Last week, the Trussell Trust revealed that their 1,300 foodbanks across the UK gave out 1.3 million emergency food parcels between 1 April and 30 September 2022. This marks a rise of over 50% from pre-pandemic levels, more than ever seen before. Wave after wave of crisis has driven 320,000 people …
Poverty and Inequality
Why I hate Warm Banks (and why my church is opening one)
Last year Trussell Trust foodbanks provided emergency food parcels for 2.1 million people, and this year the number will be higher. Even that tells only part of the story, as Trussell represents around half of the foodbanks in the UK. In the space of a decade, foodbanks have gone from virtually …
How does our theology call us to challenge Poverty?
Eunice Atwood, Church at the Margins Officer, writes about how ministry at the margins shows the biblical calling to challenge poverty. This blog is part of a series for Challenge Poverty Week England and Wales. Margins are often places of growth and adaptation, edges, thresholds between places …
Churches respond to risk to benefit levels
The Methodist Church in Britain, the United Reformed Church and the Baptist Union of Great Britain respond to the proposal to limit the uprating of benefits, risking a real terms cut to benefit levels: The social security system should prevent families from being pushed into hardship, yet …
Briefing on the ‘Mini Budget’ for the Enough to Live group
26th September 2022 The big question we asked of the 23 September budget[1] was that it should provide people with enough to live this winter. Prior to the budget, Prof Donald Hirsh calculated that after considering the Energy Price Guarantee and other payments, an average family of four …
An energy cap announcement in three parts: the good, the absent and the ugly
Today, 50+ faith, charity and community leaders signed an open letter to the PM, urging further targeting support for the poorest households in response to rising costs. Click here to read the letter. Having faced the prospect of average household energy costs topping £5,000, it could be …
Inflation, interest rates and the poorest
This morning I was interviewed on Premier Radio about today’s interest rate rises. I talked about those whose costs will rise – mortgage holders, renters and those who are already burdened by unavoidable debt accumulated over the lockdowns. I also talked about the rise’s effects on those who are …
Tax and the cost of living
The Conservative Party is choosing a new leader, who will become the UK’s next Prime Minister. One of the key issues throughout the campaign has been tax cuts. All the candidates – including Sunak and Truss who remain in the contest – wish to cut taxes. The only differences between candidate have …
Time to Ban the Bailiffs
Joe Cox from our friends at Debt Justice (formerly the Jubilee Debt Campaign) introduces their new campaign to make council tax collection more humane and more effective – by ending council’s use of bailiffs. In its latest annual release the UK government found that £4.4 billion of council tax …
Empowered to Succeed or Set up to Fail?
Unprecedented. The last two years have certainly been unprecedented for us all and the rippling effects of the covid pandemic, coupled with the impact of Brexit, are resulting in fresh economic challenges for many of us. With rising inflation, interest rates and energy prices, households are facing …