Over half of Universal Credit recipients do not have enough money for food, research finds

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/over-half-of-universal-credit-recipients-do-not-have-enough-money-for-food-research-finds/

A petition calling on the government to take urgent action to support the introduction of an Essentials Guarantee was presented to political parties in Westminster this week.

Research commissioned by the Trussell Trust has found more than half of recipients of Universal Credit do not have enough money for food.

The study was carried out by YouGov on behalf of the Trussell Trust. It found that 2.4 million claimants (37 percent) had fallen into debt because they could not keep up with essential bills. Two in five (42 percent) reported being behind on one or more household bill.

The research suggested that 780,000 claimants of Universal Credit had been driven to use a foodbank during the month December 2023 to January 2024. More than half of the recipients who were surveyed said they had run out of food. In the previous 12 months, 22 percent of Universal Credit claimants reported being unable to cook hot food as they could not afford to use their own or other utilities. 52 percent said they were behind on their bills and credit commitments or were finding keeping up with them a constant struggle.

From April, the £90 weekly Universal Credit standard allowance is £30 less than the weekly cost of essential items for a singly person, says the charity. It is calling on the Chancellor to provide greater support for people on the lowest incomes in next week’s Spring Budget, including an extension to the Household Support Fund. 

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/over-half-of-universal-credit-recipients-do-not-have-enough-money-for-food-research-finds/

Continue ReadingOver half of Universal Credit recipients do not have enough money for food, research finds

Green Party claims that poverty is a political choice

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Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

Responding to this year’s poverty report from the Joeseph Rowntree Foundation, which says that it is now 20 years and six prime ministers since there was a sustained fall in poverty, co-leader of the Green Party, Carla Denyer, said: 

“This latest report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation makes for grim reading. Over one in five people in the UK were living in poverty in 2021/22. That’s almost 14 and a half million people, with over eight million working-age adults and over four million children.  

“For years, successive UK governments have allowed poverty to become entrenched and for inequality to widen. The super-rich have seen their incomes soar during a time of increased hardship for millions of people.  

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Poverty is a political choice. 

“There are things that can be done quickly to address the sickening levels of poverty in our society. For example, the Green Party would increase Universal Credit by £40 per week and abolish the two-child benefit cap. A wealth tax on the super-rich, along with tax reforms such as changes to Capital Gains Tax and abolishing “non dom status,” could pay for these and other measures to reduce poverty.  

“As Labour finalises its manifesto, there’s little indication that they will make the right political choices to help the millions enduring grinding poverty. Which is why we so desperately need a group of Green MPs in parliament after the next general election to put pressure on Labour to do the right thing.” 

Continue ReadingGreen Party claims that poverty is a political choice

UK government is ‘violating international law’ over poverty levels, says UN official

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/uk-government-is-violating-international-law-over-poverty-levels-says-un-official/

The UK government is in breach of international law over failing to tackle extreme levels of poverty and destitution in the country, according to a scathing assessment made by the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

It comes after the Joseph Rowntree Foundation recently released a report showing that almost 4 million people experienced destitution in 2022, including more than a million children.

Government data recently revealed that 14.4 million people lived in relative poverty in 2021-22 – a million more than the previous year.

With a cost of living crisis and soaring food and fuel prices as well as increasing housing costs, Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, slammed the UK’s woefully inadequate welfare system, citing research showing universal credit payments of £85 a week for single adults over 25 were “grossly insufficient” and described the UK’s main welfare system as “a leaking bucket”.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/uk-government-is-violating-international-law-over-poverty-levels-says-un-official/

Continue ReadingUK government is ‘violating international law’ over poverty levels, says UN official

Disgraceful Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson says ‘nonsense’ to claim there is poverty

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/disgraceful-tory-deputy-chairman-lee-anderson-says-nonsense-to-claim-there-is-poverty/

The End Child Poverty Coalition revealed that an extra 600,000 children were plunged into poverty in a year as ministers got rid of extra support for families on Universal Credit.

Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson

In the latest incident of vile and disgraceful remarks made by Tory ministers at the party’s conference, Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson has said that it’s ‘nonsense’ to claim there is poverty.

The MP for Ashfield made the comments while on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Tuesday, where he went on to add that people just needed to “get off their arse”.

“This poverty nonsense. Go in a time machine back to when I was growing up in the 1970s — that was real poverty.”

He went on to add: “If you want something you can get it. You need to get off your arse and go and get it for yourself.”

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/disgraceful-tory-deputy-chairman-lee-anderson-says-nonsense-to-claim-there-is-poverty/

Continue ReadingDisgraceful Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson says ‘nonsense’ to claim there is poverty

Sanctions make it harder for benefit claimants to find work, new research finds

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/08/sanctions-make-it-harder-for-benefit-claimants-to-find-work-new-research-finds/

Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

“Demanding compliance from people means they end up jumping through hoops rather than finding jobs that are a good fit for them”

Benefit sanctions make it harder for claimants to find a good job, new research has found. According to the research carried out by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the majority of people required to attend job centres to access benefits think that being sanctioned undermines their ability to find a good job.

According to a report in PoliticsHome, NEF commissioned polling of unemployed people receiving universal credit and required to attend job centre appointments found that 61 per cent said the threat of sanctions found it harder for them to have a trusting relationship with support services. That figure is higher for unemployed people who are also disabled – at 69%. 63% also said that the threat of sanctions negatively impacted their mental health, rising to 73% for disabled people.

Welfare claimants were also likely to report negative experiences of attending job centre appointments. 73 per cent reported that their first meeting at the job centre focused on the rules and obligations placed on claimants. 59 per cent also said they felt that the job centre wanted them to get a job as quickly as possible, rather than finding a role which was a good fit.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/08/sanctions-make-it-harder-for-benefit-claimants-to-find-work-new-research-finds/

Continue ReadingSanctions make it harder for benefit claimants to find work, new research finds

News review

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Universal Credit claimants ‘existing, not living’, says report

Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

The Existing, not Living report, commissioned by Scotland’s largest social landlord, the Wheatley Group, spoke to tenants around the country to look at the impact of the social security system on their lives.

The research showed that 65 per cent of claimants believed that UC payment failed to give them enough money to cover the basics of life.

One tenant said of her situation: “Trying to live on £243 per month, that’s horrible.

“I’m expected to pay my council tax, gas and electricity, pay debt and rent arrears.

“It’s physically impossible to pay for all that and, of course, also your internet or some kind of mobile phone with internet, which you need to have if on UC.”

Universal Credit claimants ‘existing, not living’, says report

Unions unite to fight social care privatisation in West Lothian

THREE major unions will be launching a joint campaign to halt social care privatisation in West Lothian, they announced over the weekend.

Following the integration of health and social care in Scotland in 2014, local integration joint boards (IJBs) have run social care, with council social work departments relegated to the status of “contractor.”

The boards are made up of health board members and local councillors.

West Lothian IJB, which operates in a locale with the fastest-growing elderly population in Scotland, is considering forcing the privatisation of four care homes for the elderly, according to the Unite, GMB and Unison unions.

Unions unite to fight social care privatisation in West Lothian

Revealed: Government to legalise ‘hazardous’ accommodation for asylum seekers

The government has quietly published plans to effectively legalise “hazardous” accommodation for thousands of asylum seekers in England.

In a move labelled “shameful” and an “assault on human rights” by housing and refugee charities, a new draft law proposes removing landlords’ obligation to get a HMO (house in multiple occupation) licence if they are providing accommodation to vulnerable asylum seekers.

Campaigners say HMO licences are the primary way authorities currently ensure homes filled with large numbers of people they were not initially designed to fit do not become a major fire risk. They are normally required for all private rented properties that house five or more people from multiple households and are granted by councils if inspectors are satisfied that the building meets government guidelines, including that it isn’t dangerously overcrowded, in disrepair, damp or mouldy.

Revealed: Government to legalise ‘hazardous’ accommodation for asylum seekers

BP accused of ‘grotesque profiteering’ following bumper profits of £4bn in first three months of the year

Extinction Rebellion protests at BP
Extinction Rebellion protests at BP

OIL and gas giants were accused of “grotesque profiteering” today after BP reported that it had raked in an eye-watering £4 billion in just three months.

The mammoth profit total for the first quarter of 2023 was down from the near £5bn the energy firm pocketed in the same period last year following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

But the combined profits of both BP and Shell have now hit a whopping £55bn over the last year as gas and electricity bills have more than doubled for Britons already struggling with 40-year high inflation and plummeting take-home pay.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “BP’s grotesque profiteering is continuing at pace.

“Profiteering is a blight on the economy which is driving prices higher, leaving workers poorer while businesses struggle to keep the lights on.”

BP accused of ‘grotesque profiteering’ following bumper profits of £4bn in first three months of the year

Unison to challenge the government’s new strike-breaking laws in the High Court

UNISON is challenging the Tory government’s latest attack on the right to strike in a two-day High Court hearing starting on Wednesday.

The public-sector union’s case was prompted by then prime minister Boris Johnson’s decision to scrap decades-old regulations preventing bosses from employing agency workers to break industrial action.

Last July’s widely condemned action was “unlawful and violates fundamental trade union rights,” Unison argued.

General secretary Christina McAnea said: “Breaking strikes with unqualified and ill-experienced agency workers doesn’t address the root causes of why people are striking and it only puts the public in danger.”

Unison to challenge the government’s new strike-breaking laws in the High Court

TUC marks 90 years since Nazis banned trade unions

THE TUC is calling today for solidarity in defence of democracy and against racism and extremism to mark the day 90 years ago that trade unions were banned in Nazi Germany.

Union offices were raided and officials and activists rounded up on May 2 1933; some were tortured and some died in concentration camps in the years that followed.

Independent trade unions were replaced with the Nazi-controlled German Labour Front, a propaganda tool for the regime and its hate-filled anti-semitic ideology.

“Trade unions are a bastion of democracy and freedom against authoritarian and violent regimes,” said the TUC, which is providing training and resources for union activists to counter racism, including anti-semitism, and attempts by the far right to recruit in workplaces.

Persecution of trade unionists continues around the world, the union body said.

TUC marks 90 years since Nazis banned trade unions

Exact number of Brits turned away at polling stations due to Voter ID will NEVER be known

The Electoral Commission has admitted it will ‘not be possible to accurately quantify’ the impact of the new rules by counting who does or doesn’t have ID at the ballot box

The number of people turned away at polling stations because they do not have Voter ID will never be known, the elections watchdog has admitted.

People will be required to show photographic ID for the first time at polling stations on Thursday.

But the Electoral Commission has admitted it will “not be possible to accurately quantify” the impact of the new rules by counting who does or doesn’t have ID at the ballot box.

Exact number of Brits turned away at polling stations due to Voter ID will NEVER be known

Oil majors’ expansion plans pay little heed to net zero

Data reveals the world’s leading oil and gas majors continue risk-laden, global expansion, despite net-zero pledges.

Analysis of exclusive fields data from GlobalData, Energy Monitor’s parent company, shows that the world’s five largest Western oil majors by revenue – BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies – are planning for a future misaligned with a net-zero pathway, as outlined by the IEA. 

The findings come despite the fact that all five companies have pledged on paper to reach net zero by 2050, and they are all based in countries that hold similar pledges on a national level. The findings also come on top of an earlier Energy Monitor investigation, which found that the oil and gas extraction plans of just 25 oil majors will produce carbon emissions that use up 90% of the world’s remaining 1.5°C carbon budget.

In the case of the five Western oil majors, the first key net-zero misalignment is the sheer size of the companies’ expansion plans. Rather than entering the period of managed decline that the IEA recommends should occur to be aligned with net zero by 2050, data shows that the five companies are in the process of developing 157 new fields, on top of the 1,350 they already operate. These upcoming fields would add a massive 122 billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe) to the 299 bboe remaining in the five companies’ already-operating fields. 

Oil majors’ expansion plans pay little heed to net zero

Moment motorist drives through Just Stop Oil protesters blocking road

A motorist drove through Just Stop Oil protesters blocking a road in north London on Tuesday morning (2 May), colliding with a person.

“It went over my foot,” a member of the group can be heard saying.

The demonstration was part of Just Stop Oil’s vow to march every weekday and on Saturdays from 24 April to call on the government to stop licensing any new fossil fuel projects in the UK.

Moment motorist drives through Just Stop Oil protesters blocking road

Just Stop Oil responds after driver ‘runs over woman’ during protest

The car wasn't hanging around for Just Stop Oil's protest. Credit: Twitter/Just Stop Oil
The car wasn’t hanging around for Just Stop Oil’s protest. Credit: Twitter/Just Stop Oil

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told LADbible: “Police are appealing for witnesses and dash cam footage after a person was involved in a collision with a vehicle on Holloway Road, Islington, whilst engaged in a protest, at around 10:00hrs, today Tuesday 2 May.

“The incident was brought to police attention after being circulated on social media and shows the person being involved in collision with a grey Renault Megane.

“If you were the person or have any information about the incident please report by calling 101, tweeting @MetCC or online at www.met.police.uk/.”

After the footage went viral, Just Stop Oil shared the video and commented how they believe that ‘inflammatory language’ from politicians and commentators has caused this end result.

The group tweeted: “After weeks of inflammatory language from politicians and right-wing media personalities, a car has finally rammed into a peaceful protest.

“Are you about to comment ‘Good!’ or ‘Stay out of the road?’

“Are you sure that the side you want to pick is the side of violence, of the repression of protest?

“What we do now determines the fate of humanity.

Just Stop Oil responds after driver ‘runs over woman’ during protest

Global ocean temperatures spike to record levels as El Niño nears

Since mid-March, the world’s oceans have been hotter than at anytime since at least 1982, raising concerns among some climate experts about accelerated warming.

Why it matters: Hotter oceans are hugely consequential for land areas, since they can contribute to more frequent and severe extreme weather and climate events, from deluges to heat waves.

  • In addition, the temperature spike could be a sign that warming is speeding up in ways that climate models failed to anticipate.

Global ocean temperatures spike to record levels as El Niño nears

Global warming is to blame for devastating East Africa drought, scientists believe

The devastating drought tearing through the Horn of Africa would not have happened if it wasn’t for human-driven climate change.

The region has been left completely devoid of water – forcing desperate families to dig several metres into arid river beds to find a trickle – after months of failed rainy seasons delivered the worst drought in 40 years.

The situation has also driven conflict, with more than four million people now in need of humanitarian aid.

A cohort of 19 researchers from seven countries studied if climate change was to blame, ruling that the longer rainy season has become drier, while the short rainy season has become wetter all due to changes in global temperatures.

They branded the drought “one of a kind”, adding that climtae change had made agricultural drought one hundred times more likely.

Global warming is to blame for devastating East Africa drought, scientists believe

Continue ReadingNews review

Starmer betrays vulnerable and low-paid by abandoning promise to scrap Universal Credit

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Original article republished for non-commercial use from the Skwawkbox

bySKWAWKBOX (SW)09/01/2023 3 Comments on Starmer betrays vulnerable and low-paid by abandoning promise to scrap Universal Credit

Yet another promise shredded as Starmer maintains 100% weasel record

Starmer and a starving child

Keir Starmer has broken yet another promise – maintaining his perfect betrayal record – by abandoning his pledge to scrap the hateful and cruel Universal Credit system through which the Tories have inflicted years of misery and poverty on the UK’s lowest earning and most vulnerable.

Starmer’s Work and Pensions spokesman Jon Ashworth, challenged directly whether Starmer – who has already been mocked this week for claiming he will ‘renew’ the UK after thirteen years of Tory cuts without spending more – would honour his promise to scrap the system that has pushed huge numbers into abject poverty, responded that:

We’re going to reform universal credit … it’s a computer system. We’re not going to go back to the six different benefits that I think it brought together but we are going to reform it.

The lumping together of benefits that were previously tailored to the needs and circumstances of different types of claimant is one of the fundamentally damaging aspects of Universal Credit – and Labour had unequivocally promised to get rid of the whole system and ‘replace’ it with something fit for purpose, to show that ‘Labour is on the side of working people’, millions of whom rely on benefits to top up low pay they are forced to accept while employers fatten profits:

Starmer has already shredded every one of the promises he made to Labour members, including his promise to renationalise the NHS and utilities, a plan that is hugely popular with voters across the political spectrum. Now – after he and his health spokesman accepted large donations from private health interests – he has said that he intends to use more private providers behind the NHS badge and refuses to commit to increasing public sector pay or the services they provide.

Starmer was asked this week by an interviewer what the point is of voting Labour when he will be no different to the Tories. If there is any difference, it’s an even lower level of trustworthiness. A Starmer promise is not fit to wipe your backside with.

Original article republished for non-commercial use from the Skwawkbox

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Continue ReadingStarmer betrays vulnerable and low-paid by abandoning promise to scrap Universal Credit