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Wolf’s at the door
Published 01 January 2024
More and more families are coming to us for grants, says Helen Dent
The poorest 10 per cent of the population is the hardest hit by rising inflation. For almost 140 years, Family Action (formerly the Family Welfare Association) has provided people with grants to see them through the worst difficulties. But last year we saw a 30 per cent leap in applications for help – and the likelihood is that the figure will be surpassed this year.
Melanie, a mother of three young children, had just split from her partner and was recovering from illness when a £364 gas bill landed on the doormat. It felt like the final straw. The family’s support worker turned to Family Action for a grant to cover the bill.
Last year we distributed around £800,000 to more than 4,000 applicants – and the level of need is rising. The regulator Ofgem suggests that two million customers are officially in debt to energy providers.
Recently, the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that increases in the price of food and fuel have had the biggest impact on older and poorer households.
Households in the poorest 10 per cent of the population had an average inflation rate of 7.9 per cent compared to a rate of 5.1 per cent for those in the richest 10 per cent. Similarly, food inflation as measured by the Retail Prices Index was at 11.2 per cent while household fuel inflation was at 39.6 per cent – higher than any time since 1975.
A survey of more than 5,000 parents of children under the age of 16 by the Family and Parenting Institute found that rising bills and job insecurity has raised many families’ fears. A third said that money worries gave them sleepless nights – with energy prices, mortgage or rent payments and food costs of most concern.
The survey also found that social housing tenants were most likely to be struggling and, for those families on the lowest incomes, there was widespread pessimism about the future. Money worries were nothing new but they could not foresee a time when these concerns would cease.
Family Action’s grants team reports a big increase in the number of applicants requesting financial assistance. And as the effects of the credit crunch begins to impact on a growing proportion of families, demand will rise still further.
Helen Dent is chief executive of Family Action.
