What we’re hoping to see in the Autumn Budget statement
At Caritas Salford, our vision is for an equal and just society, where each person can live in dignity, free from poverty, homelessness and disadvantage.
However, we know that sadly this is not the case for so many people across Greater Manchester and Lancashire today.
We’ve seen levels of poverty and homelessness continue to rise, and we believe that the Government has an opportunity to begin to address this in their upcoming Autumn Budget at the end of October.
Here’s what we’re hoping to see…
Poverty and disadvantage
We welcome the announcements already made about the creation of a Child Poverty Taskforce, which has begun meeting, and the plan to have a breakfast club in all primary schools in England.
However, with more children and families being pulled into poverty every day, we cannot wait for the taskforce’s strategy to be published in Spring next year before the Government makes changes to improve the lives of millions of children across the country.
Alongside the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales, we have continued to call on successive Governments to put an end to the two-child benefit cap. This would be the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty, immediately lifting 300,000 children out of poverty, as well as reducing the depth of poverty for 700,000 more.
We’re also calling for increased funding for provision of mental health services in schools, which is becoming increasingly important given the detrimental impact of experiencing poverty on children’s mental health. Through our School Service, we see first-hand the urgent need for such services and the difference they can make to children’s lives.
While the Government’s manifesto commitment to end the need for emergency food parcels is welcome, urgent action is needed to be able to move towards this and to help pull people out of poverty and hardship.
Therefore, we are urging the Government to implement a policy to ensure a protected minimum amount of Universal Credit which covers the cost of essentials, which has risen significantly in recent years. This would protect people from deductions to an amount which already proves inadequate for so many.
Housing security and homelessness
With homelessness rising and the number of people living in temporary accommodation continuing to increase, commitments from the Government to build more houses and introduce more protection for renters with the Renters’ Rights Bill are welcome.
However, we desperately need to see an increase in the number of genuinely affordable homes in order that people can move from situations of homelessness into appropriate and secure housing.
Therefore, it is critical that the Government’s home building target includes a sufficient amount of social housing, which is estimated to be 90,000 social homes across the country per year for the next decade. With almost 6,000 households in temporary accommodation in the diocese, not including those living elsewhere waiting for social housing, there is an urgent need for increased provision.
In addition, we are calling for the Government to uprate Local Housing Allowance (LHA) in line with local rents. LHA is a contribution towards rent costs based on criteria including the area someone lives in, and since rents have been rising sharply in recent years, too many people will continue to struggle to afford tenancies in the private rented sector without an annual uprating of LHA. Unaffordable rents and insufficient support significantly increase people’s risk of eviction and homelessness, and we are therefore asking for urgent action to address this.
Welcoming migrants and refugees
Concerning our work welcoming migrants and refugees, we welcome the end of the of the so-called ‘Rwanda plan’ and the Government’s manifesto commitment to end the use of hotels to accommodate people seeking asylum.
We are urging the Government to follow through on this commitment and ensure sufficient funding for safe and suitable accommodation. Increased funding for integration programmes such as high-quality English classes is also desperately needed, to ensure people are empowered to rebuild their lives in this country.
Support for charities and voluntary organisations
Throughout the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, charities, voluntary organisations and faith groups have been consistently helping those in need often left-behind by aspects of society.
However, the cost-of-living crisis has significantly impacted charities such as ours. With need for our services rising at the same time as our running costs, and funding becoming increasingly difficult to secure, we’re asking the Government to address this in the Autumn Budget by increasing funding to public bodies who provide grants and commissions to charities like ours, in order to ensure that grants meet the true costs of delivering services to people who need them most.
Another way in which the Government could address the issue of increased running costs for charities such as ours is by making more funding available to help charities improve energy efficiency. This would help us to improve our environmental sustainability as well mitigating the impact of increased energy costs, in turn helping us to continue to support those who need it most.
At Caritas Salford, we will continue to work to help people transform their lives with dignity, but we also believe that urgent action from the Government is needed in order to improve the lives of so many people.
Therefore, we are calling on the Government to consider those experiencing poverty, homelessness and disadvantage in the upcoming Budget as a priority, and to set out a plan to move towards a more just world, where everyone can have the opportunity to thrive.