sweat and tears they had put into keeping us all safe throughout the pandemic.

This campaign to secure a fair pay rise in light of our NHS workers’ sacrifices is just one part of the picture. The state of our NHS and the Government’s plan to fix it are nowhere near acceptable. Our healthcare heroes remain overworked and underpaid. It’s not on. We demand the Government acts to resource our NHS properly, stop creeping privatisation, value NHS staff and fill workforce gaps, and give the NHS the funding it needs.

Do you agree? Sign this petition to protect our NHS.

In October 2020, Parliament voted against extending a scheme to keep Britain’s most vulnerable kids fed over the school holidays. Spearheaded by footballer Marcus Rashford, the public demand to end holiday hunger had led to meal vouchers being offered to families in need that summer – but now, 322 Conservative MPs had decided that help should end. 

When the results of the vote came in, Portia Lawrie, a freelance writer and textile designer from Essex, felt “so angry” that she knew she had to do something. Heading to the 38 Degrees site, she set up her petition: ‘no public money for MPs’ meals’. She wanted to force a change by shining a light on the ‘hypocrisy’ of voting against feeding children before heading off to enjoy a cut-price dinner funded by the public purse. And it turned out that more than 1 million people agreed with her. 

Her petition captured the public mood, tapping into a sense of outrage that those with power and privilege could leave children scared about where their next meal was coming from – while enjoying cheap dinners at the taxpayers’ expense. 

MPs are allowed to eat and drink alcohol in parliamentary restaurants and bars which, while not directly subsidised, run at a loss and so are effectively subsidised with public money. In the year 2020/21, the costs of running the catering services minus the sales income was £9.1 million [1].

Portia said: “I wanted to point out the clear hypocrisy between that and the food and drink the public subsidise for MP’s whilst denying support to those most in need of it. I couldn’t quite believe what I was watching unfold as hundreds of thousands of  people threw their support behind it in less than 24 hours. 

“It’s simply unfair that the government [was] refusing to use OUR money for one of the most basic responsibilities of a compassionate society – feeding hungry children.”

In the aftermath of the vote, a huge public outcry, which included Portia’s petition, forced the Government into a U-turn. On November 8, ministers announced a £396m support fund to provide free school meals over the next three school holidays. While the fight to keep all our children properly fed, in school and out, goes on, this campaign meant millions of meals for families who might otherwise have gone without. 

Portia’s story shows how approaching a campaign from a slightly different angle, in this case, shining a light on MP’s own behaviour, can be a brilliant way to engage people, piling on public pressure and forcing decision makers into a change. 

References: https://fullfact.org/online/parliament-food-subsidised/