Sheffield Poverty Update No 19 August 2011

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Sheffield Poverty Update No.19 August 2011

Church Action on Poverty is a national ecumenical Christian social justice charity,

committed to tackling poverty in the UK. We work in partnership with churches and

with people in poverty themselves to find solutions to poverty, locally, nationally and

globally

Make your Pledge to Close the Gap

between rich and poor. Give, Act and

Pray with us to build a more equal

society go to

http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/News on the Campaign:

The Methodist Church and Christian Aid have now joined in supporting Church Action

on Poverty to close the gap. (See a clip on youtube with thoughts from the Methodist

Conference on YOUTUBE SEARCH INPUT closethegap methodist)

A Just Church module on equality is to be produced for Churches to use.

As an example of the growing gap-Financial Mail reports that the CEO of Nationwide has a

current remuneration that is 26 times the average society workers wage but with a new pay

deal this will become 32 times. The Government has recently cut the basic rate of crisis

loans paid to the poorest by 20% and now considers that the basic amount needed to live on

a day is 5.78 (for those 25 years or over).

ACTION-Could you:

Send this newsletter around any email groups that might be interested in

receiving it

Print off this newsletter and leave it in appropriate places or notice boards or

pass on to friendsJust a thought.

Within a short distance of an average town church in the UK (using national statistics) there

are likely to be 10, 000 people that would include:

2,000 people on low income

333 unemployed people

160 people who are homeless or in temporary accommodation

833 carers

1,100 people with some kind of mental health problems

1,200 people living alone, 580 of whom would be of pensionable age (go to

http://www.fote.org.uk/news/2011.aspx?id=3448o friends of the elderly for a report on this issue).

910 people on some sort of benefit
http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/http://www.fote.org.uk/news/2011.aspx?id=3448ohttp://www.fote.org.uk/news/2011.aspx?id=3448ohttp://www.fote.org.uk/news/2011.aspx?id=3448ohttp://www.church-poverty.org.uk/


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SHEFFIELD CHURCH ACTION ON POVERTY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY 5

TH

MAY 2011QUAKER MEETING HOUSE, ST JAMES STREET

Canon Nick Jowett introduced the theme of the AGM :The impact of the cuts on poor andvulnerable people, welcomed the speakers and opened the meeting with a prayer.

The first item on the agenda was a performance of the play, Kathys Dream, written byDavid Price, directed by Marion Haywood, and performed by other members of thecommittee and their friends a look, with a pantomime slant, at the life of a single motheraffected by the cuts imposed as a result of politics and high finance. The performance waswell received by those present.

Community Legal Advice Services for South Yorkshiretalk by Anne Hudson

Anne Hudson, Co-ordinator of Sheffield Law Centre and chair of CLASSY (Community LegalAdvice Services for South Yorkshire) began her talk by giving three examples of clients whohad been helped by the Law Centre to achieve justice, and who would not have had thefinancial resources or the knowledge to achieve this in any other way. The Law Centre ispart of a city-wide network (CLASSY) whose 29 members of the not-for profit advicecentres helped nearly 50,000 people last year. This service is vital for the poorest andmost vulnerable in the city and is being significantly put at risk by the actual and proposedcuts in funding. The centres have already lost 0.75 million in grant funding from the Counciland plus further cuts in legal aid and trust funding. The current Council funding is only forthe next 6 months, after which it is anticipated that the advice centres will be required to bid

for grants under a commissioning basis (a much more problematic exercise for relativelysmall organisations than for large commercial firms). In addition, some crucial areas,including all debt, welfare benefits and immigration issues will no longer attract funding. Theimpact of these cuts will be that years of experience may be lost to organisations which canunder-cut on costs but which do not have the close community links so valued by the poorand those lacking in confidence. Anne asked those present to lobby for the retention ofthe not-for-profit advice services and appealed for volunteers both to work in thecentres and as management committee members. She also distributed a hand-outwith further information and suggestions forhelping.

SCOOP Aid talk by Jean Smith

Jean Smith, Co-ordinator of SCOOP Aid (Sheffield Committee of One Parents) said that shefelt that the financial situation for voluntary advice agencies was worse even than in theThatcher years and recession. As an example, the reduction of 11.7% in their grant thisyear (a lower percentage than some other agencies suffered) has meant that a welfare rightsworker who advised 300 lone parents last year has had to be made redundant. Jean listedsome of the complex number of benefits that are being reduced or withdrawn over the next1-3 years and which will cause a significant drop in the incomes of the poorest section of thepopulation, whether not working or working in low-paid jobs. Jean made the point that areturn to work can be very beneficial and that SCOOP Aid has run programmes supporting255 hard to employ single parents back into work. However, the requirement to seek workonce the youngest child reaches 5 years, the withdrawal of affordable child care schemesand the changes in benefit and child support rules will all impact particularly harshly on

single parents. Jean urged those present to make their opinion known to their MP andto also lobby via the Gingerbread website. She concluded by saying that SCOOP Aidhad existed for 35 years but would now have to drastically reduce their servicesunless they were successful in a Lottery Fund bid


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DATES FOR YOUR DIARYDisability and the Cuts: the effect of public spending cuts on disabled peopleA public meeting organised by Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield and Sheffield Centre

for Independent Living (SCIL). Speakers include Simon Duffy (Centre for Welfare Reform;Campaign for a Fair Society) and Andrew Crooks of SCILThursday 29th September, 7-9pm, Quakers Meeting House, St James Street S1.All welcome, disabled access

Diocese of Hallam Justice and Peace Commission

CLOSE THE GAP between rich and poor

(with contributions from CAP and Christians against Poverty)

Saturday 15thOctober at St Bernards School, Herringthorpe

For further information and booking contact: Fr Shaun Smith on 0114 2343580 or

[email protected]

Our annual pilgrimage on Saturday 29 October is in the Manor and Castle area to hear

about what some churches and projects are undertaking in their community

We will set off for an exciting walk after a commissioning service at Victoria Methodist

Church Stafford Road at 9.30am that includes visits to various church projects, a gentle

ascent of Skye Edge, which is a fine viewpoint in Sheffield, a delightful farm shop and views

of the historic Manor Lodge returning to our start point at 2.30pm. Please join us for an

inspiring and enjoyable experience all welcome, more details from our secretary-contactdetails at the end of this newsletter

.

SHEFFIELD CAP WILL BE ORGANISING A SERVICE AT SHEFFIELD CATHEDRAL ONTHE AFTERNOON OF SUNDAY 29 January 2012

Our world is filled with barriers between people. Barriers that prevent us fromunderstanding one another. By the stigma attached to being poor or homeless, by thestigma of mental illness by the growing gap between rich and poor. But what can wedo?

Tuesday 31 January 2012 at St Wilfrids Centre @6.45pm-an evening to reflect on the

barriers that divide us and what we can do to remove them.

Rich Poor

Housed Homeless

Rural Urban

Migrant Settled

Homeowner Tenant

Employed Unemployed

Private sector Public sector

Employer Employee
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Christians Against the CutsAt our AGM a motion was carried that-Church Action on Poverty in Sheffieldexpresses its deep concern at the impact which the current programme of

Government spending cuts will have on poor and vulnerable people and resolves toset up a new group, Christians Against the Cuts reporting to our Committee to informchurches and to campaign on these issues.Update on the new group from Margaret Stone:Christians Against the Cuts have produced a leaflet explaining why we oppose

these cuts, what their effects will be and what alternatives there are. Well over 1,000

leaflets have been distributed so far, and if you would like some for your place of

worship or to give to your friends, please let me know. The Sheffield Telegraph has

published a letter about the campaign and we have a banner that appeared for the

first time on the Sheffield demonstration against the cuts on 30 th June. We are also

on Facebook. For more information or leaflets, to join the mailing list or to getinvolved, [email protected] phone 0114 2746362.

Stop gap night shelter

Until now, StopGap has been run under the auspices of SAVE but the time has

come to seek separate charitable status for it as an organisation in its own right, to

raise its profile and to facilitate future fundraising, SAVE is organising a launch event

to mark the occasion, to mark the event on Tuesday, 4 October at lunchtime in the

city centre. Full details will be publicised in the SAVE newsletter in September and

may also be obtained from Dianne Patterson ([email protected](A recent report indicated that homelessness in Sheffield had increased by

38% in 2010)

Members! Supporters! As always we rely on you to advise us on where we shouldbe directing our efforts and on helping us to do this. We are also totally reliant onchurch and individual members subscriptions for all the expenses involved inraising awareness of poverty in our area. Subscriptions for 2011-2012 are nowdue and we should particularly encourage churches as well as individual members toshow their support by subscribing. Please ask your church to support us.Information about subscriptions (which range from 0 -25) can be requested fromthe Treasurer, Bernard Greenwood, on 0114 2872991 [email protected] contact us if you wish to have more details about any of the items inthis newsletter, or have suggestions about what we should be doing, or can offerany help.Enquiries about the Sheffield group to:

Chair: Canon Nicholas P A Jowett ([email protected])Secretary: Sarah Baker 0114 [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Documents

Sheffield Poverty Update No 19 August 2011