About TAP

Taxpayers Against Poverty

TAP was founded by the late Reverend Paul Nicolson, who sadly died on 5th March 2020. On 4th March, Paul was due to continue his sit down protest, this time outside Downing Street to call for urgent action on behalf of the homeless. This was just a few weeks after a similar protest outside Church House in London where the Church of England Synod were meeting. At just 87 years he was a campaigner to the end. You can read an obituary in Church Times and in The Guardian.

We were founded with this letter in The Guardian on the 16th February 2012. TAP is not a charity but has registered as a not for profit company so we are publically accountable for our  income and expenditure. TAP is funded with voluntary donations, if you would like to help our campaign to help those who are homeless or are financially struggling then please donate here. Not being a charity means we are free from the political restrictions of the Charity commission. We act without allegiance to any political party.

The TAP constitution can be found here. The objects include;

“The prevention or relief of poverty [or financial hardship] and the promotion of human rights as set out in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent United Nations and European Conventions and Declarations in the United Kingdom by all or any of the following means.”

Article 25 of the UDHR covers economic and social rights.

The inspiring Rev Paul is truly a hard act to follow, but his work will continue.  Paul was the driving force behind Taxpayers Against Poverty and is of course irreplaceable. We now have a small executive team to carry on his work and also formed an advisory group of campaigners, experts and friends who supported him in his work and who often came to him for advice and vice versa. We are pleased that Rev Paul’s daughter Krissie Nicolson has agreed to be on the executive team.

Taxpayers Against Poverty works closely with its sister organisation Compassion in Politics  which campaigns to bring more compassion into public life. TAP also has a close relationship with the charity Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K), which was also founded by Rev Paul.

 

TAP Board

  • Tom Burgess, Chair
  • John Tizard, TAP Director
  • Matt Hawkins, Joint Founder and Director of Compassion in Politics
  • Fred Harrison
  • Krissie Nicolson

Executive Team

  • Tom Burgess (Chair)
  • John Tizard (Director)
  • Krissie Nicolson (Community)
  • Siobhan Gardibaldi (Fundraising)
  • Jennifer Nadel (Compassion in Politics)
  • Matt Hawkins (Compassion in Politics)

 

Advisory Board

  • Alison Gelder
  • Frances Ballin
  • Fred Harrison
  • Gill Wing
  • Ian Wise
  • Joe Ryan
  • Nicholas Sagovsky
  • Paul Regan
  • Richard Murphy
  • Stephen Hill

 

Supporters

Currently TAP does not have a paid membership but does have more than 24,000 followers to our Facebook page and a growing mailing list that receives regular updates. Sign up here.

 

Volunteers

TAP is looking to build a volunteer support team. We are particularly looking for committed people with skills and experience, in community organising, local family support, political campaigning, event organising, social media and well as organising volunteers, so please let us know if you would like to help and be part of the team by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

Partners

TAP is also developing a network of like-minded campaigning groups whom we support and seek cooperation. The aim is maximise our collective efforts to bring change to a fairer society where the good health and wellbeing of all UK citizens in or out of work is a national priority. If you think your organisation would benefit from partnering with Taxpayers Against Poverty, please let us know by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)