A social security system that leaves 14.5 million people living in poverty is failing. Payments must increase
Benefit levels are set too low. The social security budget was £36bn less in 2019 than in 2010, and the basic rate of out-of-work benefits is at its lowest for 30 years. Repeated freezes combined with the benefit cap and two-child limit, and rising housing costs, have hit millions of households hard. The consequences have included massive rises in the number of people needing support from food banks and other forms of crisis support, even before the pandemic.
The prospect of energy price rises has led to warnings that more households face horrendous decisions about whether to “heat or eat”. Research by the campaigning food writer Jack Monroe on supermarket basics ranges shows that price increases on the lowest-cost items have far outstripped averages. The price of the cheapest pasta in a local branch of Asda, for example, has risen 141% in a single year.
