Catholic agencies are among the charities voicing growing concern about the cost-of-living crisis.
Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown has said he is “shocked and ashamed” at the current levels of poverty in Britain, which he said had not been seen for “many, many years”.
In an interview with Sky News on 15 May former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown urged politicians of all parties to take action to help what he called the UK's “austerity children”. Mr Brown raised the plight of those who were born in the last 15 years “who are growing up poor, who probably have never known what it is to be anything other than poor”.
Currently, 4.3 million children are in poverty after housing costs, translating to 30 per cent of all children in the UK, according to statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions. Mr Brown called for a review of Universal Credit, which he said had “gone wrong”. He also criticised the two-child benefit cap that was introduced by the Conservative government in 2017 and prevents parents from claiming for more than two children. He indicated that he believed the Labour leader should drop the cap.
Save the Children said: “These shocking figures should be an urgent wake up call to all of us, especially the UK Government: we cannot go on like this. There is no reason children should be going without food, heating, toys, or beds.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, picked up the same cause and was thanked by the End Child Poverty Coalition for his “important plea to scrap the cruel two-child limit”.
Across the UK, about 422,000 households who claim benefits have had them reduced by the cap; half of these are single parent households and 20 per cent have at least one disabled child. The coalition – whose membership includes Caritas in Salford and Shrewsbury Dioceses and Church Action on Poverty – says lifting the cap would raise 300,000 children out of poverty, with 800,000 experiencing reduced poverty.
“There doesn't have to be poverty in the UK,” said Church Action on Poverty, which is running a day of discussions and workshops on ending poverty on 8 June in York.
The gowing level of poverty in Britain was highlighted last week by Trussell Trust which has provided a record number of emergency food parcels from food banks so far this year. “We cannot let food banks become the new norm,” said the trust, which works closely with local churches. “Our political leaders must take action to build a future where no one needs a food bank to survive.”
Last week Caritas Shrewsbury highlighted that insecure work, where workers can’t get the regular and stable hours they need to make ends meet, is an important driver of in-work poverty. It retweeted a report from the Living Wage Foundation saying that new national statistics show that one million people are on zero hours contracts. Over one quarter of these are underemployed, either wanting an additional job, a replacement job with longer hours, or more hours in a current job.
And Caritas Social Action Network has been deeply concerned about homeless people, highlighting the implications of the new Criminal Justice Bill proposed by the UK Government. Csan has challenged the inclusion of measures granting increased powers to police and local authorities to enforce against so-called nuisance rough sleeping, opposing the criminalisation of poverty and homelessness. Raymond Friel, chief executive, said: “We must prioritise the search for dignified solutions for people experiencing homelessness in our communities.”
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