Tag: deprivation

What a waste: Holyrood spends £100 million to mitigate Tory welfare cuts

This year more than £100 million has been spent to mitigate the effects of UK Government austerity and this money could have been better spent on more anti-poverty measures, Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has said. Continue reading What a waste: Holyrood spends £100 million to mitigate Tory welfare cuts

Righting the Wrongs: Poverty Alliance launches general election manifesto

Poverty campaigners have published their demands for the next UK Government, with calls for a range of policy commitments to help stem the rising tide of poverty.

In Righting the wrongs: A manifesto to tackle poverty, the Poverty Alliance urge the next UK Government to put solving poverty at the heart of all that it does, including by creating a more compassionate social security system, building a labour market that works for everyone, and protecting people on low incomes from the effects of Brexit. Continue reading Righting the Wrongs: Poverty Alliance launches general election manifesto

State of Hunger: new report reveals desperate struggle to survive

Commissioned by the Trussell Trust and conducted by Heriot-Watt University, State of Hunger 2019 is the most authoritative piece of independent research into hunger in the UK to date. It reveals the average weekly income of people at food banks is only £50 after paying rent, and almost one in five have no money coming in at all in the month before being referred for emergency food.

  • 94% of people at food banks are destitute
  • Almost three-quarters of people at food banks live in households affected by ill-health or disability
  • 22% of people at food banks are single parents – compared to 5% in the UK population
  • More than three-quarters of people referred to food banks were in arrears

The first annual report of a three-year long research project, it shows definitively for the first time the three drivers hitting people simultaneously and leaving no protection from hunger and poverty. These drivers are problems with the benefits system, ill health and challenging life experiences, and a lack of local support.

The most common source of income for people at food banks is the benefits system. Problems with benefits are widespread, affecting two-thirds of people at food banks in the last year. Key benefits problems highlighted by the research are: a reduction in the value of benefit payments, being turned down for disability benefits, being sanctioned, and delays in payments like the five week wait for Universal Credit.

Statistical modelling shows the positive impact an increase in the value of benefits could have, estimating that a £1 increase in the weekly value of main benefits could lead to 84 fewer food parcels a year in a typical local authority.

The majority of people referred to food banks also experienced a challenging life event, such as an eviction or household breakdown, in the year prior to using the food bank. Such events may increase living costs and make it harder to maintain paid work or to successfully claim benefits.

Particular groups of people are more likely to need a food bank. One risk factor is being a single mother – 22% of people at food banks are single parents, the majority of which are women.

Almost three-quarters of people at food banks have a health issue, or live with someone who does. More than half of people at food banks live in households affected by a mental health problem, with anxiety and depression the most common.

A quarter of people live in households where someone has a long-term physical condition; one in six has a physical disability; and one in 10 has a learning disability, or live with someone who does. Ill health often increases living costs and may be a barrier to doing paid work.

Amanda explained to researchers that £130 of her £138 fortnightly benefit payment for a health condition goes to paying arrears, leaving her with only £8:

“If I don’t pay my bills, then I’ll get the house taken off me. After paying arrears, I’ve got £8 a fortnight and that’s to pay for gas, electric, water. So it’s just impossible, it really is. I go to bed at night wishing I never wake up in the morning.”

The study also found that the vast majority of people at food banks have either exhausted support from family or friends, were socially isolated, or had family and friends who were not in a financial position to help.

Chief Executive Emma Revie said: “People are being locked into extreme poverty and pushed to the doors of food banks. Hunger in the UK isn’t about food – it’s about people not having enough money. People are trying to get by on £50 a week and that’s just not enough for the essentials, let alone a decent standard of living.

“Any of us could be hit by a health issue or job loss – the difference is what happens when that hits. We created a benefits system because we’re a country that believes in making sure financial support is there for each other if it’s needed. The question that naturally arises, then, is why the incomes of people at food banks are so low, despite being supported by that benefits system?

“Many of us are being left without enough money to cover the most basic costs. We cannot let this continue in our country. This can change – our benefits system could be the key to unlocking people from poverty if our government steps up and makes the changes needed. How we treat each other when life is hard speaks volumes about us as a nation. We can do better than this.”

The Trussell Trust is calling for three key changes as a priority to protect people from hunger:

  1. As an urgent priority, end the five week wait for Universal Credit
  2. Benefit payments must cover the true cost of living
  3. Funding for councils to provide local crisis support should be ring-fenced and increased

State-of-Hunger-Report-November2019-Digital

Scottish Welfare Fund has helped more than 347,000 ‘struggling’ Scottish households

poverty family JRF

Nearly £210 million has been paid to 347,045 low income households by the Scottish Welfare Fund since it was established in 2013, latest figures show.

Crisis grant applications to the fund for basic essentials such as food and heating increased by 12% from April to June compared to the same period last year.

In addition, for the first time exceptional pressure is the main reason for Community Care Grant applications. Previously, the biggest reason for these applications was helping people to stay in their community.

The fund, which enables local authorities to provide grants for people on low incomes, is part of the Scottish Government’s mitigation efforts for UK Government welfare cuts. Estimates suggest social security spending in Scotland is set to reduce by £3.7 billion per year by 2021.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “These are yet more signals of how much families are struggling.

“In the face of UK Government cuts and with the threat of a ‘no deal’ Brexit still alive – the risk is real that tens of thousands more people could be pushed into poverty in Scotland.

“The Scottish Government will not stand by and let people who are already struggling continue to face a reliance on food banks and the stress of debt and rent arrears.

“We will continue to spend at least £100 million each year to mitigate the worst effects of the UK government welfare cuts – part of the £1.4 billion we spent last year to support low income households.

“This is money we should be able to invest elsewhere to help pull people out of poverty but we instead we need to use to protect the poorest and most vulnerable in our country.

“And we are introducing the Scottish Child Payment to tackle child poverty head on. But there is no doubt that without the cuts inflicted on families by the UK Government this could go so much further.”

 

New TUC report reveals the damage from a decade of austerity

  • Every developed nation that cut public spending since the financial crisis has experienced slower GDP growth
  • Wage growth has halved across OECD nations since the financial crisis

Every developed nation that cut government spending since the financial crisis has experienced slower GDP growth, according to a new TUC report.

The report looks at the impact of austerity across the OECD. It finds that the rate of GDP growth reduced in all 32 countries where government spending was cut

The only OECD countries with higher GDP growth are Germany and Japan, which both increased government spending after the crash.

Living standards

The report also reveals the devastating impact of austerity on living standards.

Wage growth has halved across OECD nations since the crash, with annual real pay growth averaging less than 1% for two-thirds of countries.

UK workers have been among the worst affected. Only Lithuania, Estonia, Greece and Latvia have experienced a greater reduction in real wage growth than Britain since the financial crisis.

Over this period the number of people in working households living in poverty in Britain has increased from 5 million to 8 million.

Commenting on the report, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady  said:  “Austerity was always a political choice. It’s now clear how much harm it caused, holding down economic growth and living standards.

“We can’t afford to make the same mistake again. If there’s another crisis, the government’s response must be to focus on public investment to make our economy stronger.

“But we shouldn’t wait for the worst to happen. The best way to deal with a recession is to prevent it. There are already warning signs, so the government should act now by boosting public sector pay and spending on public services.”

Recommendations from the report:

  • An independent review of how the Office for Budget Responsibility and Bank of England judge the impact of government spending on the economy.
  • Urgent fiscal support for aggregate demand through public sector pay increases and spending on services.
  • Fast-track increases to UK public infrastructure spending to least the OECD average of 3.5% GDP.
  • Increased expenditure should initially be financed by borrowing rather than increased taxation. This will strengthen the economy, leading to higher revenues that can support spending increases longer term.
  • Fiscal policy should be part of a wider plan to deliver sustainable growth across the UK, including investment in the public services families rely on, the skills workers need for the future, a just transition to net zero carbon emissions, and giving workers a real voice at work.

Scotland needs ‘game-changer’ policies to meet child poverty targets, says JRF

Scotland needs new “game-changer” social policies if it is to meet the government’s child poverty targets, according to new research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation during Challenge Poverty Week. Continue reading Scotland needs ‘game-changer’ policies to meet child poverty targets, says JRF