Humanity, dignity, poverty
Church Action on Poverty trustee Stef Benfield reflects on what scripture has to say about Christians campaigning for justice.
Should Christians work for structural change? There is a lot that could be said on this from a range of viewpoints. I’m going to use just one here: God’s law for Israel.
God gave the Israelites structures – laws – to prevent and eradicate poverty. His law specifically forbade exploitation and required generosity.
God forbade harsh treatment of workers. Pay was to be prompt, even daily, and adequate to the work done (Leviticus 25:35-43; Deuteronomy 24:14-15). Owners were not to hoover up to themselves all the available profit, but were to deliberately leave some available to the poor (Leviticus 19:9-10, 23:22). Even animals were not to be treated harshly and worked for all they were worth, but to be looked after (Deuteronomy 25:4). The interest was not the money that could be made but the wellbeing of the workers.
If we followed God on this, there would be no job insecurity, no unpredictable hours, no overwork, no inadequacy of pay. Toxic jobs wouldn’t exist. There would be dignity in all work.
God required those with power to use it for good. The laws on gleaning mean that power is not to be used to grow wealthy but to support the poor. Laws on debt said that lending is not a means to more money, but a way to use your money to help others. If you could lend to someone who needed it, then do so – in the knowledge that debt is cancelled every seven years, essential items could not be taken as pledge, and usury is forbidden (Deuteronomy 15:7-11, 24:6,10-13). You were more likely to make a loss than a profit, and that was how God expected it to be.
For people who fell into poverty, God made structures to protect and provision them. This included the gleaning laws (access to food and work) and debt cancellation. It also included redemption of (extended) family property, based not on the worthiness of the poverty-stricken relative but their relation to one who could redeem (Leviticus 25:25-28). If a person had to sell themselves into servitude, it was for a fixed period of six years, with the option to buy one’s self out if the means became available. And in the seventh year, the person was not merely released from their job contract but restored to prosperity: the employer was to send the person away with gifts in accordance with not the contribution of the employee but the prosperity of the employer (Deuteronomy 15:12-15).
Finally, if all these remedies failed and a person had to sell their property outside of the family, then every 50th year was a year of Jubilee: all land went back to the original owners (Leviticus 25:28). It was a divine reset and redistribution that prevented both poverty and gross wealth.
Jubilee was a second chance for the very lowest, and a reminder to the richest that their prosperity is but a gift from God to use for others.
In these structures, God imbued humanity with dignity. The random chance of charity has little place here: gifts were made at the command of God, not the whim of the rich; and the primary mode of action was through the dignity of the law. Let us strive for the same dignity.
Join our book group
During March 2020, Church Action on Poverty staff and supporters will be reading Stef Benstead’s new book Second Class Citizens: The treatment of disabled people in austerity Britain. At the start of April we’ll discuss the book in a blog post here, and on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
If you’re interested, please get a copy of the book to read, and let us know you’ll be joining in!
“I rang our food bank supplier but there was little they could do”
Coronavirus: will food banks be able to meet demand for those who can't bulk buy?
Charlotte Killeya, Social Food Coordinator at Parson Cross Initiative in Sheffield, shares her reflections on coronavirus:
I started to read the headlines this weekend; it’s not easy reading at the moment due to the amount of information regarding the spread of Coronavirus. The stories about people stockpiling items in supermarkets and photographs of empty shelves concerned me. In addition, some supermarkets started to limit the number of certain items people could buy. My thoughts quickly turned to the food bank we run here in Sheffield and the people that we help. How are we going to manage if shelves are beginning to empty of the very items that we always need?
As well as relying on donations of food from the public, we also purchase additional items from supermarkets to ‘fill in the gaps’ on our shelves. Some supermarkets have always restricted the amount of some items that you can purchase online for delivery, but it’s usually more than the five that I saw on my computer screen this weekend. Concerned about this ‘rationing’, I telephoned the supermarket we usually use for deliveries. I asked if the reports were true and if so, was there any way around this, particularly as we are currently supporting around 90 households per week. Customer services understood our situation but told us that there was little that they could do if the stock was not available or was in short supply. They could not make an exception.
I did manage to place an online order from a couple of supermarkets, albeit some items I wanted were unavailable, the amount was restricted and we had to order more expensive alternatives. Thanks to social media posts we have had kind offers from people offering to donate to us. We are fortunate to have generous donors and supporters who respond in this way, but none of this deals with the fundamental issues at heart.
The spread of Coronavirus raises issues regarding food security, how we respond to crises in our society and the role that food banks have, and indeed should have.
It is understandable that people are trying to prepare themselves should they become ill or isolated due to Coronavirus. Topping up their cupboards with extra tinned foods and making sure that the freezer is well stocked is not an irrational thing to do. It brings a sense of security and control – it gives us a ‘back-up’ if we need it. However, problems arise when stockpiling and panic buying takes hold because it has a direct impact on the most vulnerable now.
Again, understandably perhaps, it’s the cheaper versions of products that sell out first. Often, it’s the more expensive items that are left on the shelves, and this has an impact on people living on the lowest incomes. Unsurprisingly when items become scarce and demand is high, the cost of such products increases dramatically (we only need to look at the example of hand sanitiser to see how this happens.)
If you are on a low income you cannot afford to stockpile: there’s often little or no slack in your budget to stock up your cupboard for ‘just in case’ times.
Often, the people we support tell us that they manage food day-to-day or even meal-to-meal. Linked to this, it’s also difficult to get online orders if you have no internet or you have to reach the ‘minimum basket’ amount to get a supermarket to deliver: currently some of these minimum amounts vary from £25 to £40.
I was also struck by the types of food that some in the media have suggested that we ‘stockpile’ (or at least get a few items of each.) These foods won’t sustain you in the long term, but they can be easily stored away and used in an emergency. The lists are so similar to those we ask for at food banks – dried pasta, UHT milk, tinned tomatoes, baked beans, soup and so on. We give out these foods week on week. As a society we need to question this: it’s not okay to expect people to live on these ‘emergency’ foods long term. The people we support are already surviving on this ‘crisis’ food.
We all hope that this virus does not cause the levels of suffering that many fear. We need to stay calm and try to think about those who are more vulnerable than themselves. Hopefully, if people have surplus food and toiletries they will share them out to others who need them. I believe many people will reach out and help others because we see them doing it in so many ways already, for example when they donate to our food bank or when they volunteer their time.
In light of all of this, we need to question the idea, and often the expectation, that charity should be the safety-net, the ‘back-up plan’, the solution to the problems and crises that we face as a society.
Food banks and charities like ourselves, have been saying this for years. Recent events highlight the flaws in using the charity sector to ensure food security. Food banks rely on public donations and volunteer time – if either of these things falls we will struggle to continue the service that we provide. For many people, food banks and the charity sector is their safety net, but unfortunately this net is already full of holes.
Make like Moses
Hannah Brock-Womack, facilitator of our Church on the Margins network in Sheffield, talks to network member Siggy Parratt-Halbert.
This blog post is mainly about not giving up.
Siggy doesn’t give up easily, it seems to me. She works where she lives in the village of Woodhouse, to the east of Sheffield, for Unlock Urban. Woodhouse is a place where everyone knows everyone. They’re justifiably proud of their long industrial history, including having one of the pits where the Bevin boys were trained. It’s just down the road from the Orgreave where the biggest confrontation of the ‘84-’85 miners’ strike happened.
Unlock aims to share the Bible with people who don’t usually read that much. It has a really laid back and non-intrusive way of working, giving people the chance to have conversations about faith, knowing that no one is going to try and convert them at the end of the conversation!
Siggy started off her work for Unlock spending several months talking to people at coffee mornings. It felt like slow work. In fact, the first two years of that job didn’t go that well. She felt like things weren’t moving in the right direction. When asked if she wanted to keep at it for another two years, she almost said no. When she agreed to keep going, she decided that it had to be be by doing something that she enjoyed, so that she could keep going, even if it was tough. And one of the things she enjoys is drawing.
Inspirational women
I first met Siggy when she came to our Church on the Margins reflection day here in Sheffield a few months ago. On that day, she wowed us with the cartoons she’d drawn, which are of modern-day women and a Bible character that they have something in common with. These aren’t pious women who no one can now relate to, they’re inspirational women who changed the world with their vision, like Rosa Parks and her scriptural counterpart Hannah (from the book of Samuel), or Radclyffe Hall, a lesbian and author who was ‘out’ long before it was safe to be, who’s a bit like the Witch of Endor (also from Samuel), another powerful woman who nailed her colours to the mast and was at risk of death for doing it.
This project was the thing that kept Siggy going, and got connections all around the community flourishing. She drew them at the coffee mornings and other community events, starting off with those from the book A History of Britain in 21 Women. Then everyone got involved, suggesting different women she should include. The last picture was of Jodie Whittaker, the first female Doctor Who (from Sheffield) – because where do you go from there?!
In the end she drew 51 pairs of women – including lots from the Bible that many who’d been going to church their whole lives hadn’t heard of. The people at the coffee morning are different from the people attend the church on a Sunday morning, so it was a way of getting the whole community (not just church-goers) to pull together around a shared, creative project. But it was also a way of making scripture more accessible, and bringing the tales of these inspirational women into the modern day. It makes the Bible more relevant, in a way, said Siggy, because, really, the lives we’re living haven’t changed, in a lot of ways.
Bringing the community together
Around the UK today it can feel like people are living more insular lives, needing to concentrate on their families to survive difficult times. It’s hard to make a living in Woodhouse too, so Siggy was making links with the local shops, letting them know they’re supported. There have been several community projects that involved local shop workers, including giving out postcards of the four days of Christ’s Passion that Siggy had drawn. These offered lots of opportunities for non-churchgoers to ask questions about Easter that they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to ask before. There were a lot of interesting conversations!
There’s also a homeless hostel in the village, which is quite a transient place to be. That means there are lots of young men passing through, with sometimes chaotic lives. There’s a big disconnect between those who live in the village long-term and those who are there for a short time only at the hostel. The transient community often gets blamed for anything that goes wrong. Siggy wanted to encourage folk to reach out to each other but in reality, they were a bit too scared. One thing the project has done, though, is to encourage everyone who uses the church building to want to make contact with each other. That means two church communities that use the building, as well as the karate club, breastfeeding club, and the toddlers’ group and more. She is confident that the men from the hostel will soon be included in this list. Baby steps!
As we’re both part of a Church Action on Poverty network, we talked about what being part of a church community means for people who are struggling to make ends meet. Siggy reckons that when people do go to churches that are working well, the thing they get out of it most is the family feel and the fellowship – you’re held. If anything goes wrong, or if you’ve got something to celebrate, there are people who are there for you. Knowing that other people have got your back is really valuable.
“It’s not about bums on seats, it’s about the kingdom”, Siggy said.
She hopes that churches can be seen as places where, when people have nothing, and don’t have the support mechanisms they need, they know that support is available. The faith side of things might come later.
Keep on going, even when it’s hard
The Bible Women cartoon project sounds like an incredible piece of work that really brought diverse people together. Right now it’s available to hire out, so you can bring it to your church if you’d like to! Get in contact with Unlock.
When we met we talked a lot about perseverance, and what you need to keep going when you feel like you have a passion to do something but it’s not working out. The answer in the end turned out to be quite simply: do something that you enjoy and that makes you feel alive, so that even if it doesn’t have the impact you imagine, you are still being fed, and you are less likely to get despondent. It reminds me of the quote which is a bit of a cliché, but is nonetheless true:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
(Howard Thurman, African-American civil rights leader)
Siggy’s other advice to those who are struggling to keep going? Be creative. Find something that gets people involved and makes your community ‘bite’ and come together. Use your gift (everyone has one!), or find that someone in your community who has the gift that you need.
And also…
“If it took Moses 40 years in the desert and he still didn’t see the fruits of the seeds that he sowed, who was I to complain?!”
A decade of action on poverty
Where did the 2010s go? Whoosh, just like that, another whole new decade is upon us.
Ten years lie ahead like blank canvases or unfilled journals. 3,653 days that we can shape, use and hopefully enjoy.
We know our priorities as we begin the decade, but only time will tell what new issues, challenges and opportunities arise as we continue trying to loosen poverty’s grip. Before the 2020s gather pace, however, allow us to pause, and briefly look back at some of the work you helped to fund, enable and support in the 2010s. Thank you!
We began with a pleasing result from some of our earlier work. The Methodist Church and the Church of Scotland committed to support the Living Wage, helping ensure that people’s incomes are enough for them to live on.
Our ‘Rip-off TV’ action (pictured) persuaded the chief executive of a high-cost lender to sit down with his customers, listen to them, and join them in working for more responsible practices in the sector. Many aspects of our economy exacerbate poverty, charging poor people more for goods and services. We challenge this wherever we can.
Our Close The Gap campaign was launched, and thousands of you got involved, Giving, Acting and Praying to tackle inequality. We focused on fair taxes, fair prices and a fair say.
Working with partners near our own offices, our Salford Apprentice programme supported local people with experience of poverty to become community leaders. Those involved have since launched and spearheaded fascinating and powerful work of their own.
We and Christian Aid took a double-decker Tax Justice Bus around the UK, mobilising people to campaign against tax dodging.
There was more good news on the Living Wage, with support from the General Synod of the Church of England and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
We knew hunger was a growing issue in the UK, but it had been hard to quantify. Working with Oxfam, our joint Walking The Breadline research made front-page news as a pioneering and vital look at the full picture. Only by fully understanding such issues can we ensure we tackle the root causes effectively.
That Christmas, our “Britain Isn’t Eating” poster struck a chord across the country and went viral online.
We undertook a fascinating visit to India, which led to the creation of our Self-Reliant Groups project, small groups that can save and invest together, and provide mutual support.
We published the Charter to End the Payday Loan Rip-off in partnership with the Centre for Responsible Credit and Paul Blomfield MP. More than 40 MPs signed up to the Charter at the launch event in the House of Commons. This helped persuade the Financial Conduct Authority to crack down on payday lending and bring in new regulations, which led to Wonga and others paying more than £50m redress to customers.
The food focus continued. We began building partnerships among churches, charities, academics and others, to build an alliance that could explain, challenge and ultimately end food poverty. These were the foundations of the End Hunger campaign.
Many church leaders have embraced the campaign, and that year we worked with vicar Keith Hebden (pictured), as he fasted for the whole of Lent to raise awareness of the crisis.
We worked with the Joint Public Issues team on the Rethink Benefit Sanctions campaign. Sanctioning, which often tipped people into destitution, has since reduced and has been proven to be damaging.
Our Real Benefits Street project provided a true and balanced alternative to the sensationalist TV coverage, persuading one TV producer to meet our participants and listen to their concerns about stigma and inaccuracy.
We listened to churches around the UK, so their visions of what makes a Good Society could influence our planning.
We worked with the National Union of Journalists to produce new reporting guidelines, launched the End Hunger UK campaign, and launched our Church on The Margins work, exploring the challenge by Pope Francis and others to build a ‘poor church that is for the poor’.
Having researched ways for communities to tackle the Poverty Premium in their neighbourhood, we launched the Your Local Pantry network nationally. Pantries alleviate poverty by reducing shopping bills, allowing other essential costs to be met. Research has shown they are having a fantastic social, economic and health impact.
Our Voices From The Margins project, putting people with experience of poverty at the forefront of social and political conversations, was launched. More than 120 people have contributed so far.
We exposed the scale of cuts to localised crisis support in England. When people are swept into poverty, there must be lifelines to reach for, but most have been removed or neglected.
We launched our Scripture from the Margins Bible studies, helping churches and church-goers to think more deeply about, and respond more effectively to, poverty and injustice.
Our Food Power programme shifted the narrative around food and poverty, and helped strengthen local campaigning. Young people we worked with in Lancashire appeared on national TV and spoke truth to power, when they met politicians and took part in the national Children’s Future Food Inquiry.
Hundreds of people embraced a week of action in October, calling on the Government to Act Now To End UK Hunger.
Thank you for all your support. What will the 2020s bring? Watch this space…
A Good Society? We failed
An open letter to Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, from Church Action on Poverty supporter Liz Delafield.
Cast your mind back to 2015. Churches together in Britain and Ireland had asked churches to discuss with their local communities the question ‘What makes a good society?’ From these discussions they produced the 2020 vision. The expectation that the churches, other religious bodies and community organisations would work together with our elected representatives to build a good society in which all could thrive. It was where we aspired to be by the year 2020.
This is what it said:
- All citizens have access to enough income to enable them to live with dignity, either through paid work or through a properly functioning welfare safety net.
- Reasonably priced homes where people can flourish are available for everyone who needs them and there is a reliable safety net for all homeless people.
- All children and young people are enabled to live fulfilling flourishing lives, their contributions are valued, and they are enabled to grow and achieve their potential.
- An economy that is in service to every person irrespective of their wealth or the market value of their labour; including robust action to clamp down on tax dodging.
- UK greenhouse gas emissions are falling rapidly, and the Government has helped to secure a global climate deal that limits global temperature rises to 2 degrees.
This was not meant to be an exhaustive list. For example, the local conversation that I was involved in wanted to add ‘There is a thriving NHS which meets the needs of all.’
So with only just over a month until 2020, and another general election looming, this seems a good time to take stock. How did we do?
Quite simply, we failed. We did not build a good society – or even make steps towards it. If anything, we have moved further from our vision.
The implementation of Universal Credit and PIP assessment has led to greater hardship for many vulnerable people. An increasing number of people rely on food banks to get by. Homelessness is still evident in our communities. Most school budgets have been cut in real terms, reducing children’s and young people’s’ opportunities to thrive and achieve their potential. Cuts in local government have made youth services almost non existent in some areas. Young people’s mental health is an increasing concern. Tax dodging is still prevalent. As extinction rebellion campaigners remind us, the climate is in crisis and we have been far too slow to respond.
We failed – big time.
So what did we do with our vision? Did we hold it up as a beacon? Did we shout from our pulpits and to our communities “Look, this what we said. What are we doing about it?” No, we didn’t. We filed it away as yesterday’s news, a sound bite for the 2015 election.
Building the Good Society, or what Christians call the Kingdom of God, is not a short-term project. Neither is it only for politicians. It is a long term task that involves us all.
The General Election will take place during Advent. This is traditionally a time of waiting and preparation. But what are we waiting for? Not for a political leader, but for a vulnerable refugee child. A child who reminds us that leadership is about love and service. This is the way to a good society.
Let us remain faithful to our vision. No matter what happens in the election, let’s keep holding our politicians and churches to account. None of the people standing in this election is our saviour. We simply need to decide who would best love and serve with us as we strive towards a good society. The road is long, and sometimes difficult, but as the advent and Christmas stories reminded us, Christ walks with us.
This post first appeared on Liz Delafield’s blog.
What will it take to end hunger in the UK?
Did any of us ever expect the re-emergence of hunger as a social reality in twenty-first century Britain?
Emma’s story of life in food poverty in Cambridge is typical of many:
“I am a single mum of three and have used food banks three times since November 2017. It felt really awful to be in that position; I went from a £30,000-a-year job in HR to ending up there in six months. Following my husband and I separating, he left me with a lot of debt and I couldn’t sustain living costs and childcare on my own so I had to give up my job and claim income support.
It’s really hard to go to the food bank when you are used to doing your own shopping and supporting yourself. The volunteers were really good and didn’t judge but I still got upset, and they were comforting. At the time, I hadn’t realised you’re limited to how many time you can use food banks per year and I found that concept quite bizarre. It’s there to help people when they are in need but you can’t dictate when and how many times they will be in need – everyone’s circumstances are different.”
Every story of food poverty is different, but every story is one story too many. Yet with up to eight million households experiencing some level of ‘household food insecurity’, this is the painful truth for far too many people in communities the length and breadth of the UK.
As the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have painstakingly documented, we are now living in a decade of destitution, of squeezed incomes, rising living costs, and households trapped with rising levels of debt and little or no savings to fall back on, and in many cases literally nothing left in the cupboard. This leaves families with little resilience against even the smallest shocks to their income.
According to research by the Social Market Foundation, four in ten individuals with a household income of £10,000 or less reported that groceries were a strain on finances. A quarter of individuals said that healthy and nutritious food was unaffordable in the UK. One in ten said that they had cut back on their own level of food consumption so that others in their family (such as children) can eat.
However, food poverty in the UK is not fundamentally an issue of a shortage of food, but a shortage of income. This fact has been extensively researched and documented in recent years, in various reports including from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Food Poverty/Feeding Britain and most recently the Childrens’ Future Food Inquiry which reported in April.
The good news is that literally thousands of local faith and community groups have stepped up to the plate in recent years, not just through the estimated 2,000 food banks across the UK, but a huge array of other community food projects, community cafes, growing schemes, social supermarkets and the like. On the one hand this demonstrates the immense power of local groups to act for the common good, but on the other it highlights the increasing inability (or unwillingness) of the state to ensure access to the basic necessities of life.
This poses a key challenge for charities and local communities: Are we willing to accept that we can’t solve the problem of food poverty and hunger on our own?
It is clear that End Hunger UK’s vision of a UK in which everyone has access to good food and no one needs to go to bed hungry can only be realised if Government also steps up to the plate. Only central Government has the power to mobilise the resources, policies and legislative power to end UK hunger.
The good news is that in signing up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UK Government has already committed to achieving zero hunger in the UK by 2030. But to deliver on this goal will require Government to develop a clear roadmap, coordinating the efforts of multiple Government departments, local councils, faith and community groups and many others.
The End Hunger UK campaign is therefore calling on the UK Government – and all political parties – to affirm their commitment to the goal of ending UK hunger by 2030 – and to developing a concrete plan to halve the numbers of people in household food insecurity by 2025 as a stepping stone towards this goal. Most importantly, the plan will need to focus on tackling the underlying factors which are sweeping far too many households into household food insecurity in the first place.
Our task is to build the popular pressure and political will to make the goal of ending hunger in the UK a priority for politicians and parties from across the political spectrum.
In the sixth wealthiest country on the planet, that should not be too much to ask.
Niall Cooper is Director of Church Action on Poverty and chair of the End Hunger UK campaign.
Transforming unjust structures: how not to become stuck in the mud
In this guest blog, Naomi Maynard shares some reflections on a workshop organised by our partners at the 'Life on the Breadline' project.
Last month ITV ran a story about Dominic, a father of four from Everton who can be left with £60 a month to feed and clothe his family, living in fear that one day his children will be taken away. This story was picked up by the Liverpool Echo, concerned how Brexit will hit some of our country’s poorest families.
Knowing Dominic personally, I know the ITV feature only told a small segment of his story, and that of his family – but the overall message remains the same: here is a family living on the breadline, riding the roller-coaster of our fluctuating political environment set amongst the backdrop of an evolving welfare landscape.
Stories such as Dominic’s provoke an emotional reaction – perhaps shock, frustration, anger, sorrow, embarrassment, grief, guilt. We may also feel overwhelmed, unsure how to react: how can we change the structures and systems that seem to have dug their roots wide and deep into our society, trapping many of those we know and care about in poverty?
Our feet get stuck in the mud – overwhelmed to the point of inaction.
Last week, at a workshop hosted by academic project Life on the Breadline, I met Stef Benstead – a trustee of Church Action on Poverty. In 2012, having just started postdoctoral studies, Stef was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Type 3, Postural Tachycardia Syndrome and fibromyalgia – meaning she is often exhausted and in pain. No longer able to carry on her studies, Stef was left in a precarious position – navigating our complex and, as she was to discover, our deeply flawed, welfare landscape.
But Stef did not let her feet get stuck in the mud.
She collaborated, campaigned, wrote and researched. She identified, lobbied, listened and argued. Stef – who tells the story of how austerity has impacted disabled people in her soon-to-be-published book Second Class Citizens – turned her emotions and experiences into actions to transform unjust structures and systems.
Speaking to a collective of academics and practitioners, Stef, alongside Church Action on Poverty’s Director Niall Cooper, encouraged us all to do the same – offering us this advice on where to start:
- Identify – do not try and change the whole system at once. As we heard earlier in the workshop, poverty is like an octopus (slippery and difficult to tackle all at once). Start by identifying one change that needs to be made.
- Gather – Bring together others who can also see a need for this change. Do more than identify problems, suggest solutions. Whilst none of your group may come with a fully formed solution – as you listen and reflect together, there may be many partially formed solutions in the room, which can be joined together.
- Frame – Think about who needs to hear what you want to say – how can you frame your arguments in ways that they will hear? Use language they will be able to engage with. For Stef this meant framing her arguments in ways her friends with a different political outlook could connect with.
- Be brave – make your case both far and wide, and near and targeted. Invite local and national politicians to your meetings – they may be able to open doors for you beyond what you may foresee.
We can do more than wallow in our shock, frustration, anger, sorrow, embarrassment, grief, guilt… we do not have to be stuck in the mud.
Click here to listen to all the talks from the Transforming Structural Injustice workshop.
Dr Naomi Maynard is the Lead Project Development Worker at Together Liverpool – as part of this role she is the network coordinator of Feeding Liverpool. This post first appeared on the Feeding Liverpool blog.
Church Action on Poverty is a partner in ‘Life on the Breadline’, a research project exploring Christian responses to austerity.
Dear Mr Johnson: Here’s how we can end poverty and hunger
With love and determination now, the UK can end food poverty
ON a recent visit to a community food project, a colleague and I got into conversation with one of the volunteers.
In her most difficult moments, this place had been her lifeline. Now, she was recycling that kindness and warmth, welcoming people in and providing a listening ear, a cup of tea and vital relief.
Such stories are not rare. We should be consistently appalled and agitated by the scale of food poverty in the UK, but the compassion that prompts many recipients of food to return as volunteers reflects the prevailing goodness in our society.
It is no surprise that those who have experienced great difficulty want to help others, but the desire for justice runs deeper than that. We see that in the generous donations made to so many food banks, and in the stop-gap projects that provide meals for families in the holidays. It’s clear: nobody is comfortable with people going hungry in this country.
Sticking plaster solutions, however, are unsustainable and inadequate. We must channel the public’s compassion and look to the greater challenge, of tackling the underlying causes of food poverty.
What does this mean in real terms? It means coming together and making a shared and unrelenting commitment to ending hunger in the UK. And it means calling for boldness and determination from our new Prime Minister.
National leaders have seen and embraced the vision of a country free from hunger. In 2015, the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, pledged to end hunger in the UK by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
To reach this goal requires action now, because the crisis is immediate and severe. In 2018/19, food banks run by the Trussell Trust, the country’s largest operator, distributed 1.6 million three-day food parcels, including 89,841 in Yorkshire. During last year’s summer holidays, the need in this region increased by 14.49 per cent – and these figures are only the tip of the iceberg.
Researchers from The Food Foundation estimate that the number of people in food poverty in the UK is 17 times higher than the number accessing Trussell food banks. Unaffiliated community projects and independent food banks are also meeting need every day, and recent research in York reaffirmed that many people are simply put off visiting a food bank by personal pride and a fear of stigma.
All of this can change. Poverty, and the hunger it brings, are not inevitable. There is absolutely no reason why there should be hunger in this country, nor any reason whatsoever why we cannot end it. Our economic and political systems have been designed by human hands and they can be redesigned but we need Government leadership and vision.
Specifically, we need a commitment to halving food insecurity by 2025, as a stepping stone to ending hunger by 2030. It will be for successive Governments to lead on the detail but we know some of the principal issues that must be addressed early: we need to safeguard childhood nutrition all year round; we need the return of effective financial assistance that people can access in times of crisis; we need a Government that will truly listen to those at the sharp end of poverty in the UK; and we need a benefits system that does not push anyone into food poverty or destitution.
What that last point means, in practice, is that benefits must provide an income that allows people to live and that the system must be fit for purpose. Therefore, we must end the five week wait for initial Universal Credit payments, a design flaw in the policy that is causing hardship.
Compassion, coupled with ambition and resolve, is what the country needs in abundance right now.
A food bank we work closely with in Parson Cross, Sheffield, says it has come close to breaking point since Universal Credit was rolled out in the city last year. They now spend £652 a month to keep the shelves stocked, up from £379 previously. In York, meanwhile, one parent told researchers: “Universal Credit has wrecked us. We have just gone on it and I have been told me and my five-year-old will have to go at least seven weeks with no income at all.”
It simply isn’t right that this is the reality for some of our most vulnerable citizens. We cannot be happy with an economy that leaves millions at the mercy of insecure and low-paid work, rising living and housing costs, and a benefits system that leaves many people unable to keep their heads above water. Hard pressed families trying to keep children adequately fed this summer deserve better.
Visit any food bank, community café or breakfast club and you will be struck by the love and neighbourliness that underpins the work. Such compassion, coupled with ambition and resolve, is what the country needs in abundance right now. Let this be an invitation to Mr Johnson and his Government, as he seeks to unite the country. Come and listen to those who are going without food, and resolve to end hunger in the UK
Tackling funeral poverty
Quaker Social Action’s funeral advice service, Down to Earth, has helped its 4,000th client amidst significant funeral industry developments, says QSA’s Peter Christmas.
Recently Quaker Social Action’s (QSA’s) Down to Earth service, which provides free one-to-one advice and support for people struggling with funeral costs when planning a loved one’s funeral, passed a milestone of 4,000 clients helped. What started in 2010 as a local volunteer-based project has grown into a highly specialised staff-led service with national reach, helping people across the UK to plan an affordable and meaningful funeral.
Many clients contact the Down to Earth team feeling overwhelmed when trying to deal with funeral costs. We help people to understand their options, prioritise what’s most important to them, save money against initial quotations, and raise money (where eligible) from state benefits and charitable/benevolent funds.
“The undertaker wanted a payment in advance, but I didn’t have enough. The hospital was telling me to hurry up because I couldn’t leave my husband in the mortuary. I felt like I was going mad.”
Down to Earth client
The context is that since 2004, average funeral prices have risen 122%, and the average cost now sits at £4,271 (SunLife, 2018). According to SunLife’s research, one in eight families face notable financial problems when trying to find the money for a funeral. The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has found as part of its ongoing investigation into the funeral industry that prices have risen at twice the inflation rate over the last 14 years, and that “the scale of these price rises does not currently appear to be justified by cost increases or quality improvements”.
Remember that many people are unable to plan for the price of a funeral (their own, or a loved one’s) well in advance of death: many people die unexpectedly, at a young age, and/or in traumatic circumstances. Whilst the government has promised to introduce a Children’s Funeral Fund for England (in line with Wales) so that parents grieving the loss of a child under the age of 18 will no longer have to meet cremation or burial fees, the above statistics indicate a much wider problem with the affordability of funerals.
This is why QSA is continuing its work to tackle funeral poverty on a strategic level, alongside helping individuals and families through the Down to Earth service. The CMA’s in-depth investigation, the funeral industry’s own emerging initiative to improve standards for customers, government proposals to regulate pre-paid funeral plans through the Financial Conduct Authority, and Scotland’s moves towards regulating the funeral industry north of the border, all provide momentum and opportunities to effect change. For example please see our recent submissions to the CMA and to the Work and Pensions Committee’s enquiry into support for the bereaved.
Over the next three years, building on our successful Fair Funerals campaign (2014-18) and working with other member organisations of the Funeral Poverty Alliance (including Church Action on Poverty), Down to Earth is seeking to influence the industry and government to help bring about:
- Greater funeral price transparency and lower average prices
- Improved funeral-related state benefits, and regulation of the funeral industry
- Improved access to affordable municipal schemes and (where needed) public health funerals.
QSA would be delighted to add more organisations to the 50-strong Funeral Poverty Alliance – please see here for how to join.
