Gordon Brown has urged Jeremy Hunt to act on surprising new research into Britain's poor benefits system. The study found that the poorest households have to spend an average of 63p per pound to meet their basic food and energy needs.
The former prime minister said the paper was a “wake-up call” to the prime minister, “revealing the arithmetic of poverty” and forcing Britain to “face up to the fact that we are in the midst of a crisis”.
The research shows that a couple on benefits with two children now have to spend almost 50% of their income on food and energy compared to 2012 (when that figure was 46p). is highlighted. This is due to a sharp decline in the real value of benefits. The average UK household spends about 20p for every pound they earn, the report said.
Mr Brown said the chancellor should use the Budget on March 6 to “implement fundamental reforms to the benefit system” to stop Britain's poorest children from falling further into poverty.
Mr Hunt gave his heaviest hint yet on Thursday that he plans to make a huge tax gift in his next budget ahead of this year's general election. He was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The World Economic Forum is an annual meeting held at a Swiss ski resort frequented by billionaires and politicians.
Professor Donald Hirsch's unpublished report, entitled Britain's inadequate and unfair safety net, argues that the UK's benefit system no longer covers the basics needed “to live everyday and healthy lives”. It was concluded that the company did not provide a reasonable amount of money.
She said the need to balance competing basic costs such as clothing, toiletries and transport means that the poorest households are more likely to underspend on food and energy, putting serious strain on families. It added that it could pose serious health risks. Even if you cut back on these basic items, you won't be able to afford other essentials. financial integrity trust The study was concluded.
The difference in benefits for single adults is even more striking. In 2012, basic food and utilities accounted for 73% of weekly income, but by 2023 these costs will exceed the benefits provided by 22%, including clothing, They are no longer able to eat properly, let alone pay for toiletries and transportation. It costs money.
Mr Hirsch said: “The level of working age benefits in the UK today denies claimants access to the most basic material resources they need to function on a day-to-day basis and lead healthy lives.” writes.
He added: “The UK benefit system has always had shortcomings, with benefit rates unrelated to evidence of need, severe disabilities and administrative delays, and some people falling through the net of income protection that the system is meant to provide.” he added.
“Today, however, all of these features have become so pervasive that benefits are no longer able to protect the population from dire and systemically difficult situations.”
Mr Brown told the Guardian: 'The UK needs to face up to the fact that it is in the midst of a poverty crisis. Donald Hirsch's important and ground-breaking research reveals the arithmetic of poverty and explains why so many households on welfare are no longer living in poverty. It reveals why they are unable to make ends meet.
“This is an evidence-based wake-up call to the Chancellor to use the March Budget to implement fundamental reforms to the benefits system.”
The research into the deficiencies in the benefits system comes as the number of households facing deep poverty rises alarmingly. More than one million children in the UK experienced extreme poverty last year. This means their families cannot afford to feed, clothe, clean and keep their children well-fed and warm.
Working-age benefits have fallen by 13% compared to their peak in 2009, and their real value fell most dramatically when the government froze benefit levels between 2016 and 2019. But this is made worse by the engineered holes in the safety net that most claimants now mean. Receive less money than you are entitled to.
These include a bedroom tax, a two-child limit and benefit cap, and a deduction used to repay advance loans made to Universal Credit claimants who wait five weeks for their first benefit payment .
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“The holes in the safety net are so gaping that receiving full entitlements has become the exception rather than the rule,” Hirsch wrote.
He will set up a government task force in line with the 2005 Turner Commission, which set out the principle that pensions should rise at least in line with annual rates, to ensure a “fair and reliable” safety net is provided. To this end, he called for a thorough review of the current system. income.
Mr. Hirsch calculated the cost of food by applying a publicly agreed upon minimum income threshold: how much money is needed to provide a modest and nutritionally adequate meal. His calculations don't include alcohol or eating out.
write to sunday mail Mr Hunt this weekend once again signaled he was keen to cut taxes in the next budget, comparing himself to former chancellor Nigel Lawson, who favored tax cuts.
Mr Hunt said: “Just as Nigel Lawson positioned the City of London for a financial boom in the 1980s, this period of Conservative government has seen the UK prepare for the huge financial boom that will be seen in the coming years. “It's positioned for a massive technology boom.”
Mr Hunt said in Davos on Thursday: “In terms of travel direction, we're looking around the world and we've noticed that countries whose economies are growing faster than ours, like North America and Asia, tend to have lower taxes. And I… Fundamentally we believe in lower taxes.’ A tax economy is more dynamic and competitive, generating more funding for public services like the NHS.
“That's the direction we want to go in, but it's too early to say what we'll do.”
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The best thing we can do to help those who are suffering is to put money back into people's pockets. That's why we are providing support to those who need it most. We have cut taxes and cut inflation by more than half.
“We are continuing to provide families with an average of £3,700 worth of living cost support, including a 6.7% increase in benefits in April.”
