Displaying items by tag: poverty

A report has found that over 1.5 million people were destitute in the UK at some point in 2017, including 365,000 children. The chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said that many rely on social security when hit with unexpected job loss, relationship breakdown, or ill-health. Yet local authorities and utility companies are forcing people into a corner when they are penniless and have nowhere to turn. Social security should hold people steady against powerful currents of rising costs, insecure housing and jobs, and low pay. Instead people are becoming destitute with no clear way out. To be destitute doesn’t mean getting by on very little, it’s losing the ability to keep a roof over your head, eat often enough, or afford warm clothes when it’s cold. You can’t keep yourself clean or put the lights on. This shouldn’t happen to anybody, let alone over 1.5 million people.

The UK is the sixth richest country in the world, yet poverty affects one in four children. Growing up poor means children miss out on warm clothes, school trips, or even having friends over for tea. Poverty impacts children’s health and educational outcomes. Leaving school with few qualifications translates into lower earnings over the course of a working life. Poorer childhood health results in more complicated health histories later in life, again influencing earnings and overall life quality. On 3 April the BBC reported that malnourished pupils with grey skin are filling their pockets with school canteen food due to poverty, and hunger is particularly apparent after the weekend. A Nottinghamshire headteacher said, ‘When you take poorer children to an event, you see the difference between them and children of the same age from affluent areas. It's the grey skin, the poor teeth, poor hair, they are thinner.’ Children are neglected because their families can’t afford food, heating or even bedding. See also

The Trussell Trust runs a network of over 400 foodbanks across the UK, giving emergency food and support to people in crisis. Already this year they have given 586,907 three-day emergency food supplies to people in financial emergencies. Thousands of vulnerable people are finding that they cannot manage their budget when an unexpected extra expense occurs. They are barely surviving. On 7 March Trussell Trust’s Welsh branches called on Christians with knowledge of the welfare system to volunteer to help people, following a new Joseph Rowntree report revealing that a quarter of Welsh people are in poverty. Although overall poverty in Wales has gone down, specific groups, such as pensioners and single parents, have not seen any improvement.

Six months ago, 93% of Venezuelans said their income was not sufficient to buy the food they need. 75% reported suffering weight loss, averaging 9 kg. The price of food is fifteen times the minimum wage, and prices continue to rise. The director of a Caracas-based health and nutrition charity said, ‘Malnutrition in Venezuela is a problem of corruption, not a lack of money’. Government price controls and other policies have crippled domestic production, and after the oil price drop caused imports to decrease dramatically, insufficient food is available for the over 30m Venezuelans. Meanwhile President Maduro’s efforts to consolidate power amid a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis have drawn widespread international condemnation. There are severe food and medicine shortages, soaring crime rates, and an increasingly authoritarian executive. 70% of the population is Roman Catholic and 29% percent Protestant. See

People say Christmas is all about the children - and for Christians, one child in particular. But this year many children are faring badly in villages, towns and cities. Granada ITV news has been reporting on child poverty. Primary school staff spoke of hungry children, and parents collapsing in the school hall because they had not eaten for days so that their children could eat. Those parents were invited into the breakfast club for cereal and toast, and then referred to a foodbank. Other parents are being allowed to charge their phones and wash children’s clothes in the school, because they have no electricity or hot water at home. Coats and shoes are given to children who haven’t got them. The schools reported that they had seen a ‘noticeable rise’ in the numbers of working families who were in this kind of poverty. Mrs May was recently challenged in parliament about 128,000 children being homeless this Christmas.

Despite being an oil-rich country, Venezuela has record levels of child malnutrition as it experiences severe shortages of food and an inflation rate of over 700%. The crippling economic crisis means that eating meat is a luxury for many, but the government believes it has the answer with a plan to breed and consume rabbits - ‘because rabbits breed like rabbits’, as President Maduro joked on state television when introducing the idea. A recent survey showed that nearly 75% of the population lost an average 19 pounds in weight from lack of proper nutrition because of poverty. Maduro said people needed to understand that the rabbit is not just a pet, it is 2.5 kilos of meat with high protein and no cholesterol. The IMF said voracious inflation will climb to 720% this year. Poor Venezuelans spend 10% of their income to buy a kilo of meat. See also

A survey of 17,000 parents suggests that over 60% are 'unprepared' for the Government’s Tax-Free Childcare scheme (TFC). By 16 August, 108,000 parents had successfully signed up to TFC. This compares with over 780,000 parents currently using childcare vouchers. 98% of parents said they would like access to childcare vouchers to be kept open alongside TFC. As of April next year, childcare vouchers will be closed to new entrants. In light of the findings, there are renewed calls for the Government to revise plans to close access to vouchers. Also, over 3,000 childcare providers found that 48% of parents had either not heard of TFC or didn’t feel ‘well-informed’ about the scheme. 20% of those who had registered had experienced issues about receiving payments in a ‘timely manner'.

In July, Prayer Alert readers prayed for an end to children going hungry in school holidays - see . On 31 August the media reported that a plan to stop holiday hunger for children has been welcomed by over a hundred MPs. The School Holidays (Meals and Activities) Bill was backed by MPs John Woodcock and Tim Farron and presented to parliament. The Bishops of Durham and Liverpool also supported the bill, which would require local authorities to ensure that free meals and fun activities are provided for youngsters who would otherwise go without during the holidays. Mr Woodcock said that foodbanks have grown in recent years and hunger is a real issue in parts of our communities, often due to government cuts and benefits sanctions.

Bishops have urged the Government to review its benefits freeze urgently, after a ‘deeply disturbing’ report, by the Child Poverty Action Group, found that poor working parents did not have the cash needed to look after children. Low-paid families are failing to keep up with inflation, and many welfare payments have been frozen. Families working full-time are 13% or £59 a week short of the amount needed to provide their children with a minimum standard of living, according to the report. The Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, said, ‘We have heard a lot about how earnings are not keeping up with inflation, but there is an urgency to recognise that low-income working families are taking a double hit due to the four-year freeze in child tax credits and other benefits. With rising inflation, it is time to reconsider this policy in order to protect the living standards of the poorest families.’

When locusts descended on the American Midwest in 1875, they didn’t just devour crops and forests. They destroyed years of hard-earned progress from settlers struggling to build a better life. In the same way, everyday violence is destroying the efforts of millions trying to rise out of poverty today and, because they are unsafe, the poor cannot benefit from the world’s best efforts to help them thrive. There is an undercover plague that the world is ignoring or has failed to see. The violence crisis is silently undermining the fight against poverty. For the poor, violence is as much a part of life as hunger, illness or unemployment - but it is less visible. Without effective justice systems to protect them from violence (like rape, trafficking and police brutality), the world’s poor live in a state of constant fear.