Walking the Breadline: The scandal of food poverty in 21st-century Britain

7/28/2019 Walking the Breadline: The scandal of food poverty in 21st-century Britain

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Niall Cooperand Sarah Dumpleton

May 2013

walking the breadlinethe scandal o ood poverty

in 21st century britain


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walking the breadline

Acknowledgements 2Executive summary 3Food poverty 4Food aid 5Hunger and stigma 6Food deserts 7Not enough 9Sa ety net no longer 11Beyond ood banks 15There is an alternative 16Endnotes 17About us 19

Case studies and testimonies in this report are drawn rom Church Action on Poverty and Ox ams ownwork, and that o our networks and partners. The experiences and perspectives o those living in poverty are

undamental to this report. Our biggest thanks go to the participants, and their amilies, or giving their time tothese projects and or sharing their lives with us. We hope this report does justice to their honesty and openness.Church Action on Poverty is a national ecumenical Christian social justice charity, committed to tacklingpoverty in the UK. We work in partnership with churches and with people in poverty themselves to ndsolutions to poverty, locally, nationally and globally. Further in ormation can be ound at www.church-poverty.org.uk. Registered charity number 1079986. Company limited by guarantee, registered in Englandand Wales, number 3780243.Ox am is an international con ederation o 17 organisations networked together in 94 countries, as part o a global movement o people who share the belie that, in a world rich in resources, poverty isnt inevitable.

Its an injustice which can, and must, be overcome. In the UK, we work to overcome poverty by developingprojects with people living in poverty to improve their lives and show how things can change, and workingwith policy-makers to tackle the causes o poverty. For more in ormation visit www.ox am.org.uk/uk.Ox am is a registered charity in England and Wales (no 202918) and Scotland (SC039042). Ox am GB is amember o the international con ederation Ox am.This report was rst published by Church Action on Poverty and Ox am under Ox am ISBN978-1-78077-334-6 in May 2013.Church Action on Poverty, Dale House, 35 Dale Street, Manchester M1 2HFOx am GB, Ox am House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Ox ord, OX4 2JYThe report, and other resources on ood poverty, are available at www.church-poverty.org.uk/

ood uel nance. The report, and other resources on global poverty, are available atwww.ox am.org.uk/policyandpractice

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Acknowledgements

Contents


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The explosion in ood poverty and the use o ood banks is anational disgrace, and undermines the UKs commitment toensuring that all its citizens have access to ood one o the mostbasic o all human rights.We estimate that over 500,000 people are now reliant on oodaid the use o ood banks and receipt o ood parcels and thisnumber is likely to escalate urther over the coming months. This issubstantially higher than the headline gure o 350,000 suppliedby the Trussell Trust, as at least hal as many people again areprovided with ood parcels or other orms o ood aid by non-Trussell Trust ood banks and other emergency ood aid projects.

Some o the increase in the number o people using ood banks iscaused by unemployment, increasing levels o underemployment,low and alling income, and rising ood and uel prices . TheNational Minimum Wage and bene ts levels need to rise in linewith infation, in order to ensure that amilies retain the ability tolive with dignity and can a ord to eed and clothe themselves andstay warm.More alarmingly, up to hal o all people turning to ood banksare doing so as a direct result o having bene t payments delayed,reduced, or withdrawn altogether. Figures gathered by the TrussellTrust (see page 13) show that changes to the bene t systemare the most common reasons or people using ood banks ;these include changes to crisis loan eligibility rules, delays inpayments, Jobseekers Allowance sanctions and sickness bene treassessments.There is clear evidence that the bene t sanctions regime has gonetoo ar, and is leading to destitution, hardship and hunger on alarge scale.There is a real risk that the bene t cuts and the introduction o Universal Credit (which will require internet access and makepayments less requently) will lead to even larger numbers being

orced to turn to ood banks . Food banks may not have the capacityto cope with the increased level o demand.The growth in ood aid demonstrates that the social sa ety netis ailing in its basic duty to ensure that amilies have access tosu cient income to eed themselves adequately . The exponentialrise in the creation o ood banks refects a growing problem andonly delivers mitigation. Food banks provide a vital emergencyservice to the people they support but they do not address theunderlying structural causes or the growth o ood poverty.Food banks should not replace the normal sa ety net providedby the state in the orm o the wel are state . Even in developingcountries, ood aid is increasingly seen only as an emergencystop-gap measure. International practice would now indicatea pre erence or cash payments over ood handouts, not leastbecause they distort local markets and are not part o a long-termdevelopment or anti-poverty strategy.

It is unacceptable that whilst thousands are being orced to turn toood banks and millions are unable to meet the rising cost o livingas a result o the Governments austerity programme, wealthyindividuals and corporations continue to dodge their obligation topay their air share o taxes .

Executive summary

RecommendationsThe House o Commons Work and PensionsSelect Committee conducts an urgent inquiryinto the relationship between bene t delay,error or sanctions, wel are re orm changes,and the growth o ood poverty.The Department or Work and Pensionspublishes data on a regular basis onthe number and type o household whoare deprived o their bene ts by reasono bene t delay, error or sanctions; thenumbers leaving and returning to bene tsa ter a short period o time, and the numbero re errals rom Jobcentre sta to local oodbanks.

The Department or Work and Pensionscommission independent monitoring o theroll-out o Universal Credit, to ensure thatthere is no unintentional increase in oodpoverty.All re errals to ood banks/emergency

ood aid provision, made by governmentagencies, be recorded and monitored inorder to establish more accurate numbers onpeople experiencing ood poverty in the UK.HM Treasury make tackling tax dodging anurgent priority, including promoting robust

and coordinated international action atthe orthcoming G8 meeting in NorthernIreland in June to reduce the need or

uture cuts in bene ts, and restore theprinciple that bene ts should at least rise inline with infation.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The explosion inood poverty and

the use o ood

banks is a nationaldisgrace


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Government fgures , last updated or 201011, show that around 13 million people are in poverty in theUK1 According to the Food Ethics Council, at least our million o them su er rom ood poverty 2There is currently no established government measure o ood poverty. A recent report by the Centre orEconomics and Business Research de ned households who have to spend more than 10% o their annualincome on ood as being in ood poverty.

The Food Ethics Council states that ood poverty means that an individual or household isnt able to obtainhealthy, nutritious ood they have to eat what they can a ord, not what they choose to.

Food poverty is worse diet, worse access, worse health, higher percentage o income on ood, and lesschoice rom a restricted range o oods.

Tim Lang, Pro essor o Food Policy at City University, London

A decade o national debt risks being ollowed by a decade o destitution. Food banks open across thecountry, teachers report children coming to school hungry; advice services and local authorities prepare

or the risks attached to wel are re orm. There is evidence o a rising number o people sleeping rough,and destitution is reported with increasing requency.

Julia Unwin, Joseph Rowntree Foundation 3

In households which cannot a ord an adequate diet or their children, 93% have at least one adult whoskimps on their own ood to try to protect the children. Hal a million children are not adequately ed inthe UK today, not as a result o negligence but due to a lack o money.

Poverty and Social Exclusion UK 4

Food povertyDefning ood poverty and acknowledging the reality

Case study: the growth in ood banksDenise is manager o Tower Hamlets Foodbank, part o the TrussellTrust network o UK Foodbanks. She says:

In 2011 and 2012, the Trussell Trust opened ood banks at arate o two or three per week. People are really struggling,and initially it was people that werent earning, that were onbenefts, but now its hitting the working poor. Its shocking tobelieve that in the UK, the seventh richest nation in the world,people are living in real dire poverty.

De n i se Be n t le y

ma nage s To we r

Ha m le t s Food ba n k

I t ki g t a t i t

v t i t a ti

in the world, people are

l i v ing in real d ire po ver t y


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Whilst the level o ood poverty is worrying enough, what is o greater concern is theexponential growth in the numbers o people across the UK who are experiencing realhunger and hardship Perhaps the most extreme mani estation o ood poverty is the ris-ing number o people who depend on emergency ood aid

The Enough Food or Everyone IF campaign (www.enough oodi .org) was launched earlierthis year in response to the growing numbers o people globally who are experiencing hunger, but the shock-ing reality is that hundreds o thousands o people in the UK are now reliant on ood aid, principally in the

orm o ood banks. Without the generosity o their ellow citizens operating ood banks hundreds o thou-sands o people, let down by the sa ety net, would be simply unable to eed themselves.

There has been an explosion in the number o people using ood banks in the last two years. The TrussellTrust (the biggest provider o ood banks in the UK) has reported that more than 350,000 people turned totheir ood banks or help in 201213, almost triple the number who received ood aid in the previous year,and 100,000 more than anticipated. 128,697 were ed by Trussell Trust ood banks in 201112, up rom 68,486in 201011 (see the chart below). The Trussell Trust has launched almost 150 new ood banks in the last year,and is currently approving three new ood banks a week.

However, these gures rom the Trussell Trust are indicative o a much larger problem, as they do notinclude the parallel growth in independent ood banks and other in ormal emergency ood aid interven-tions provided by hundreds o churches, charities, housing associations and community groups. Evidence

rom around the UK 6 indicates that a wide array o local churches and other projects are now providingemergency ood aid. On this basis, we estimate the real number now reliant on ood aid to be in excess o hal a million people, and this number is set to grow as changes to the bene ts system take e ect.

Food aidThe explosion in hunger and hardship across the UK

Case study: ood aid in Greater Manchester 5

There is currently no central directory o ood banks in GreaterManchester, but there are many organisations working to provide

ood parcels to people experiencing ood poverty.

Evidence gathered or the Greater Manchester PovertyCommission in autumn 2012 identi ed eight organisations inManchester, none connected with the Trussell Trust, who werebetween them providing an average o 730 ood parcels per month

equating to more than 8,700 per annum.The Diocese o Manchester also conducted research into thenumber and location o ood banks and other organisationsdistributing ood to those in need o support. This identi ed atotal o 85 parishes across Greater Manchester which are involvedin a ood intervention, including ood bank activity in Rochdale,Oldham and Bolton, while a urther 45 organisations have beenidenti ed that provide support in the orm o ood banks or othersupport such as break ast clubs.

At that time, the Trussell Trust was operating just three oodbanks in Greater Manchester, but this number has now grown tonine, with a urther three in development.

The evidence rom Greater Manchester would indicate that thenumbers o people reliant on ood parcels is substantially higherthan the gures supplied by the Trussell Trust, which are basedsolely on statistics gathered via their own ood bank network.

Thanks to The Trussell Trust or the photograph

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

2012-132011-122010-11

Trussell Trust fgures show an explosion indemand or ood aid.


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Four out o fve teachers are reporting that some o their children are arriving at school hungry 7;one London survey ound that 61% o teachers have given ood to their students at their ownexpense 8 Families are experiencing distress and humiliation as they have to turn to ood banksto meet their basic needs The social injustice o having to rely on ood aid is strongly elt bythose compelled to turn to ood banks Pro essionals who signpost people to ood banks have

spoken o their clients reluctance to go because it eels like charity or begging It is di cult or peoplewho have never sought help be ore to admit that their situation has got to this point Many distributors o

ood bank tokens have talked about how the people they re er nd it humiliating to be orced to turn to aood bank (despite the e orts made by ood bank sta and volunteers to minimise this) 9

its like going back to the Victorian era, isnt it? Asking or some more please. Its degrading to somepeople.

Drug worker supporting o enders 10

My depression has worsened considerably, and the reduced amount I have to spend on ood is a ectingmy diabetes and blood pressure. I also have more requent panic attacks when thinking about ourfnances.

Citizens Advice Bureau client in Greater Manchester 11

I have to cut down on basic living expenses as it is. I stay in bed to keep warm, especially in winteras I cant a ord to put the heating on. The bleakness o this week to week is having an impact on mymental/physical health. Im trying to fnd somewhere else to live, but so ar have not been able to fndanywhere a ordable in this area. I have had to get occasional ood parcels rom the ood and supportdrop-in service.

Citizens Advice Bureau client in Greater Manchester 12

Hunger and stigmaThe devastating impact o ood poverty

T am t I a v t

is a f fec t ing m y d ia be tes and b lood pressure

I t ik g i g a k t t Vi t ia a...

A sking for some more please.

I ts degrad ing.

The bleakness o f th is week to week

is ha ving an impact on m y mental and ph ysical health


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Limited access to ood is also indicativeo broader socio-economic inequalitiesAreas where ood poverty is high areo ten synonymous with a number o other actors that marginalise people and

limit options

People on low incomes in the UK pay higher pricesor many essential goods and services than people

who are better o . This is known as the PovertyPremium. Save the Children has estimated thatit costs the average low-income household anextra 1,300 a year, as they pay more or ood, uel,

nance and other goods and services. 13 The PovertyPremium is related to ood poverty in a number o ways.

The creation o large superstores and out-o -townshopping developments have driven local, inde-pendent retailers out o business and le t thepoorest people in ood deserts without access toa ordable, healthy ood. Superstores are di cult toreach or people on low-incomes; 85% o households

with weekly incomes under 150 do not have a car.The poorest people in the UK are paying more ortheir ood than their richer counterparts. Researchhas ound that a list o the cheapest available selec-tion o groceries was up to 69% more expensive insome o the poorest parts o the country than instores belonging to the same chain in richer areas 14.

At least our million people in the UK do not haveaccess to a healthy diet; nearly 13 million peoplelive below the poverty line, and it is becomingharder and harder or them to a ord healthy ood.Lower-income amilies in the UK have cut their

consumption o ruit and vegetables by nearly athird in the wake o the recession and rising oodprices. At the end o 2010, lower-income householdswere buying 2.7 portions o ruit and vegetables perperson, per day, compared to the average householdwhich continued to buy about our portions per per-son, per day. These rates are likely to have declined

urther in the past year, as infation has continuedupwards and household incomes have shrunk.

In the most deprived part o the borough

[Westminster], li e expectancy or men is 17 years shorter than in the richest part o theborough. I I went to Glasgow its even worse a 28 year di erence in male li e expectancy.Li e expectancy in the poorest part o Glasgowis 8 years shorter than the average male li eexpectancy in India. Thats how bad healthinequality is in the UK.

Sir Michael Marmot (Director o theInternational Institute or Society and Health)

Poor amilies are not only hit with the problemo how to put ood on the table in the short term,they are also su ering the double injustice o thelong-term e ects o ood poverty. People who are

orced to live on an inadequate diet have a signi -cantly increased risk o developing serious healthconditions such as cancer, heart disease, obesityand diabetes; they are also more likely to su er

rom stress, ill health, poor educational attainmentand shortened li e expectancy. Poor children su er

rom lower nutritional intake, bad dietary patterns,hunger, low ruit and vegetable consumption, andproblems accessing ood in the school holidays.

Food desertsHealth, nutrition and the Poverty Premium

In the UK, the poorer people are, the worse theirdiet, and the more diet-related diseases theysu er rom This is ood povertyFaculty o Public Health, Royal College o Physicians14

Case study: ood desertsAudrey works at a drop-in centre in Sal ord; she buys oodto provide meals or clients. She has noticed a change in theavailability o cheap healthy ood and the impact this has had onpeople who are on low incomes:

I youre unable to go anywhere else but Sal ord, then wehavent got a market any more thats worth looking at. Wedid have. Cross Lane market used to be absolutely buzzingwhen I came up here in 1981, and its gradually gone to two

ood stalls and three butchers. How do you cut back and stayhealthy?...This thing theyve got now or putting these massive big[supermarkets] everywhere, its too tempting or people. I youre going in, and youve got two kids with you and theyveseen the sweet aisle and theyve seen the pretty dresses, whywouldnt you be tempted? ... And theres not an aw ul lot o loose ood in the big supermarkets.


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Olivier De Schutter (the UNs Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food) recently comment-ed upon the situation, acknowledging that starvation is not what happens to the poor indeveloped nations; ood poverty in the UK not only means being unable to a ord ood,it means people are too poor to choose diets that are healthy or them. They developdiseases, they have health problems.

A poor diet which results in people being overweight or obese is known as modernmalnutrition, a phenomenon which is more common in people rom lower socio-economic groups. Poor diet is a risk actor or the UKs major killers o cancer, coronaryheart disease and diabetes; however, it is only in recent years that the problem has beenquanti ed: poor diet is related to 30% o li e years lost in early death and disability.Tackling ood poverty is recognised as key to achieving government targets on reducinginequalities and priority health areas. The Faculty o Public Health o the Royal Collegeo Physicians has called or a real change in the ood environment: the accessibility anda ordability o ood and the culture in which people live. 15

It is estimated that the treatment o ill health caused by poor diet (obesity, diabetes,coronary heart disease and cancer) costs the National Health Service at least 4 billioneach year. 16It is clear that the government could save billions by tackling preventablediseases caused by ood poverty. I bene t levels were raised in line with the costo living and the government gave more help to people on low incomes, so that thepoorest households could a ord a healthy diet, real savings would be made in thelong term. It is di cult to calculate the ood element o bene ts, but gures rom theFamily Budget Unit 17suggest it alls considerably short o the amount needed to preventmalnourishment.

There is a myth that low-income amilies eat unhealthy oods through choice, and thatgiven more in ormation they would make better choices. In act, evidence shows thatpeople on low incomes are aware o the need to eat resh produce and are keen to do so. Asurvey ound that given an extra 10 per week, most low-income parents would spend iton resh meat and poultry, ruit and vegetables. 18

Case study: working poverty and access to healthyood

Kate (not her real name) works at a community centre in Sal ord.Despite receiving tax credits to top up her salary, she is nding itincreasingly di cult to eed hersel and her son:

[At work] i Im here all day sometimes I might go almost allday without something to eat, and at home I never have a loto stock ood in. I I go shopping at one o the cheaper places,and I buy bulk vegetables and salads, they go o really quickbut theyre a lot cheaper than going to one o the higherbrand shops. So I tend to buy cheaper, but I end up wasting alot as well, un ortunately...Just in general, over the last three years specifcally, Ivenoticed that my income hasnt changed but my expenseshave soared, so Ive ound mysel going deeper and deeperinto the red every month, and thats just rom my basics Iseldom go out, I dont drink, I buy rom charity shops, I nevergo to high street shops... I dont know where to shop anymore.Everything is about budget and the cheapest places to shop,

rom ood right down to hygiene. Ill go to the budget pound

shops, but Im still fnding mysel overdrawn more and more,increasingly over the last three years.

[Food poverty] meanspeople are too poor tochoose diets that are

healthy or them Theydevelop diseases, theyhave health problems

Olivier De Schutter (UN SpecialRapporteur on the Right to Food)

Given an extra 10 per week, most low-income parentswould spend it on resh meat and poultry, ruit and vegetables


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Food banks are reporting that most o those accessing their services are low-income amilies in crisis, many o which are working households 62% o children in poverty are living in amilies where at least one parent has a job,indicating that wages are too low and that current Minimum Wage legislationis not adequate to li t people out o poverty through work

Although a range o actors are leaving amilies and individuals in ood poverty (includ-ing delays to bene t payments and bene t sanctions), the rising cost o ood is asigni cant issue. Ox am have reported that ood prices have risen by 30.5% in the last veyears; this is double the rate o infation, and two and a hal times the rate o increases inthe National Minimum Wage. 20

People are spending more on ood but eating less: expenditure on ood and non-alcoholicbeverages has increased by almost 20% in the last ve years, but the volume o oodbeing consumed has allen by 7%. It is predicted that the average ood bill will increaseby 257 over the next ve years, urther increasing the number o people a ected by oodpoverty. 21

The rising cost o living combined with austerity cuts is orcing poor amilies to choosewhether to pay their bills or put ood on the table; research has ound that parents areregularly going without ood in order to eed their children. A recent survey ound thatone in ve mothers regularly go without meals so that their children can eat, 16% arebeing treated or stress-related illnesses (due to nancial worries), and one third areborrowing money rom riends and amily to stay afoat. Most mothers stated that theirsituation is worse than a year ago with less money coming in compared to this time lastyear. 22

It is predicted that the changes to the wel are system which took place in April 2013 willonly add to the existing problems o ood insecurity or the poorest people in Britain.Wel are payments will only go up by 1% this year; this is well below the rate o infation,which currently stands at 2.8%. Cuts to housing bene t, the bene t cap and the introduc-tion o Universal Credit will have a major impact on the poorest and most vulnerable.

Not enoughIncreasing costs and reducing incomes

The rise in the useo ood banks clearlyrefects increasinghardship and the di -

culty amilies ace inmaking ends meet, asprices rise and incomes

ail to keep paceKate Green MP19

Whats happened isthat the level o incomeinequality has beenincreasing And by thatwe mean that the veryrich have been gettingmore and more money,and people lower down,have been getting lessMichael Marmot

Case study: benefts and ood pricesA ter selling all o her possessions to pay o debts, Jack was le t with just a bed anda so a and a ew items that were later donated by riends. She has had to live on abudget o 10 a week or ood or a long period o time. She had to make sacri cesto save money, including never using the heating, taking out excess light bulbs andnot having a reezer or tumble drier. She buys basic products and tries not to buymeat or dairy products as they are too expensive. Her local ood bank is able to pro-vide nappies and ve items o ood each week.On reading an article in The Independent, she was shocked to nd that nine o the16 criteria that class a child as being in poverty applied to her own son, including:not having outdoor space to play, not having two pairs o shoes, and not havingmeat or dairy in his diet. It was a shock to me. I thought, My child is in poverty,and I wondered i I was a bad mother. As a result o blogging about her experiences, Jack is now working as a journalist and an activist on UK hunger issues.

I t wa a k t m . I t g t, M i

is in po vert y, and I wondered if I was a bad moth er.

J ac k is a sin g le m o t h er w h o liv es o n h o u sin g b enef t and c hild su p p o r t

o o


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10 walking the breadline

Case study: working poverty and rising pricesLornas oldest son, Shaun, has a disability and attends a special residential school inBrighton during the week. Lorna lives in Tower Hamlets, on the doorstep o the City o London, and can see the towers o Canary Whar rom her living room window.

Tower Hamlets is one o the richest boroughs in the country, but also has the worstrates o child poverty. Inequality in the borough is on the rise, and many residentswill be hit by both the bedroom tax, and the bene ts cap in the autumn (which willlimit the total amount a household can receive in bene ts). There is severe over-crowding in the borough, and many residents ear they will be orced out o theirhomes when the bene t cap comes in, and relocated outside o London. Althoughthere is a huge shortage o housing, luxury fats are springing up around the boroughto cater or the growing population o City workers and wealthy Londoners.

Tower Hamlets is, at the same time, one o the richest and one o the poorestparts o Britain. It has the highest rate o child poverty in the country and yet theaverage salary o those who work in the borough is 58,000, the second highestin the UK a ter the City o London. This is a place where many kids sleep six to aroom yet the borough has an economy worth more than 6 billion a year.

Revd Giles Fraser, chair o Tower Hamlets Fairness Commission

Although Lorna works as many hours as she can t around school hours, she is strug-gling to put ood on the table. Her very low wage means that she is dependent uponhousing bene t and tax credits to top up her low income, but still she has repeatedly

ound hersel seeking help rom the local ood bank, as she simply does not earnenough to keep afoat. With bene t rises this year capped at just 1%, the soaring costso ood, uel, gas and electricity have hit her very hard.

Lornas rst re erral to the ood bank came rom her sons school, who were concernedthat she had held him back rom school or two days because she couldnt a ord apacked lunch or him, and was ashamed to send him into school without. As a dinnerlady, not being able to eed her son during his school day was too much to bear.

Lorna is now waiting to move into a three-bedroom fat, as Shaun needs a room tohimsel because o his disability. However, she will now be hit by the bedroom tax as under current rules, Shaun would not quali y or his own room. I Lorna is orcedto pay bedroom tax, she will be le t with virtually no budget or ood at all. To cope,she will have to take money out o Shauns disability living allowance, which isintended or transport and extra care.

I elt very ashamed having to go to ood bank the frst time. It was down to mysons school liaison o fcer coming round to my house, because I hadnt sent myson into school or a couple o days as I couldnt a ord a packed lunch or himand I couldnt a ord to pay or a school dinner. I couldnt do what a mum shoulddo or them look a ter them. I couldnt even eed them. That just makes you eelreally low as a parent.I wake up every morning to look out my window and see Canary Whar , all thetop shot banks that are there. I do get angry because we are struggling and itslike nobody seems to take any notice... Id like to invite David Cameron, or NickClegg to come and try to live like this just or one week, with no electric, no gas,no ood... then theyd see.

Lo r na ha s t h ree

c h i ld re n a nd wo r k s a s

a sc hoo l d i n ne r la

d y

I do ge t angr y

a w a t gg i g

and its like nobod y seems to ta ke an y not ice

I t w a t

a m m

for them look

a f ter them.

I t v

feed them.


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walking the breadline 11

Olivier De Schutter (the UNs Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food) recently pointed toincreases in the number o ood banks in developed countries as an indicator that govern-ments are in danger o ailing in their duty to protect under the International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights (IESCR), which states that all citizens should have accessto adequate diet without having to compromise other basic needs 23

Whilst the Department or Work and Pensions (DWP) claims that the bene ts system provides a sa ety netor essentials such as ood, the evidence increasingly does not support this claim. In act, there is mounting

evidence that the inadequacies o the wel are sa ety net are now directly driving the growth o hunger andreliance on charitable ood handouts.

Beneft sanctions, destitution and ood poverty

Sa ety net no longerIs the benefts system creating hunger?

In recent years there has been growing concernabout the hardship caused by an increasinglyharsh and punitive bene ts sanctions regime

In 2010, in response to the Department or Workand Pensions consultation 21st Century Wel are (Cm7913), a number o consultees raised concerns thati conditionality is increased, protections must beput in place to ensure that vulnerable people arenot penalised. 24 At the time, Ox ams UK PovertyProgramme warned that the new sanctions regimebeing introduced alongside Universal Credit wouldexpose people to the risk o destitution. Removingbene ts and leaving people with no income willresult in extreme hardship or them and their

amilies.25

In April 2011,The Guardian published an analysis o DWP statistics which showed a 40% increase in thenumber o people who have lost their JobseekersAllowance (JSA) between April and October 2010. 26In October 2012 a new JSA sanctions regime cameinto orce, which introduced a new and more

robust system, with low-, intermediate- and high-level sanctions. A broadly similar sanctions regimewill be introduced under Universal Credit (the revi-sion to the entire bene ts system which the DWPstarted to roll out this month).

Just three months later, in January 2013, an internalDWP scorecard leaked to The Guardian revealedthat more than 85,000 sanctions had been appliedor upheld against JSA claimants in one monthalone. This would translate into more than a millionsanctions per annum, against a total JSA caseload o just under 1.5 million. 27

Most o the policy debate on sanctions to datehas ocused on the extent to which the sanctionsregime is ul lling its primary purpose in pro-moting good behaviour on the part o bene tclaimants. More recently, there has been a growingcontroversy as to whether Jobcentres have quotas

or getting people o bene ts. As a result o thisdebate, the Government has now agreed to set upan independent inquiry into the use o sanctions,

which is a welcome move.28

However, to date there has been little or noParliamentary debate, or Government orParliamentary research, on the wider impacts o sanctions in terms o generating material hardship,stress or hunger.

As ar back as 2006, the Social Security AdvisoryCommittee conducted an evidence review o sanc-tions in relation to Jobseekers Allowance, IncomeSupport and Incapacity Bene t. 29 This identi edthat a consistent message has emerged in terms o the impact o JSA sanctions on individuals. Several

reports have discussed the material hardship andemotional problems associated with sanctions.

The Advisory Committee noted that theDepartment [DWP] has little in ormation on thelonger-term impacts o sanctions. For example,there is currently no in ormation on people whomay become homeless as a result o a sanctionor whether a sanction leads to long-term healthimpacts such as anxiety or depression.

In spite o mounting evidence that the sanctionsregime is directly leading to ood poverty, noresearch has been commissioned by the DWP into

the wider impact o the increasing use o bene tsanctions.


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Case study: beneft sanctionsStephen had his bene ts stopped or two months, due to administrative errors bythe Jobcentre. During this time he was le t destitute and lost almost two stone inweight.

The problems began when he missed an appointment at Sal ord Jobcentre becausehe had not received a letter noti ying him o the appointment. His JobseekersAllowance was stopped and he was sanctioned or our weeks. The Department orWork and Pensions then claimed that he wasnt doing enough to nd work, andsanctioned him or another month.

How am I supposed to live? Ive been going on a course three days a week, plusIm applying or ten jobs every ortnight its their mistake and I am su ering.

Despite the sanctions, Stephen success ully completed his rendering and plas-tering course at Sal ord City College and received an NVQ Level 2 quali cation.He walked the ve-mile round trip to attend the course three days a week as hecouldnt a ord the bus are, o ten going without ood while there.

Stephen lives a hostel or single, homeless people; his JSA covers the 20 servicecharge or the hostel, as well as ood. When Stephen was sanctioned he had to borrowmoney in order to keep his place at the hostel as he was threatened with eviction.

I elt really low: suicidal, depressed. I just thought that no-one was helping orcaring. I Im trying hard and ollowing all the rules, and they wont even pay youto survive, you eel like theres no point. So why should you even try?

Stephen has been searching or a job since leaving prison in 2011; he is hope ul thatthe company who ran his course will give him a trial that could lead to a ull-time job.

In the hostel, every other week you see someone [who has been sanctioned].The DWP dont seem to care. They think were scum We shouldnt all be treatedthe same. I were trying to get work we should get more help.

S te p he n i s a 3 2-

yea r-o ld f ro m No r t h

Ma nc he s te r

Case study: beneft sanctionsKay is in her early thirties, a single parent and currently expect-ing another child. She is currently on Jobseekers Allowance and isrequired by her Jobcentre Plus Adviser to search or six jobs every

ortnight. Although Kay will need to have maternity leave in thenear uture, work is very important to her, and she is still activelylooking or employment and attends a voluntary job club on aweekly basis.

Kay has little knowledge o computers and there ore relies on thesupport o the sta at the job club to help her with her search,especially now that the Universal Jobmatch system (job searchesand recordings) is heavily computerised. One week in March,the job club lost all internet connectivity, and there ore she onlymanaged to enquire about one vacancy. However, during the ol-lowing week she ul lled her six job search quota by searching

or another ve jobs.

Kay believed all was well until her next visit to the Jobcentre tomeet her Adviser; she was told by her Adviser that her search wasnot good enough because her six job searches were not spreadevenly throughout the two weeks, and although Kay tried tode end her case, stating that she had no internet access, she wastold that she would be sanctioned.

Kay was sanctioned a weeks money o 71. This not only caused alot o stress to her (being pregnant, a single mother and now hav-ing a vital income removed rom the household); it also had theknock-on e ect o orcing her to rely on her amily or nancialsupport.

I Im t i g a

and fo l lo w ing

all the rules,

and t he y won t

e ven pa y you to sur vive,

ik t i t

Cartoon by Corrine Pearlman


13/20


why errors arise and is not doing enough to pre-vent errors entering the system in the rst place.Lastly, it cautioned that Wider wel are re ormscould reduce error in the long term by simpli y-ing the bene ts system, but could also distract theDepartment rom its ocus on getting error ratesdown now. 32

The evidence rom the Trussell Trust and others isthat bene t delays and underpayment continue tocause substantial hardship and hunger.

Both Church Action on Poverty and Ox am havewelcomed the introduction o the new UniversalCredit in principle. However, there are real concernsthat aspects o its design and resourcing will unin-tentionally result in a urther increase in hungerand destitution. Firstly, there is evidence that manypeople already struggle to make their ortnightlybene ts last the ull two weeks, and routinely gowithout or the last two or three days be ore theirnext payment arrives. The act that Universal Creditwill normally be paid monthly, rather than ort-nightly, runs the risk that the experience o runningout o money be ore the end o the month willbecome much more widespread.

Secondly, many charities have called into questionthe easibility o the DWPs presumption that atleast 85 per cent o claims will be made online. Not

only do low-income households have much lowerlevels o access to the internet than the populationat large, but this also increases the risk that claim-ants will incorrectly complete online applications,leading to an increase in the number o claimswhich are delayed or rejected.

According to the Trussell Trust, nearly a third o ood parcel recipients had been re erred to the Trust

because their social security bene ts had beendelayed. A urther 15% came as a result o their ben-e ts being cut or stopped (up rom 11% in 201112).The Trust said the majority o people turning to

ood banks were working-age amilies. 30

Delays in determining bene t or tax credit claimsand appeals can have devastating e ects onclaimants. This is particularly true in the case o means-tested bene ts, where those entitled will byde nition have very little or no income. Where thedelay relates to housing or council tax bene t, therecan be serious consequences in terms o problemswith baili s and, ultimately, homelessness. For

increasing numbers, it means quite literally thatthey are going hungry.

According to the DWPs own o cial estimates,some 1.3 billion o bene t expenditure wasunderpaid in 201112. 31In 2011, the Public AccountsCommittee criticised the DWP or ocusing onreducing overpayments and neglecting underpay-ments, despite the hardship that underpaymento bene ts can cause or claimants. It ound thatthe average weekly underpayment in IncomeSupport or a ected customers was 24, a consider-able proportion (29%) o their weekly payment. Anestimated 1.3 billion o bene ts went unpaid dueto customer and administrative error in 200910,but the Department did not have a target to reducethis total.

The Committee concluded that the Departmentdoes not have a sound understanding o where and

Beneft delays and underpayments

Jo bl ess Mel Th A M M A n c A u sed h A r d sh Ip

b y l A Te ben ef I T p A yMen Ts

A JOBLESS man sa ys he and his disa b led wi e are being

caused hards hip because t heir bene f t is o ten paid la te.

Former d ye house opera ti ve Da vid Ho y le, 61,and wi e Susan,

58, o Me l t ham, recei ve 201a or tnig h t. T hemone y s hou ld be

paid b y t he Depar tmen t or Wor k and Pensions (D WP) e ver y

o t her Wednesda y. Bu t o ten t he cas h hasn tgone in to t he cou-

p les accoun t in time, lea ving t hem wi t hou t mone y or ood.

Da vid said he was ed up o ha ving to c hase his mone y and

said: T here is no reason w h y i t s hou ldn t be paid on time.I t

happened again on Wednesda y and we had to ring up and t he

mone y was in b y 4pm.Its happened f ve or six times no w.Once

t he mone y didn t go in un ti l Frida y. We are s tru

gg ling as i t is and

we on l y ha ve enoug h ood to las t us t hroug h to bene f t da y. I ts no t too muc h to as k or t he mone y to be paid o

n time.

Da vid had an indus tria l acciden t in Januar y2007, in w hic h

his le t wris t was crus hed in a ba ling press. Da vid, w ho a lso

has lung pro b lems and os teoar t hri tis in hiships, la ter wor ked

or c leaning ser vices a t Kir k lees Counci l. Ho we ver, counci l

doc tors ru led him un f t or wor k and he no w recei ves t wo

sma l l pensions. Despi te his hea l t h di f cu l ties, t he D WP sa ys he is a b le to wor k and he was pu t on Jo bsee

kers A l lo wance.

T he y sa y t ha t because I can si t a t a compu ter I am f t to

wor k, said Da vid.I kno w Im no t bu t t ha ts w ha t t he y sa y.

I ve a l wa ys wor ked and Id lo ve to ge t a jo b. Im no t one o

t hose w ho spend a l l t heir bene f t do wn t he pu b. M y on l y

p leasure t hese da ys is going s hopping once a or tnig h t to

ha ve enoug h ood to keep us going. I kno w t he y are no t going

to increase m y mone y bu t I ve paid in to t he s ys tem and a l l I

wan t is a air dea l, w hic h Im no t ge t ting.

T he coup le, w ho ha ve our gro wn-up c hi ldren and nine

grandc hi ldren, wi l l a lso ha ve to f nd an ex tra 289 in counci l

tax t his year as a resu lt o bene f t c hanges. Da vid las t wor

ked

in 2011and said: Ive a lwa ys been a good wor ker. I can t be lie ve i ts come do wn to t his.

A D WP spo kesman con f rmed pa ymen ts had been made

la te bu t cou ld no t exp lain w h y. S he said:A l l we can do is

apo logise and we wi l l keep a c lose e ye on t he accoun t to ma ke

sure i t doesn t happen again.

Reproduced romthe Huddersfeld Daily Examiner, 30 March 2013


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More widely, there are growing concerns thatGovernments 18 billion programme o wel arebene t cuts will inevitably have major consequenc-

es in terms o increasing hardship and hunger ortens, or potentially hundreds o thousands o ami-lies already struggling to make ends meet.

In January 2013 the chie executives o 27 organi-sations, including Church Action on Poverty andOx am UK Poverty Programme, signed a joint letterin response to the Wel are Bene ts Up-rating Bill 33,expressing concern that the introduction o a oneper cent cap on bene t and tax credit increaseswould create a

... hardship penalty [that] will hurt millionso amilies across the country. Families alreadystruggling to pay or ood, uel, rent and otherbasics, will see their budgets urther squeezed.Many thousands have turned to ood banks

or help. Nearly hal o teachers say they o tensee children going hungry. And shockingly, sixmillion households are struggling to a ord toheat their homes.As the cost o uel, ood and housing riseagain, we can expect to see these problemsbecome even more severe and widespread. Thishardship penalty is not an isolated cut. It comeson top o a ra t o cuts being introduced this year. This includes reezes to child beneft andworking tax credit, and cuts to housing beneftand council tax beneft. These changes will hurtboth working and non-working households.

The Institute or Fiscal Studies predict that one mil-lion more children will all into poverty by 2020, andsay that almost all o this increase is accounted orby bene t re orms introduced since 2010. 34 But theGovernment has resisted calls to commission a ullassessment o the likely or actual impact o bene tcuts and changes on low-income households. 35

In March, 43 Anglican Bishops including JustinWelby, the new Archbishop o Canterbury signeda joint letter to The Sunday Telegraph highlighting

the devastating impact that bene t cuts would belikely to have on poor amilies:

I prices rise aster than expected, childrenand amilies will no longer have any protectionagainst this. Children and amilies are alreadybeing hit hard by cuts to support, includingthose to tax credits, maternity benefts, andhelp with housing costs. They cannot a ordthis urther hardship penalty. 36

More speci cally, since administration o the SocialFund was trans erred rom the DWP to local authori-ties at the end o March, there are concerns that local

Jobcentre sta are being guided to direct bene tclaimants to local authority or charity-run ood banksor voucher schemes, in spite o the continued exist-ence o a DWP hardship und. Several authorities haveprotested to Government ministers that Jobcentresare re using to advertise the availability o short-term bene t advances to claimants, but are insteadpassing the buck to local authority crisis supportschemes, some o which rely on charity handouts.

Newcastle City Council said that between 80% and90% o the calls to its new crisis help scheme were

rom claimants who required a short-term advance,but who had not been o ered one or told o their exist-ence by Jobcentre advisers. 37Hundreds o pennilessbene t claimants who quali y or a short-term nan-cial loan to tide them over until their rst paymentarrives are being told by Jobcentre o cials to ask or

ood parcels at local council wel are o ces.

As a result, there is an urgent need to commissionan independent and ongoing review o the impacto wel are re orms, to ensure that they do not unin-tentionally lead to increased hardship and hungerover the coming months.

Wel are re orm, hardship and ood poverty

Case study: the bedroom tax and ood poverty 44Claire (not her real name) is a Commissioner with Scotlands Poverty TruthCommission. She su ers rom chronic Crohns Disease, osteoarthritis and depres-sion. She currently lives in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom fat with her partner anddaughter. Due to the nature o her illness, she o ten needs to sleep in the spare bed-room, and also needs to use the bathroom at least our to six times a day, sometimesup to an hour at a time, or as o ten as every 15 minutes.Be ore the bedroom tax was introduced, she applied (with support rom her doc-tor) or Discretionary Housing Payments and an Additional Bedroom Allowance toallow her to retain an extra bathroom and bedroom. This was re used. She there orehas to pay 40.16 monthly bedroom tax.

That might not sound like a lot o money to most people, but when it has to beound out o an already stretched beneft income it is a lot. I paid my frst 40.16

out o Aprils ESA payment. I took the money out o my ood allowance budget,and or the three days be ore my next ortnightly payment o ESA was due, I livedon toast so the rest o my amily could eat properly. I I dont receive DHP, I willhave to do this every month.The worry and stress o fnding this extra money has had a huge impact on myhealth condition and stress levels.

I l i ved on toas t

so the rest

m ami

could eat properl y


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Food banks and charities are currently meeting the essential needs o many

amilies and individuals in crisis; they are eeding adults and children who oth-erwise would not have ood on the table The rise in the demand or ood parcelsshould be seen as a warning about the number o people who are sliding into

poverty

However, it is important that we view ood aid only as a short-term emergency responseto the problem o ood poverty. The root causes need to be tackled in order or the situ-ation to be resolved. Food banks are currently plugging a hole in the social sa ety net,locating the solutions at a local level rather than looking at the structural causes. Foodbanks should not be seen as a normal part o our social security system, and should notbecome a substitute or an e ective wel are system and decent work (including a LivingWage). Emergency ood provision can give the impression that the problem is beingaddressed; when ood banks become a permanent part o the wel are landscape, theycan allow policy-makers to look the other way. The Trussell Trust very consciously runsa model that prevents any client becoming reliant on ood aid and does not allow their

ood banks to become a substitute or state services.

Food banks and other emergency assistance have an important role in providingemergency ood and signposting to other orms o help. However charitable ood aidinitiatives are unlikely to make a signi cant impact to the overall ood experiences o bene ciaries due to their inability to overcome or alter the poverty that underpins thisproblem (Valerie Tarasuk, School o Public Health, University o Toronto 38).

There is a need or in ormed debate about the presence o national-scale emergencyood initiatives; the need or such interventions should be a cause or serious concern

and the potential consequences, particularly the impact upon people su ering romood poverty, need urgent attention.

Beyond ood banksTackling the root causes o ood poverty

Case study: Real Food 40A community ood project is being launched inManchester which aims to eed an entire estateo 70,000 people. Indoor and outdoor ood pro-ducing sites will be created during the ve-yearscheme in Wythenshawe. The organisers saythe aim is or the public to be able to buy a ord-able, locally-grown ood on their doorstep. Theproject will run a number o di erent projectsand activities, all ocused on getting the peopleo Wythenshawe growing, cooking and eating

resh, sustainable ood. Support and activitieswill also help local people to establish new oodbusinesses, social enterprises and markets thatmeet community needs.With the price o ood continuing to rise, it ishoped that the scheme will cut costs or low-income amilies and improve their diet at thesame time.

The Real Food project will undoubtedlyleave a lasting legacy on the localcommunity but also lead the way or othercities to ollow in our ootsteps.

Nigel Wilson,Parkway Green Housing Trust

Case study: Community Foodshare 41In a radical break rom the growing trend towards the creation o

ood banks, an alternative approach has been developing in WestDunbartonshire.West Dunbartonshire has su ered rom years o industrial and eco-nomic decline, combined with decades o regeneration initiativesthat have ailed to make any signi cant di erence. The area has thesecond lowest li e expectancy o all Scottish Local Authorities, and aquarter o children in the area are growing up in poverty.The Community Foodshare project was set up a ter a meeting wascalled to discuss how the community could respond to the grow-ing problem o ood poverty. The words o Dom Helder Camara( ormer Archbishop o Sao Paulo) resonated with the audience:When I eed the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why thepoor are hungry, they call me a communist.It was decided that the approach must be one o not only providing

ood, but also o community empowerment and resistance to poli-cies which lead to ood poverty. West Dunbartonshire CommunityFoodshare seeks to assist all those a ected by poverty through:

providing direct distribution o ood to anyone in need;signposting o in ormation, advice and support on matters o wellbeing;raising awareness o issues a ecting the communities o WestDunbartonshire by lobbying and campaigning or changes ingovernment policy on matters o social justice and poverty.

Food banks can signpost people to other

orms o help or provide advice butthey cannot tackle the root causes o ood poverty (photo by Ox am)

Relying on ood banksisnt a sustainable orsocially air answer, asexperiences in otherparts o Europe andnorth America showclearly We need morecreative answers rompolicy-makers and localpeople alikeElizabeth Dowler, Pro essor o Food andSocial Policy, University o Warwick39


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It is a national scandal that in the seventhwealthiest nation on the planet, in excesso hal a million people are now reliant on

ood aid The evidence o this report is thatausterity and cuts are leading directly to an

explosion in hunger and hardship across the UK

But there is an alternative.

These are tough times in the UK but not or every-

one. Many big corporations and super-rich peopleare getting away with dodging their air share o tax at our expense. It is estimated that between32 billion42 and 120 billion 43 is dodged in tax bywealthy individuals and major corporations everyyear, in the UK alone.

Clever tax accountants have helped clients toexploit loopholes or as long as the laws have beenthere, allowing them to use the tax laws to obtaina bene t which was not intended by parliament.The government periodically closes loopholes whenthey become over-exploited, but tax law is generally20 years behind tax planning.

Fragile public revenues, both in the UK andamongst some o the worlds poorest countries,are being atally undermined through corporatepro t-shi ting and other transactions through taxhavens. According to Action Aid, 98 o the top 100corporations quoted on the London stock exchange(the FTSE100) have related or subsidiary companiesregistered in tax havens, and nearly 40 per cento the FTSE100s 22,000 overseas companies arelocated in tax havens. 45

At a time when spending cuts are having a real anddamaging impact on the lives o some o the poor-est and most vulnerable people in the country, it ismorally inde ensible or some o Britains richestcompanies to avoid paying their air share o UKtaxes. Every pound avoided in tax is a pound less tospend on childcare, social care, health, education orbene ts.

Tax dodging deprives countries (our own and othersacross the globe) o the revenue to und essentialpublic services, and to tackle poverty. Tax dodgingundermines the rule o law. Tax dodging under-mines democracy. Tax dodging undermines thecommon good.

Tackling tax dodging will only be achieved throughconcerted action at national and international lev-els. The UK Government has taken welcome stepstowards tackling tax dodging, both domesticallyand by putting the issue on the agenda or the G8meeting which the UK is hosting this June.

We there ore call on the Government to redouble itse orts to require the nations wealthiest individualsand corporations to pay their air share o tax.

In an age o austerity, it is the moral duty o individuals and companies alike to pay theirtaxes according to both the letter and thespirit o the law. Tax avoidance denies help tothe poorest and most vulnerable people bothin the UK and in developing countries.

Methodist, Baptist and United Re ormedChurch Joint Public Issues Team, June 2012

The evidence rom this report is conclusive: theerosion o our wel are sa ety net has gone too ar

There is an alternativeReducing ood poverty by tackling tax dodging

In a time o austerity, every

pound o taxdodged is a

pound less tospend on our

benefts systemand other vital

services


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Households Below Average Income (DWP, June2012: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai)

The Food Ethics Council (www.oodethicscouncil.org/topic/Food%20poverty )

www.jr .org.uk/blog/2012/12/2012-review-decade-destitution

The Impoverishment o the UK (PSE UK, March2013)

Citizens Advice London: Food Poverty in London(November 2012). Bureaux have seen a rise o over 50% in the need or ood parcels betweenthe rst and second quarter o this year.Citizens Advice Scotland: Voices rom the Frontline (September 2012). Citizens Adviceassisted with 2,200 applications or charitablesupport in 201112 more than double thenumber in 200910. The majority o theseconcerned essential goods such as ood andheating, which the clients were unable to a ord.

Food Poverty Across Greater Manchesterin Greater Manchester Poverty Commission Research Report , December 2012, p 76

Hard to Swallow: The acts about Food Poverty (Kelloggs and The Centre or Economic andBusiness Research)

www.london.gov.uk/sites/de ault/ les/summary%20teacher%20survey.pd

The Trussell Trust Food bank Network: Exploringthe Growth o Food banks Across the UK (Lambie,2011).

This and subsequent quotes taken rom Lambieop cit.

Greater Manchester Poverty Commission Research Report , December 2012

Greater Manchester Poverty Commission Research Report , December 2012

www.church-poverty.org.uk/overtheodds

Captive State by George Monbiot (Macmillan,2000)

Food Poverty and Health (Faculty o Public

Health o the Royal College o Physicians o theUnited Kingdom, 2005)

The cost o ood-related ill-health (The Agri-ood Network, 2002)

(www.sustainweb.org/agri ood/meeting_2_the_cost_o _ ood_related_ill_health)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

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The Family Budget Unit was an educationcharity based at the University o York. Thecharity was dissolved in 2011, and its intellectualproperty is now owned by the Minimum IncomeProject.

Helen Hosker, Institute orOptimum Nutrition (http://ion.ac.uk/in ormation/onarchives/livingonless)

Food poverty puts UKs international humanrights obligations in danger in The Guardian ,18 February 2012 (www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/ eb/18/

ood-poverty-uk-human-rights-obligations)

The Per ect Storm: Economic Stagnation, therising cost o living, public spending cuts andimpact on UK poverty (Ox am, 2012). Calculationsbased on ONS, Consumer Price Indices TimeSeries data, retrieved May 2012.

Kelloggs and The Centre or Economic andBusiness Research, ibid.

Netmums (www.netmums.com/home/netmums-campaigns/ amilies-in-crisis)

Food banks can only plug the holes in socialsa ety nets in The Guardian , 27 February 2013(www.guardian.co.uk/commentis ree/2013/

eb/27/ ood-banks-social-sa ety-nets)

Conditionality, sanctions and hardship equalityimpact assessment (DWP, October 2011)

Charities hardship ear over bene t sanctionson BBC News, 12 November 2012(www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11742916)

Vulnerable people are targeted with the riseand rise o bene t sanctions in The Guardian ,18 April 2011 (www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jul/18/data-store-unemployment)

Jobcentre scorecard shows how areas areper orming on stopping bene ts in TheGuardian , 28 March 2013(www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/28/ jobcentre-scorecard-areas-stopping-bene ts)

Labour demand action over jobcentre targets inThe Guardian , 22 March 2013(www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/22/labour-demands-action-jobcentre-targets)

Sanctions in the bene t system: Evidencereview o JSA, IS and IB sanctions (SocialSecurity Advisory Committee Occasional PaperNo 1, February 2006)

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Endnotes


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www.trusselltrust.org/stats

Fraud and Error in the Beneft System: Preliminary 2011/12 Estimates (DWP, 2012)

Reducing errors in the benefts system (PublicAccounts Committee, March 2011)

www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-views/article/joint-letter-response-wel are-bene ts-rating-bill

Child and working-age poverty in Northern Ireland rom 2010 to 2020 (Institute or FiscalStudies, May 2013)

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9920352/Anglican-bishops-letter-bene t-cuts-will-have-deeply-disproportionate-e ect.html

Jobcentre sta accused by councils o ailing toalert public to poverty loans in The Observer , 21April 2013 (www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/21/jobcentre-sta - ail-poverty-loans?)

Cited in Lambie (2011)

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

UK amilies struggling to eed themselvesorgotten on World Food Day

(www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/uk_ amilies_struggling)

http://real oodwythenshawe.com/www.clydebankpost.co.uk/news/roundup/articles/2013/04/05/452343- oodshare-a-vital-service-/

Measuring Tax Gaps 2012 (HM Revenue andCustoms, 2012)

Whats the Tax Gap? (Tax Research UK, July 2012)

http://povertytruthcommission.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/i-took-money-out-o -my- ood-allowance.html

FTSE100s tax haven habit showsneed to tackle a hidden obstacle in the

ght against global poverty (http://actionaid.org.uk/news-and-views/

tse100s-tax-haven-habit-shows-need-to-tackle-a-hidden-obstacle-in-the- ght-against)

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4041

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About usThe gap between rich and poor in the UK is greater now than at anytime in the past 50 years. The UK is one o the most unequal countriesin the industrialised world.

With support rom many national Christian denominations andagencies, Church Action on Poverty is campaigning or changeswhich would Close the Gap and build a more equal society. Happier.Healthier. Sa er. Fairer.

One result o the unjust division in our society is a Power Gap. Peopleon low incomes lack a voice, while wealthy corporations have anundue power over public decisions. The stigmatisation exposed by thisreport is just one example o this problem.

We invite anyone concerned about these injustices to work with us toClose the Gap. Visit www.church-poverty.org.uk to nd out how youcan become part o the campaign by Giving, Acting or Praying.

The UK is the seventh richest country on Earth, yet one in ve o itspeople lives in poverty. In act, the UK is one o the most unequal richcountries in the world, with the poorest tenth o people receiving only1 per cent o total income, while the richest tenth take home 31 percent.

The combination in the UK o economic stagnation and public spend-ing cuts is causing substantial hardship to people living in poverty.As millions ace a brutal combination o rising prices, stagnant wagesand the erosion o social security, some o the UKs individuals andlargest companies operating on our shores are evading taxes.

Ox am believes that, by making di erent political choices, the gov-ernment can protect people in poverty. This is why we are calling onpoliticians to crack down on tax abuse to help millions escape poverty

or good.

Visit www.ox am.org.uk/ oodpoverty to nd out more about Ox amswork on ood poverty.


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Download additional copies o this report atwww church-poverty org uk/ ood uel nanceor www ox am org uk/policyandpractice

Documents

Walking the Breadline: The scandal of food poverty in 21st-century Britain