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 …
Universal Credit
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The Spring Statement number you need to know: 600,000 more people pulled into poverty
The most important number from the entire spring statement was not from the Chancellor but from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. They estimated that over the next year, 600,000 people will be pulled into poverty [1]. The 14.6 million people already experiencing poverty will of course be pulled …
Wave of debt and uncertainty set to hit Universal Credit claimants after planned cut
Data released this week by Citizens Advice paints a distressing picture for levels of household debt in the UK if the proposed cut to Universal Credit goes ahead at the end of September. Universal Credit has been uprated by £20 per week during the pandemic, to help families relying on the benefit …