Current campaigns
Following our listening to the citizens of Liverpool, the Chapter has formed the following action group to develop local actions:
Temporary accommodation
Across England over 170,000 children will sleep in temporary accommodation.In Liverpool there are 1715 households in temporary accommodation.Liverpool Citizens together with leaders in Birmingham, Manchester, Peterborough and London Citizens Chapters are committed to changing this.
Through the Citizens UK National Housing Campaign's work on Temporary Housing, we went to parliament in May 2025 to launch a research report, A Long Way from Home out of which came three national policy asks of government to:
1. Improve the conditions of temporary housing
2. Reduce time spent in temporary accommodation
3. Provide joined up support to households in temporary accommodation through notification including schools and GPs.
In November 2025, Peterborough Citizens Housing campaign confirmed that they no longer house any children in B&Bs or hotels, driving down the use of B&B accommodation overall by 73%.
The Liverpool Citizens Chapter is working with Cllr Liam Robinson, Leader of Liverpool City Council on the asks from our Accountability Assembly:
- To commit to implementing a notification system to notify schools and GPs when children are placed in temporary accommodation
- Provide guidance for schools and NHS primary care so they can tailor their support, including safeguarding, to the needs of households in temporary accommodation
- Implementing the five basics to help families and children in temporary accommodation to live with dignity (access to cooking facilities, laundry, storage, Wi-Fi and information)
- Commit to inspect the conditions of temporary accommodation before placing families
- Working with Combined Authority to provide free travel for children in temporary accommodation, including free travel for a parent or carer in the case of primary school children.
Bus services
In the Fazakerley area of Liverpool, school children, hospital staff and patients rely on our transport system every single day. With two major NHS hospitals and large schools in the same area, reliable transport is a necessity. Many citizens have been impacted by the delayed and overcrowded services when having to get to work, school and appointments on time. Particularly, persistent delays on the 62 bus which left hospital staff and patients late for work, and clinics, and often out of pocket, paying for taxis. Also, the 60 bus route, serving multiple schools, where overcrowding meant school children were taking hours to get home.
Through the genuine collaboration between the Chapter and Arriva over the past year, changes have been made to the timetables and additional buses have been put in place to improve the services.
Next steps are to work to address abuse and racism on the buses and develop the new Arriva App for an accurate, live App which will include a real-time reporting system.
Train services
Our communities have told us how much they depend on trains being reliable and well-communicated. Yet they are frequently left standing on platforms due to delays and cancellations, particularly during the morning rush hour. These are often announced just as the train is due to arrive. And when the announcements are made, they can't always be heard because the PA systems are muffled and don't work properly. Also, there are sometimes different reasons given for the delays which just worsens the confidence and trust in the service.
For those who come from the Wirral to work in Liverpool, people are left in limbo at Moorfields Station due to frequent delays and cancellations. Because connectivity at Moorfields is so limited, updates are unable to be checked, unable to plan alternative routes or contact places of work. Also, passenger assistance and support is not clearly available.
At The Walton Centre, examples include patients who have travelled miles only to be delayed on the local Merseyrail line, and clinical staff who arrive late to see patients because of delays and at time have had to resort to using private taxis at significant personal cost. Also, when trying to claim a refund, many give up trying due to continuous difficulties with the process.
Merseyrail committed at our Founding Assembly in November 2025 to work with the Chapter and since then, two meetings have been held to explore the issues raised by our community who rely on the network daily. The Chapter is in the process of arranging a third meeting to continue to work through the commitments made at the Chapter's Accountability Assembly:
- To work to improve the overall passenger experience when trains are cancelled or delayed, including ensuring that the PA systems work at all platforms, that announcements are clear and timely, and that the App accurately shows which parts of a journey are affected
- Clearer in-station guidance across underground stations so that passengers know exactly how to access support during cancellations
- Improve the visibility and ease of claiming refunds across the network, so that passengers understand their rights and can claim compensation simply and quickly when services are not fulfilled
Access to dental services
Although access to NHS dental services and emergency care are national issues, research shows that Liverpool citizens are disproportionately affected. At our Accountability Assembly, we gained support from the power holds to work with us to end dental deserts in the city and facilitate access to dentistry for those who need to resort to emergency dentists (Urgent Care Plus). Stakeholder engagement is being undertaken with the University of Liverpool through the Hesletine Institute and the School of Dentistry, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board and Healthwatch.
Community cohesion
We have continued to build trust across our differences. A Deep Dive conversation on community cohesion was held in July 2025 at which members from our communities across the Chapter came together to share their stories and to listen to people's experiences of division and connection in Liverpool, including experiences of racism and islamophobia. It was clear that many within the Chapter were impacted. It was about coming together from different parts of the city, different faiths, different ethnicities, and having conversations to share how we feel with each other without prejudice or stigma. The outcomes fed into a wider piece of work being undertaken by Citizens UK in partnership with the University of Central London and More in Common following last year's attacks and riots, to understand why they had happened and what could be done to prevent them happening in the future. The This Place Matters: reimagining community cohesion in Britain report is available via the link: www.ucl.ac.uk/policylab/sites/policy_lab/files/this_place_matters_ucl_citizens_mic_july_2025.pdf