JRF and over 100 organisations call on Rishi Sunak to honour his commitment to go ahead with the normal uprating of benefits by inflation
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Benefits payments need to rise in line with inflation now or low
income families may not be able to afford to pay rent or feed their
children this winter, charities have told the new Prime Minister. A
letter signed by over 100 organisations committed to ending poverty
urged Rishi Sunak to honour the promise he made this spring to
increase benefits in line with inflation, and to do so now rather
than waiting until April. In May, Mr Sunak – then Chancellor – told
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Benefits payments need to rise in line with inflation now or low
income families may not be able to afford to pay rent or feed
their children this winter, charities have told the new Prime
Minister. There have since been reports that the Government has considered rowing back on this commitment. However, analysis has shown that only uprating benefits at the rate of earnings (roughly 6%) would leave the PM responsible for the biggest permanent real-terms cut to the basic rate of benefits in a single year. Food prices are now rising faster than at any point since 1980 and bearing the brunt of this are low income families. Charities, trade unions, religious groups and other organisations are therefore now saying this uprating urgently needs to be brought forward to support households through the winter.
They say current benefit rates leave households unable to afford
the essentials, with debt, homelessness and foodbank use all on
the rise even before this current cost-of-living crisis. “Families on low incomes desperately need stability and certainty, as they try to afford the essentials, pay their rent, and keep food on the table. Rishi Sunak personally pledged to go ahead with the usual uprating of benefits in line with inflation, and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt promised last week that he would act with compassion and protect the most vulnerable. “The new government must show it is as serious about protecting its citizens from harm as it is about calming the markets. It can do this by moving quickly to take away a huge source of anxiety for millions and confirming that benefits will be uprated as soon as possible in line with September’s inflation rate of 10.1% - a position the public agree with.”
Becca Lyon, Head of Child Poverty for Save the Children
UK, said: “In his former job as Chancellor, Rishi Sunak was clear benefits would increase by inflation as normal which gave those on the lowest incomes much needed reassurance to help them through the cost-of-living crisis. Families haven’t forgotten this, and they depend on a fair rise in income for stability in frightening times. “Children will suffer a lower standard of living and drop into poverty if the Prime Minister does not stick to his promise.”
Dear Prime Minister, RE: Benefits uprating We are writing to congratulate you on your appointment as Prime Minister. During your time as Chancellor you acted decisively to protect low-income households and pledged to increase benefits in line with inflation as normal. We are now calling on you to honour that promise and to implement the uprating as soon as possible rather than waiting until April next year. Households on low incomes desperately need stability and certainty as they try to afford the essentials, pay their rent, and keep food on the table. Bringing forward the usual uprating of benefits by September’s inflation rate would support people most in need through a difficult winter, including those who are sick or disabled, caring for children or others, and those with low earnings or looking for work. It would also send a clear signal that your government is serious about prioritising the needs of the most vulnerable, as the Chancellor promised to last week. Many of your colleagues across the Conservative Party made clear this month that they agree that increasing benefits by inflation is both necessary and the right thing to do. The public is supportive too, with 61% of people agreeing that benefits should go up with inflation. Previous decisions not to go ahead with the normal uprating of benefits have left our social security safety net threadbare. Current benefit rates leave households unable to afford even the essentials, with debt, homelessness and foodbank use all on the rise long before this crisis hit. Failing to uprate with inflation would amount to the biggest permanent real-terms cut to the basic rate of benefits ever made in a single year. Even if uprating goes ahead as normal, the support our social security system provides will still be at historic lows. The cost of living crisis continues to intensify. Inflation is forecast to remain extremely high for many months to come. In the face of such economic uncertainty it is right that you provide households on low incomes with the reassurance they need and uprate benefits by inflation as soon as possible. Yours sincerely, Action for Children Advice NI Age UK Aspire NI British Association of Social Workers British Medical Association Buttle UK Carers Trust Caring Together CELCIS Centre for Mental Health Centre for Progressive Policy Centrepoint Charity Finance Group Chartered Institute of Housing Child Poverty Action Group Children England Children in Scotland Children North East Christians Against Poverty Citizens Advice Communities that Work Crisis Diabetes UK Disability Benefits Consortium (a network of over 100 disability organisations) End Child Poverty Coalition End Fuel Poverty Coalition End Furniture Poverty ERSA (Employment Related Services Association) Fairness Foundation Family Action Family Fund Family Rights Group FareShare UK Feeding Britain Ferret Information Systems First Love Foundation FoodWise Generation Rent Gingerbread Glass Door Homeless Charity Greater Manchester Housing Providers Greater Manchester Poverty Action Green Alliance Healthy Livelihoods, UK Prevention Research Partnership: ActEarly Research Collaborative Home-Start UK Human Rights Watch Huntington's Disease Association Independent Age Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) Institute of Health Equity Joseph Rowntree Foundation Kidney Care UK Leaders Unlocked: Cost of Living Young Advisors Learning and Work Institute Leonard Cheshire Little Village Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales Locality Macmillan Cancer Support Magic Breakfast Marie Curie Mencap Mind MND Association Money Advice Trust MS Society Nacro National AIDS Trust NAWRA (National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers) National Education Union National Energy Action National Federation of ALMOs National Housing Federation National Survivor User Network National Youth Agency National Zakat Foundation Neighbourly New Economics Foundation North East Child Poverty Commission One Parent Families Scotland Oxfam GB Parkinson's UK PlaceShapers Policy in Practice Poverty Alliance Refuge Rethink Mental Illness RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) RNID Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Royal College of Psychiatrists Runnymede Trust Save the Children Scope Sense SFHA (Scottish Federation of Housing Associations) St Mungo’s StepChange Debt Charity TACT The Bevan Foundation The Childhood Trust The Children’s Society The Connection at St Martin’s The Equality Trust The Food Foundation The Hygiene Bank The Mighty Creatives The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute The Poverty Truth Community The Robertson Trust The Women’s Regional Consortium, Northern Ireland Transforming Lives for Good (TLG) Trussell Trust Trust for London TUC Turn2us Versus Arthritis VODG (Voluntary Organisations Disability Group) We Care Campaign Women’s Budget Group York Cost of Living Research Group, University of York Young Women's Trust Z2K
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