Food bank leaders have welcomed moves to increase the national living wage – but have warned more needs to be done to help those facing hardship.
The government has outlined plan to lift the figure to £11 an hour from £10.42 from April
It comes after recommendations from the Low Pay Commission, with forecasts suggesting more than two million low paid workers across the country will be £1,000 better off.
But Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at the Trussell Trust – which operates food banks including ones in Lichfield and Burntwood – said the increase alone was not enough to keep people from needing such facilities.
“It’s right to raise the minimum wage in line with the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation, to improve the protection work provides from hardship.
“But the government also needs to act to reduce job insecurity, which is a key driver of hunger and debt, by bringing forward the long-promised Employment Bill. This should also help break down some of the barriers to work, particularly for disabled people and carers, by improving flexible working.”
Helen Barnard, Trussell Trust
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has also told the Conservative party conference that would look to create changes to the benefits sanctions scheme to ensure claimants were actively looking for jobs.
He said:
“Those who won’t even look for work do not deserve the same benefits as people trying hard to do the right thing.”
Jeremy Hunt
The Trussell Trust have warned, however, that stiffer punishments could have severe consequences for some sections of society.
“At a time when more than half of Universal Credit claimants are not able to afford to eat properly, it is disheartening to hear that the Chancellor and government may choose to prioritise harsher benefit sanctions.
“Universal Credit is falling so far below the level needed to afford just the essentials that is damaging people’s health, increasing strain on the NHS, and holding people back from being able to get and sustain work.
“Increasing benefit sanctions is only likely to increase hardship and push more people to the doors of foodbanks.
“Today was an opportunity for the government to address the escalating cost of living crisis for those on the lowest incomes, so it is disappointing to see them focus instead on a policy that will do nothing to open up more jobs to the many who would like to work and ignores the shocking levels of hunger and hardship across the UK.”
Helen Barnard, Trussell Trust
Universal Credit has never really been fit for purpose. The government said that their review of the then complicated benefits system would lead to a simpler and fairer system. They sold us a pup. Ian Duncan Smith’s review resulted in Universal Credit, which was less fair, less effective and less accessible. It denied the founding principles of our proud post war welfare state, which aimed to protect and support the poor, the unemployed and those who, for a host of genuine reasons, needed help. The fact that Food Banks have become a life saving necessity for so many in our country is a shaming indictment of our current uncaring government and underlines the on air comment of a Thatcher era Conservative Conference delegate that “No, we haven’t done anything for the poor, why should we, they don’t vote for us.”