Winter is coming? How to tackle poverty in tough times: CAP’s Conservative Party conference fringe event
It’s been a turbulent couple of weeks in both politics and the economy. In the midst of the Conservative Party conference, together with think tank Bright Blue, Christians Against Poverty (CAP) gathered an expert panel and audience to ask key questions about how the current situation is impacting people living in poverty in the UK. The aim was to explore what more can be done by the Government and third sector to ensure people are supported this winter and beyond.
Tough times
Chair of the panel, Anvar Sarygulov, got straight to the heart of why today’s event mattered: low-income households are facing especially tough times. We’ve seen Government interventions to help with the rising cost of living, but do these actions go far enough?
Gareth McNab, Director of External Affairs at CAP, shared how tough things are for the people we’ve helped with debt advice and community services, and how it’s getting harder for them. CAP clients have long been sacrificing meals because of debt, but our recent polling with YouGov found that 8.5 million people in the UK are now skipping meals because of the cost of living. The impacts are not only financial, with more people experiencing serious mental health issues as a result.
‘Living is costing everything for far too many people and it’s not okay.’ — Gareth McNab
The Trussell Trust foodbank network has had similar experiences, with a steep acceleration in demand over summer, which is usually the quietest time. CEO, Emma Revie, spoke of her deep worry about what winter will hold. By August, 70% of people had used the entirety of their first cost of living payment from the Government to pay for essentials like food and personal hygiene products. In Emma’s opinion, these payments were the right thing, targeted in the right place, but they haven’t been sufficient to buffer people through all the months this was intended to.
Will growth help?
Like all of us, Robin Millar MP said he’s trying to make sense of what’s happening. His 20 years in local government before becoming a backbench MP have shown him how politics impacts daily life. The Chancellor’s belief is that growth will bring opportunity, but will it deliver opportunity for people in Robin’s constituency in Aberconwy, North Wales?
Richard Partington from The Guardian also highlighted the need for a debate about how the proceeds of growth can be shared more evenly. The COVID-19 pandemic financially impacted people at the bottom end of the income distribution the most, and the same is happening again through the cost of living crisis.
‘Growing the economy will help in the long run, but there needs to be a way of helping people through this shock.’ — Richard Partington
The problem we have is that stagnant wage growth and productivity since the 2008 financial crisis means that people don’t have the money to enable their own agency to get through the current crisis. We don’t have the GDP to support public spending either.
This is a conversation happening in the boardroom too. The business view from Syma Cullasy-Aldridge, Chief Director of Campaigns at the CBI, was also that growth is a necessary precursor to improving living standards. Lots of businesses are increasing salaries, providing one-off payments and doing all they can to shield customers from price rises, but not all firms can afford to.
‘Businesses are doing a lot to support employees and customers, but businesses know putting the UK on a sustainable path needs growth.’ — Syma Cullasy-Aldridge
The role of cash payments
Professor Jane Millar OBE highlighted how most families living in poverty are in work. Despite this, the number of children living in poverty is equivalent to eight children in every class of 30.
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Raising Child Benefits by £10 per week per child would bring half a million children out of poverty. Cash payments give people control over how to manage their situation and evidence shows that money given to poor families is spent on their children’s needs.
‘People on low incomes are good at managing their money but there is only so far it can go. There are two goals — income adequacy and income security.’ — Professor Jane Millar OBE
Gareth McNab urged that uprating benefits in line with inflation in April should not be a debate. Scrapping the two-child limit and benefit cap would also be a big help to larger families.
Poverty is about more than income, but income really does matter
Robin Millar MP pointed to the need for a multi-dimensional approach. Poverty measures that focus solely on income don’t get to the heart of the problems that communities and individuals face. For Robin, the siloed approach of Government departments doesn’t help the people he sees in his constituency who are in deep and entrenched poverty and who have multi-complex needs.
‘The focus shouldn’t only be on redistribution but also social inclusion.’ — Robin Millar MP
In his constituency during the pandemic, the community self-organised to meet needs. Robin underlined the importance of dignity through this. His view is that the state should not steamroller the dignity that comes from helping others around us.
There was agreement from across the panel that it is right to recognise tackling poverty requires more than just an income-based approach, but we shouldn’t shut down the income part of the conversation, because it really does matter. For Emma Revie, the core issue of the problems seen on the frontline is inadequate income.
‘Charities can focus on what we do really well, such as providing community and a warm welcome, but the state is better placed to intervene on incomes.’ — Emma Revie
Gareth McNab highlighted the political problem this presents for the Conservatives, as traditional Conservative voters see that the help they provide in their community is no longer able to make a difference like it used to. If incomes allowed people to rise above destitution, these active volunteers would no longer need to organise food parcels and the community transformation they could instead use their time to make would be significant.
‘Wouldn’t it be good if communities were not having to spend time helping people to survive, but to thrive?’ — Gareth McNab
It’s easier to help with debts than deaths
The event was a thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion, with a clear emphasis on the urgency of financial help for households this winter. When asked what one thing was needed to help low-income households this winter, the focus was on action to stop absolute destitution which presents a risk to life. This includes banning forced switches to prepayment meters and pausing debt deductions.
But there was also a wider appetite to tackle the giant of poverty longer term. This will take us all — businesses, communities and Government. Dialogues help us understand the needs and our respective strengths, responsibilities and powers. They enable us to hold each other to account in playing our part to build a robust and multi-dimensional approach to changing the circumstances that trap people in poverty.
‘If you’re genuinely concerned about poverty, then shutting down dialogue with others is not helpful. As a politician, there is real risk in closing down debates.’ — Robin Millar MP
If you enjoyed this blog post, you can watch the event back in full on YouTube. You can also catch up on our Labour Party conference event in another blog post, Hope in a time of crisis: CAP’s Labour Party conference fringe event.
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