Welfare sanctions are here to stay, says Downing Street
Archbishop ‘shocked’ and MP claims social safety net is broken
THE UK Government will not relax the rules on its controversial welfare sanctions, No 10 has made clear, despite a major cross-party report warning delays in people getting benefits were increasingly driving them to food banks.
The Church of England-backed Feeding Britain report also identified the rise in utility bills and squeeze on incomes as why many thousands of Britons were being driven to food banks. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will lead a new Feeding Britain group to eliminate hunger across the UK by 2020, said it was “shocking” to see so many people in a wealthy country reduced to seeking food hand-outs.
A new sanctions regime was introduced in 2012, whereby if claimants do not meet requirements, parts of their welfare payments are docked.
The report was published as Scottish civic leaders and politicians challenged the UK Government’s austerity drive.
The Scottish Leaders Welfare Group, which met at a Glasgow food bank, claimed the Lib-Con Coalition’s programme of cuts was resulting in increased deprivation across Scotland.
Lord McFall, the Labour peer, who chairs the group, which includes church leaders, trade unionists and voluntary workers, said it would “use its collective voice to provide witness to the impact of welfare changes and will challenge Government policy and practice where these have a negat i ve impact and r esult in deprivation”.
The Feeding Britain report called for benefit claims to be fast-tracked to ensure new claimants were not left for weeks without an income. It also demanded action to stop “rip-off” firms charging higher prices to the poor and end the “scandal” of millions of tonnes of waste food being destroyed by supermarkets and food manufacturers.
At the report’s launch, Labour backbencher Emma Lewell-Buck stressed how changes to the welfare system were “cited time and time again” by witnesses to the inquiry as a factor in driving food bank use. “In the past we had a welfare state with a supportive safety net,” the South Shields MP said. “We no longer have that safety net. We have a harsh and punitive regime.”
Matt Hancock, the Conservative business minister, said he was very supportive of food banks but noted how one reason for their rising use was “because more people know about them”. He also stressed it was partly through the creation of new jobs under the Coalition that poverty rates were coming down.
The inquiry found food bank numbers had grown from a handful a decade ago to 800 in the UK. Half are operated by the Trussell Trust, a Christian charity. Its 420 food banks helped about 900,000 people last year, up from 130,000 in 2011/12.
Asked if the Government would consider changes to the welfare rules, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said people had rights and responsibilities. “The Prime Minister’s view is we have the right approach to this with regard to sanctions.”
Later, David Cameron admitted there were “elements” of the report the Coalition would want to take forward but stressed the economy was growing and “we are lifting people into work and out of poverty”. But Frances O’Grady for the TUC said it was unfair to make new benefit claimants wait five weeks or more for cash. “The Government’s welfare reforms are attacking people who have done nothing wrong at a time when they most need help,” she added.
Meanwhile, a Conservative peer has apologised after saying “poor people don’t know how to cook”. Baroness Jenkin, condemned for being “out of touch” by Labour, later said she was “stupidly speaking unscripted.”