Responding to the government’s plans for the forthcoming
parliament, as set out in today’s King’s Speech, Darren Baxter,
Principal Policy Adviser for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:
“3.8 million people experienced destitution in this country in
2022, around a million of them children. These figures have risen
sharply since 2017. Two weeks ago we asked both political parties
for their plan to address this moral mission, but today’s speech
was fundamentally inadequate in meeting the scale of the
challenge.
“By pressing ahead with the long-delayed Renters Reform Bill the
government is finally honouring its commitment to millions of
tenants living in an insecure, high cost private rented sector,
who will hope that this time the bill will finally become law.
But its open ended delay to ending no fault evictions means
renters will continue to face unfair, unexpected evictions.
“As we approach the autumn statement and the general election,
the public want to see real action, not rhetoric, to tackle
rising levels of severe hardship. We now need all parties to set
out their plans for a future where everyone in our country can at
least afford to keep warm, dry, clean and fed.
“As an immediate measure, the government must commit to uprating
benefits in line with inflation in the usual way, and end the
uncertainty facing millions of families. The parties seeking to
form a government should also commit to introducing an
‘Essentials Guarantee’ into Universal Credit, to ensure that
everyone has a protected minimum amount of support to afford
essentials like food and household bills”.
Notes to Editors
- JRF’s report into destitution found:
- Approximately 3.8 million people experienced destitution in
2022, including around one million children.
- This is almost two-and-a-half times the number of people
experiencing destitution in 2017 and nearly triple the number of
children.
- The social security system is not protecting people from
destitution: 72% of those destitute are in receipt of benefits
https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/flagship-study-finds-million-children-experienced-destitution-uk-last-year
- The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is an independent social
change organisation working to solve UK poverty. For more
information visit www.jrf.org.uk
