ROOF Blog

Thousands of people have begun relying on food handouts to free up money to spend on heating during the recent spell of freezing conditions. The Trussell Trust, a Christian charity that runs a network of food banks across the UK said the cold has led to an unprecedented demand for its parcels, which contain enough donated items to keep a family fed for six days. And research by Age Concern has shown that, despite government relief, one in five older people skip meals to save money for heating. The charity has urged ministers to do more to ease pressure forcing elderly people into the ‘cruel choice’ between food or warmth.

Thousands of households have taken out loans with interest rates averaging 825% during ‘the worst Christmas in a generation’ for illegal doorstep lending, according to a new report. ‘The Real Cost of Christmas’, commissioned by affordable housing provider Circle Anglia and written by the Financial Inclusion Centre, found that more than 100,000 of the UK’s poorest families will spend 2010 crippled with a combined debt of around £82m after borrowing money from loan sharks to pay for Christmas. The value of the loans is an estimated £29m, but average interest rates of 825% will mean that people end up paying nearly three times the initial amount they borrowed.

A major study on the impact of devolution on the most disadvantaged people and places has shown that despite falling poverty and improving employment levels in the devolved countries, most significant progress has been down to reserved (UK) powers. The research, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), explore trends in social and economic disadvantage and policy developments in four key areas: housing and homelessness; employment; neighbourhood regeneration and long-term care for older people.

Labour’s strategy for tackling poverty has reached the end of the road and Britain risks a return to Victorian levels of inequality, according to a major two-year study by the Labour-affiliated Fabian Society and Webb Memorial Trust.

With 20 per cent of the population still stuck in poverty, the report calls for sweeping reform of the tax and welfare systems under which higher earners would finance more generous, universal benefits.

With all three main parties committed to cut spending to reduce the huge deficit in the public finances, the authors are worried that the battle against poverty will suffer.

They urge the parties to sign up to a new ‘poverty prevention strategy’ – not for the next Budget, but for the next 30 years.

Tim Horton, the Fabian Society’s research director, said: ‘We could be at a tipping point that sends Britain back towards Victorian levels of inequality and social segregation, and makes the solidarity which could challenge that social segregation ever more difficult to recover.’

Opinion is divided over whether buying or renting is the better housing policy.

Centre for Social Justice Executive director Philippa Stroud argues that property ownership is still one of the best defences against poverty.

Royal Society for the Arts chief executive Matthew Taylor counters that home ownership has increased social inequality in terms of the life chances and assets of people who own their own homes, arguing instead that we should foster a massive expansion in the private rental sector and improve the quality of the houses on offer.

Charities are urging the government to do more to help tenants, claiming 1.3 million low income households are struggling with their finances.

Shelter and the Money Advice Trust said 90 per cent of households earning under £20,000 (£25,000 in London) are in financial trouble, compared to 56 per cent in 2006.

They want the government to address affordability in the private rented sector and offer advice and support. Nearly 50 per cent of those in trouble had not received advice in the last year.

According to the survey carried out by the two charities, four out of 10 people on low incomes said their debts were impacting on their health – rising to 50 per cent among households with children.

It also found 60 per cent of households in receipt of housing benefits or local housing allowance received less than the cost of their rent.

Shelter director of policy and campaigns, Kay Boycott, said many tenants at the lower end of the private rented sector faced a ‘daily battle’ to ‘keep their heads above water’.

‘The government must recognise the significant role the private rented sector is playing in bearing the brunt of this recession by increasing funding for advice and support services, and setting out a long-term vision for the sector,’ she said.

The number of households in fuel poverty, where at least 10 per cent of income is spent on gas and electricity, rose by 15 per cent to four million in 2007, statistics from the Department for Energy and Climate Change show. A projection for this year suggests there are 6.6 million British homes in fuel poverty, almost treble the number five years ago. Campaigners said ministers would miss their target of removing all households containing the elderly, disabled and poor from fuel poverty by next year. The biggest factor in the increase is the doubling of energy prices since 2002. Responding to these figures, the government announced a four-step plan to help the fuel poor, including forcing suppliers to increase insulation, funding energy efficiency makeovers for 90,000 homes, making social tariffs compulsory and toughening regulation to combat ‘market abuse’.

Progress in tacking child poverty in Scotland has stalled, with more than one in five children living in poverty. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report found there had been no improvement in the number of children living in poverty in the past five years, despite commitment to halve poverty levels by 2010 and eradicate it entirely by 2010. The report wants the Scottish government to do more to tackle the issue including improving employment opportunities for parents, introducing a living wage, and improving access to affordable quality childcare. It is estimated that 21 per cent of Scottish children live in poverty.

More people live in poverty in outer London than in inner London, new research has found. The study found that 54 per cent of Londoners with low incomes live in outer London, up from half 10 years ago – and more children were affected by poverty in outer (380,000) than inner London (270,000). Overall, London had the highest proportion of people living below the poverty line, and was found to be the least equal region with more people with an income in either the top or bottom 10 per cent nationally than anywhere else in the country.

In the three years since the 2005 general election, inequality in Britain grew at a faster rate than at any time since records began in the 1960s, figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies reveal. The poorest 20 per cent of households saw real income fall by 2.6 per cent in the three years to 2007/08, while those in the top fifth enjoyed a rise of 3.3 per cent. The number of working adults below the poverty line rose by 300,000 to 11 million, the highest level ever. A spokesperson from the IFS said that the recession may see poorer households ‘regain some ground’ if benefits grow more quickly than wages, salaries and bonuses of the better off.