Dr Andrew Jolly

Department of Social Work and Social Care
Assistant Professor

Contact details

Email: a.jolly.1@bham.ac.uk

Address: Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Andy Jolly is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Care. He teaches on both the BA and MA programmes, and has research interests around social work practice with migrant families, food poverty and bordering practices in social care.

Qualifications

PhD Social Policy, University of Birmingham, 2020

MA Social Work, University of Birmingham, 2007

BA (Hons) Politics, University of Leicester, 2002

Biography

Before qualifying as a social worker, Andy worked in residential care for ex-offenders and drug rehabilitation. He trained as a social worker at the University of Birmingham and worked as a hospital social worker before managing a project working with migrant children and families who had No Recourse to Public Funds.

After taking part in the IRiS Community Practitioner Research Programme as a practitioner researcher, he undertook a PhD which explored the experiences of household food security in households with an irregular migration status in Birmingham.

Prior to working at the University of Birmingham he was a researcher at the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton, and lectured in Social Work at the University of Plymouth.

His subsequent research has explored early action approaches with refugees and migrants, the health and wellbeing of undocumented migrant children in London and the impact of law and policy on children’s experiences of neglect.

Postgraduate supervision

Andy welcomes proposals for doctoral and post-doctoral research in the following areas:

Household Food Security in the UK
Bordering Practices in Social Work and Social Care
Child Poverty
Social Work with Refugee and Migrant Populations
Participatory and community research methods

Research

Stand for Change Participatory Evaluation (Trussell Trust)

No Recourse Early Action Model (What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care)

LA Response to People with NRPF during the pandemic (Paul Hamlyn Foundation)

Children and Young People who are not British Citizens (Greater London Authority)

Early Action Charter Programme (Refugee Action)

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Cefalo, R, Rose, M & Jolly, A (eds) 2023, Social Policy Review 35: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2023. Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447369219

Article

Rayment-Jones, H, Burton, S, Dasgupta, T, Barry, Z, De Backer, K, Baker, N, Wilson, CA, Stevenson, K, Vowles, Z, Kitchen, K, Easter, A, Jolly, A, Rankin, J, Fernandez-Turienzo, C, Sandall, J, The eLIXIR Born in South London Partnership, Poston, L, Magee, LA, Stewart, R, Edwards, D, Ashworth, M, Sandall, J, Wolfe, I, Gillett, C, Absoud, M, Pickard, L, Grey, A, Spring, S, Kazeem, T, Jewell, A, Broadbent, M, Higgins, F, de Jongh, L, Dasgupta, T & Gill, C 2026, 'Access and engagement with maternity, social care and mental health services for perinatal migrant women with no recourse to public funds and irregular status: A cross-sectional study using the eLIXIR born in South London, UK, maternity-child data linkage', Public Health, vol. 252, 106175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2026.106175

Hopley, R, Caulfield, L & Jolly, A 2023, '“I’ll live better, stay away from crime”: exploring the reintegration of former prisoners into the community through a music programme', Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 351-366. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-12-2022-0033

Jolly, A 2023, 'The “PERSPECS” principles: early action and migrant children with no recourse to public funds', Journal of Children's Services, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 147-163. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-12-2021-0056

Jolly, A & Gupta, A 2022, 'Children and families with no recourse to public funds: Learning from case reviews', Children & Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12646

Hermansson, L, Lundberg, A, Gruber, S, Jolly, A, Lind, J, Righard, E & Scott, H 2022, 'Firewalls: A necessary tool to enable social rights for undocumented migrants in social work', International Social Work, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 678–692. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872820924454

Caulfield, L, Jolly, A, Simpson, E & Devi-McGleish, Y 2022, '‘It’s Not Just Music, It Helps You from Inside’: Mixing Methods to Understand the Impact of Music on Young People in Contact With the Criminal Justice System', Youth Justice, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 67-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225420938151

Jolly, A, Singh, J & Lobo, S 2022, 'No recourse to public funds: a qualitative evidence synthesis', International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 107-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijmhsc-11-2021-0107

Begum, K, Flint, T, Hunt, G, Jolly, A & Stringer, A 2022, 'Reflecting on Early Help with Migrant Families: A View from Practice', Practice, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 197-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503153.2021.2023489

Jolly, A & Thompson, J 2022, 'Risk of food insecurity in undocumented migrant households in Birmingham, UK', Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdab408

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Jolly, A 2023, Insecurity and Abundance: Food and Belonging in a Hostile Environment. in L Lessard-Phillips, A Papoutsi, N Sigona & P Ziss (eds), Migration, displacement and diversity: The IRiS anthology. Oxford Publishing Services, Oxford, pp. 225-229.

Chapter

Jolly, A 2022, Social inclusion, immigration legislation, and social services. in P Liamputtong (ed.), Handbook of Social Inclusion: Research and Practices in Health and Social Sciences. 1 edn, Springer, pp. 2259-2274. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89594-5_133

Foreword/postscript

Cefalo, R, Rose, M & Jolly, A 2023, Global developments in social policy research. in Social Policy Review 35: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2023. 1 edn, Policy Press, pp. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447369219.int001

Review article

Rayment-Jones, DH, Mohamud, Y, Lovell, H, Rankin, J, Sandall, J, Peeren, S, Dube, M, Hector-Jack, N-S, Barry, Z, Turienzo, CF, Sowah, E, Stacey, T, Castaner, M, Aquino, MRJ, Jolly, A, Broadhead, J, Haith-Cooper, M, Easter, A & Burton, S 2026, 'Maternal and early childhood health and social outcomes of migrants in high-income countries and the impact of policies that restrict access to healthcare; a systematic review and meta-analysis', Journal of Migration and Health, vol. 13, 100391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2025.100391

Hoare, JP, Thomas, S & Jolly, A 2025, 'Early action in the asylum support sector: a scoping review', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 96–116. https://doi.org/10.1332/17598273Y2024D000000021

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