Cash transfers puts the needs of recipients first, and gives people the autonomy to buy necessities as they see fit, writes John Bryant, while Catherine Rose says credit should be given to all those who brought the issue to the public’s attention
Images of free school meal boxes circulating this week (‘What am I supposed to make with this!’ Parents on schools’ meagre food parcels, 12 January) represent an appalling dereliction of duty on the part of the UK government. Its welcome U-turn is a reminder of what most global aid organisations have known for many years: providing vouchers – or, ideally, cash – to crisis-affected people helps more than giving food directly.
Cash puts the needs of recipients first. It gives people the autonomy to buy their families’ food and necessities as they see fit, offering the dignity of trusting them to make the right call. It stimulates local economies, can be disbursed quickly through existing social security infrastructure, and can be more cost-effective and transparent for the taxpayers who fund it. These benefits are backed up by a wealth of evidence which shows that it is wrong to see people in need as passive and unreliable “beneficiaries” whose behaviour needs to be policed.
