Category Archives: Poverty

UK ‘in violation of international law’ over poverty levels, says UN envoy

Posted on by

Exclusive: Special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter to urge ministers to increase welfare spending on visit to country this week

Poverty levels in the UK are “simply not acceptable” and the government is violating international law, the United Nations’ poverty envoy has said ahead of a visit to the country this week, when he will urge ministers to increase welfare spending.

Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, cited research showing universal credit payments of £85 a week for single adults over 25 were “grossly insufficient” and described the UK’s main welfare system as “a leaking bucket”.

Continue reading...

Fury as Braverman depicts homelessness as a ‘lifestyle choice’

Posted on by

Senior Conservative says home secretary should not discuss complex issue in such terms and advised her to use ‘wiser’ language

Suella Braverman has been rebuked by a senior Tory campaigner on homelessness after the home secretary provoked outrage by describing rough sleeping as a “lifestyle choice.”

Bob Blackman MP, head of the all-party parliamentary group for ending homelessness, said Braverman was wrong to discuss a complex and serious issue in such terms and advised her to use “wiser” language.

Continue reading...

‘The children screamed for hours’: horrors of Hurricane Otis leave devastation for Acapulco’s poorest

Posted on by

Mexico’s Pacific coast was battered by 165mph winds and torrential rain on 25 October. Thousands lost their homes and many now have too little food or water to survive

In the small hours of Wednesday 25 October, Josefina Maldonado, a grandmother of two in her 60s who lives in the Renacimiento district of Acapulco, watched as the corrugated metal roof of her home flew into the sky, ripped off by 165mph (270km/h) winds. The family home and everything and everyone in it, including two terrified small children, were prey to the torrential rain and the horrors of the hurricane. Most of the furniture, including the beds, was swept away.

“It wasn’t that the wind or the water was stronger. Both were working together,” Maldonado says. “We were up all night trying to save what we could, and the children screamed and cried for hours.”

Continue reading...

England worst place in developed world to find housing, says report

Posted on by

Quarter of UK private renters spending over 40% of income on housing amid warning people are ‘trapped in poverty’

England is now “the most difficult place to find a home in the developed world”, housebuilders have claimed in a snapshot of the housing crisis that also found a greater proportion of people in England live in substandard properties than the European Union average.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF), an industry group representing companies that build for private sale, found that England has the lowest percentage of vacant homes per capita in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 nations, including most of the EU the US, Japan and Australia.

Continue reading...

Policy must tackle root causes of England’s record mental ill-health, says report

Posted on by

Coalition of experts publish action points including tackling inequality, poor housing and child poverty

Ministers must tackle poverty, poor housing and air pollution to improve England’s worsening mental health, a coalition of charities, thinktanks and staff groups has urged ministers.

Their blueprint for better mental health also includes a crackdown on racism, reforms to the benefits system and action to end the stark inequality whereby people with severe psychiatric conditions die up to 20 years sooner than the general population.

A new Child Poverty Act to banish child poverty by 2030.

The creation of a minimum income guarantee and reforming sick pay.

Action against junk food, smoking, alcohol and gambling.

The end of “hostile environment” immigration policies.

Continue reading...

Ban on wood burners threatens British boat-dwellers with winter freeze

Posted on by

A new law allows councils to impose on-the-spot fines for emitting smoke

People who live on narrowboats and barges – many on low incomes – say they may struggle to stay warm this winter because an increasing number of councils are planning to fine people burning wood on moored vessels.

Under the Environment Act, which came into force in 2021, council enforcement officers can issue on-the-spot fines of up to £300 to boat dwellers emitting visible smoke from wood burners. Only Sandwell council, in the West Midlands, has so far approved plans to enforce smoke controls along its 41 miles of canals. But three other councils – Liverpool, Newham and Cannock Chase – are planning to start fining houseboats.

Continue reading...

Most English schools handing out clothes and food to children

Posted on by

Survey finds cost of living crisis has increased both number of children needing extra support and level of need

Schools are handing out clothing and food to children amid the cost of living crisis, while teachers report deteriorating hygiene among pupils as families cut back on brushing teeth, showering and even flushing the toilet.

According to a survey of schools in England, nine out of 10 said they were providing clothing and uniforms for students, while seven out of 10 were giving out food in the form of parcels, food bank provisions, vouchers or subsidised breakfasts.

Continue reading...

English councils moving homeless families out of areas at almost three times official rate

Posted on by

Exclusive: Data shows more than 34,000 households placed out of area last year, with some moved more than 200 miles away

Councils are moving homeless families out of their neighbourhoods at almost three times the rate that has been officially recognised, and some have been uprooted hundreds of miles from their support networks, according to research.

Data released under freedom of information (FoI) revealed that 34,418 households were placed out of area last year, based on responses from 80% of English councils. This incomplete figure suggests a total 172% above what was officially recorded for the previous year.

Continue reading...

Sharp rise in cost of food basics forces UK families ‘to make desperate choices’

Posted on by

Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardest

The cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.

Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian.

Continue reading...

Britons living in deprived areas have poorer sleep quality, study finds

Posted on by

First large-scale UK investigation of its kind discovers social deprivation and ethnicity both affect sleep

People living in deprived areas of the UK have poorer sleep quality than those in affluent areas, the first large-scale study of sleep across the population has found.

Black people reported the worst sleep overall, with the research finding both social deprivation and ethnicity affect sleep quality, irrespective of age, sex, personal wealth, employment and education.

Continue reading...

Buy now, pay later medical loans on rise as desperate patients go private amid NHS backlogs

Posted on by

Finance firms defend credit deals as ethical but health experts warn of spiralling public indebtedness

Patients who face long NHS waiting lists and cannot afford to go private are being encouraged to sign up for “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) deals and other personal loans to cover the costs of basic healthcare.

The deals allow people to spread payments over months or years in exchange for rapid access to treatments and tests, including MRI scans, X-rays and routine surgery.

Continue reading...

Labour urged again to vow to scrap Tories’ two-child benefit limit

Posted on by

Exclusive: Data shows policy, deepening poverty among low-income families, affects about 1.5 million children

Labour has come under fresh pressure to vow to scrap the two-child benefit cap after it emerged one in four children in some of England and Wales's poorest parliamentary constituencies live in families left at least £3,000 a year out of pocket as a result of the policy.

The party’s stance on the policy, which critics say has been a major driver of deepening poverty among low-income families, is estimated to affect about 1.5 million children and is seen by some in Labour as an indicator of the strength of its determination to tackle child poverty.

Continue reading...

Older UK workers who retired early in pandemic were ‘forced into poverty’

Posted on by

Thinktank challenges view that those taking early retirement under Covid were relatively well off

Half of older adults who left the UK workforce amid mass redundancies in the first year of the Covid pandemic ended up falling into relative poverty, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Britain’s foremost economics thinktank said job losses during the early stages of the crisis, coupled with the additional health risks faced by older workers, were likely to have forced many people into early retirement.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer refuses to commit to free school meals pledge

Posted on by

Labour leader says ‘money is a big factor’ as he also declines to promise 6.5% pay rise for teachers

Keir Starmer has refused to commit to supporting free school meals for all primary school children, as he stuck to a tough fiscal position despite pressure from inside and outside of his party.

The Labour leader also declined to commit to a 6.5% pay rise for teachers as he urged the government to resolve the dispute at the centre of strike action.

Continue reading...

Food bank use a ‘personal decision’, says veterans minister

Posted on by

Johnny Mercer says food bank use not an accurate measure of poverty after reports of some military personnel relying on them

The use of food banks is a personal decision for some people and not an accurate measure of levels of poverty across the UK, the veterans minister has said.

Johnny Mercer argued that food banks remained a lifeline for “some dire cases” but that it was “not correct” to say people used them only when they had no choice.

Continue reading...

M&S offers money off children’s clothes in exchange for used school uniforms

Posted on by

Promotion is designed to help parents who are struggling to afford clothes amid cost of living crisis

Families are being offered money off children’s clothes in Marks & Spencer if they donate school uniform hand-me-downs, as part of a push designed to help parents struggling to afford them amid the cost of living crisis.

The second-hand uniform collected will be sold via Oxfam’s high street chain as well as via a new “back-to-school” eBay shop. The tie-up is an extension of M&S’s existing “shwopping” partnership with Oxfam, in which customers drop off old clothing in exchange for loyalty card perks.

Continue reading...

Tyrone Mings describes ‘scary’ experience as he backs Prince William homelessness project

Posted on by

England footballer recalls childhood emergency housing as royal launches five-year UK scheme

Homeless people are to be helped into permanent accommodation, regardless of their circumstances, as part of a five-year project to be run by Prince William’s foundation and supported by the England footballer Tyrone Mings.

The project, called Homewards, which emulates one run in Finland, will be launched initially in six areas around the UK and is aimed at preventing homelessness where possible and ensuring any incidence is “rare, brief and unrepeated”. The Prince of Wales’s charitable foundation is giving £3m of startup funding to the project.

Continue reading...

Who’s unhoused in California? Largest study in decades upends myths

Posted on by

Most unhoused people are from in state and desire to find housing, while Black and older people are disproportionately affected

Nearly half of all unhoused adults in California are over the age of 50, with Black residents dramatically overrepresented, according to the largest study of the state’s homeless population in decades.

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) research released on Tuesday also revealed that 90% of the population lost their housing in California, with 75% of them now living in the same county where they were last housed. The study further found that nearly nine out of 10 people reported that the cost of housing was the main barrier to leaving homelessness.

Continue reading...

Richer people pay more: California’s dramatic change to electricity bills

Posted on by

Some higher-income residents – who already enjoy subsidies for solar – oppose paying more than low-income households

California will soon become the first state to determine residents’ electricity fees based on their income as part of a new effort to spur households toward full electrification and bring down the state’s soaring electricity costs for low-income Californians.

Electricity bills are made up of fixed costs as well as fees that vary based on the amount of electricity residents use. Last year, the state passed a law giving the California public utilities commission a 1 July 2024 deadline to determine a fixed charge for household electric bills based on people’s income.

Continue reading...

No point in food price measures without targeting small stores, Which? warns

Posted on by

Consumer group tells chancellor ‘blanket approach’ will not address poor households’ access to affordable food

UK ministers’ efforts to reduce soaring food shopping bills “won’t touch the sides” without measures to make small grocery stores more affordable for low-income households, the chancellor has been warned.

Which?, the consumer group, has written to Jeremy Hunt over concerns that a blanket approach to lowering supermarket bills will not address the problem of accessibility to affordable food, after reports that ministers are considering a voluntary price cap scheme.

Continue reading...