Food Poverty in Britain

Just before Easter the Trussell Trust released its figures for 2013-14, showing over 900,000 people – one third of them children – have received emergency supplies from foodbanks.

On Thursday 24^th April 2014, the terms of reference for a parliamentary inquiry into hunger and food poverty were announced.

Co-chaired by the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, Bishop of Truro & the Rt Hon Frank Field MP, the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty in Britain will be holding a series of regional sessions as well as accepting written submissions, to gain an understanding of the causes of hunger, and the provision to alleviate it.

The Inquiry team would like to hear from you, if you wish to make a submission to the Inquiry, please input your evidence into the online contact form.

Alternatively, you can email written evidence to Andrew Forsey, Joint Secretary to the Inquiry team at: andrew.forsey@parliament.uk.

The findings will be published by the end of the year, hoping to inform the debate and campaigns in the run up to the General Election.

The Trussell Trust, a Christian-based charity that runs foodbanks, describes itself as “a Christian organisation motivated by Jesus’ teaching on poverty and injustice”.

They “serve people of all faith groups and beliefs or none”, but foodbanks have been criticised by top government figures.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, accused the charities like the Trussell Trust of “scaremongering” to oppose his welfare reforms.

This is firmly denied by them and other homelessness charity who state that “our interest is the needs of poor people who we see in their thousands every week.”

Following the release of the Trussell Trust statistics, 47 bishops and over 600 non-conformist leaders, clergy and laity from across all the major Christian denominations and organisation in Britain co-signed a letter calling for urgent Government action on food poverty on Wednesday 16^th April 2014

The letter, in support of the End Hunger Fast campaign, marked the biggest ever Christian intervention on UK food poverty in modern times and comes as other faith groups join the campaign.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have recently published research which shows that a third of families affected by the Benefit Cap have already had to cut spending on essential items such as food, while more than one in ten of these families have needed to borrow money to make ends meet - often from payday lenders.

Jesus said that He had come to bring “good news to the poor” and to “set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

He was on the side of the poor and the have-nots, not the fat cats.

Jesus Himself was born on the street and the Bible says that Jesus was “laid in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

Jesus was born in the 1^st century equivalent of a petrol station.

This is all the more amazing if you believe that Jesus was not just any old person – He was God’s own son, who chose to come into our world.

 

It says something about God that He chose to be born not in a palace, but on the street.

He chose to die a painful death even though He was innocent.

God identifies with the poor, the hopeless, the accused, the rejected, the scum of the earth.

How about you?

Missing Google doodle

Did you know that on 21^st April 2014, was Charlotte Brontë's 198^th birthday? I didn't, but Google kindly told me when I logged in.

Did you know that on 22^nd April 2014 was Earth Day? Again, I didn't - but Google came to the rescue again, with an animated doodle this time.

I enjoy those ones - do you?

They keep me on the Google page for longer, and reinforce whichever special day it is.

My favourites are the games - especially when they reinvented Pacman, a game I use too spent far too much time on…

So we've had Charlotte Brontë's birthday and Earth Day Google doodle.

But what did Google do to commemorate Easter Sunday? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Just the plain Google logo.  

A special day that is celebrated around the world - there is no country where there aren't at least some who see Easter Sunday as a joyous reminder of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and I'm pretty sure you can't say that about Charlotte Brontë.

So why no Google doodle? Did it just slip their mind?

Surely there can't be an agenda there. Can there?

Thankfully, the world isn't dependent on Google to know about the Lord:

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1 v 20).

Let call upon our savings to fight poverty and inequality

Looking within the UK’s largest companies provides a snapshot of the striking inequality nationwide.

While executives are earning staggering figures in bonuses, within the same firm the workers on the bottom end of the pay-scale often do not receive even the Living Wage – £7.65 or £8.80 in London.

The pay gap in these companies is only a reflection of the nationwide pay inequality 

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) found 20% of the UK’s working people earns less than the Living Wage.

Meanwhile, the High Pay Centre calculated that the average FTSE 100 CEO earned about £4.3 million in 2012 and these pay ratios are only continuing to separate further.

Christians across the UK have been at the forefront of the call for the Living Wage, in both raising wages and campaigning for its adoption.

But right now, there is an opportunity to bring forward our call for the Living Wage directly to company boardrooms.

The executive bonuses are being put to vote amongst large shareholders including pension funds before company meetings (AGMs) and while executive pay is being discussed, they’re not yet considering the pay on the bottom.

According to a poll by YouGov, more than half of all pension savers want their pension funds to engage upon the issue of the Living Wage, but our pensions need to hear from us, their members, in order to do so.

With this simple email, you can ensure that your pension uses your savings to bring the call for pay justice to the company board room, ending the combination of crazy pay-outs to executives and a blind-eye to the UK’s low paid millions.

Employment & Support Allowance, the Work Programme and recommendations for a new system of support

'Beyond the Barriers: Employment & Support Allowance, the Work Programme and recommendations for a new system of support' was published on Wednesday 9^th April 2014.

It demonstrates that the policy status quo presents an unforgiving environment for thousands of disabled people across the UK.

Backlogs are increasing, assessment staff are demoralised, jobcentres are stretched to breaking point and work providers are pulling out of the Work Programme.

Yet, for all this, the effect of reform on overall Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) numbers has been negligible and this needs to change.

Few of the changes recommended in this report could happen overnight and all will take real political will to achieve.

But however perfect any system that is design could be, if attitudes don’t change radically, then reform of any kind will fail.

In the UK, we currently have a system which denies, restricts, judges and harms, no new descriptors or alternative schemes can address that.

If we create a system designed only to catch cheats, and ignore the remaining 99.7% of sick and disabled people who urgently need access to the best possible solutions.

Indeed, the current reforms have not only failed, but have often made the situation worse.

Fewer sick and disabled people currently find work than under the previous system.

Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) and Work Capability Assessments (WCA) have become politically toxic.

There should be no question of continuing down this path if we truly intend to do the best we possibly can for those who can work whilst causing as little stress and suffering to those who cannot.

Instead we must be radical and ambitious and must build a system hand in hand with the very people who will use it, while turning preconceived ideas of reform upside down.

Our intent must always be to inspire and facilitate, not to demean or restrict and must move from sanction to incentive, from judgement to trust, from fear to aspiration.

We all must treat people as individuals, not numbers on a balance sheet and realise that sick and disabled people are the victims of social security fraud, not the perpetrators.

And accept that people overwhelmingly tend to do their best, try as hard as they are able, and continually strive to achieve their full potential, but this is clearly not the case.

In business, a good manager is often able to inspire their workforce, to get the very best from them they can. In contrast, a bad manager is one who institutes a climate of fear and resentment.

As we are all managers of an advanced, compassionate democracy, it is time we embraced a new understanding of the link between sickness, disability and work.

The international evidence is clear: where systems are based on encouragement, respect and individual support, outcomes are better.

Job starts are more sustained and fraud remains low.

A system that works for sick and disabled people, while also creating value for taxpayers, need not be a contradiction in terms.

But to achieve it, we must first be prepared to listen!