Caritas asks Chancellor to keep lifeline for low income households

Marcus Rashford - wiki image

Leaders of Catholic charities in England and Wales have asked the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to extend welfare benefits, to avoid a sharp rise in child poverty in early 2021. He is expected to make a decision next week.

Each year, the Government is required by law to review the level of benefits, for example to consider cost of living increases. In April 2020 Mr Sunak increased both Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by £20 a week. That uplift was worth less than the reduction in value of these benefits since 2011. He first announced the increases as a temporary measure during the pandemic, to expire in March 2021. He did not give the extra cash to many people who are sick, disabled or juggling caring responsibilities, through Employment Support Allowance, Income Support and Job Seekers' Allowance. These 'legacy benefits' were excluded from the £20 uplift.

The charity leaders' first calls on the Chancellor are to make permanent the £20 uplift, as a minimum, and extend it to people entitled to legacy benefits.

The leaders then turn to the political debate on food. In recent months, following the intervention of footballer Marcus Rashford, Free Schools Meals have shot up the political agenda. Drawing on Catholic social teaching and research by the Children's Society, the Caritas leaders point out that cash payments would better allow parents to manage their own household affairs - respecting subsidiarity and the dignity of family life. The national voucher system has been criticised for added to burdens on schools and being limited to typically larger retailers that can work with the Government's IT contractor.

The leaders' letter reflects their wider concern over poverty and hunger affecting children, based on long experience with community initiatives and their specialist services working in partnership with schools. Ben Gilchrist, appointed recently as Chief Executive of Caritas Diocese of Shrewsbury, said: "Many urban areas in the North-West of England have very high levels of child poverty. Caritas Shrewsbury and sister Catholic agencies in the region have remained at the forefront of getting hardship funds and food to people in critical need. It's not nearly enough. Benefits had been frozen and falling behind the cost of living, even before the pandemic. We're also working with teachers and families to alleviate the strain of the pandemic on mental health, with many more households facing job losses and a long period of uncertainty. That's why it's imperative that the Chancellor acts swiftly and decisively now to keep the £20-a-week lifeline."

LINKS

The full letter is available on CSAN's website at: www.csan.org.uk/policy/keep-the-lifeline/

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a background briefing at : www.jrf.org.uk/report/autumn-budget-why-we-must-keep-20-social-security-lifeline. Their calculations indicate that the temporary £20 uplift, with an estimated annual cost of £9bn, is supporting around 16 million households. If the Chancellor ends the uplift in March 2021, they estimate around 500,000 people would immediately fall 50% below the poverty line. Households with a single parent and from BAME backgrounds would be disproportionately hit.

England is the only part of the UK without a national child poverty strategy. In October 2020, faith leaders called on the Prime Minister to establish a cross-party commission to tackle child poverty in England. See: www.csan.org.uk/policy/oct20-faith-leaders-on-child-poverty/

In Scotland, the Trussell Trust and IFAN (Independent Food Aid Network) are supporting a 'Cash First' research project to reduce the need for food aid. More information at: www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/ifan-in-scotland