Ways to take action – November campaigning update
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“Every form of poverty, without exception, calls us to experience the Gospel concretely and to offer effective signs of hope.”
Pope Leo, World Day of the Poor 2025
Our charity is committed to calling for tangible, lasting change which will help people transform their lives with dignity and live with hope.
These regular updates will keep you informed about campaigns and activities calling for change and let you know about ways you can join us in making a difference.
We hope you’ll feel inspired to actively participate and make a difference in your community. We’d love to hear from you if you do, so get in touch and let us know what you’ve been up to.
Calling for an end to child poverty
As we await publication of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, we’ve continued to advocate for the urgent changes that children and families need by taking part in roundtables, writing letters and meeting with MPs.
Following productive discussions, we’re pleased the findings of our child poverty report and our recommendations for the upcoming strategy have been passed on to the Minister responsible for the Child Poverty Taskforce outlining the findings. In addition, three MPs have agreed to submit Written Parliamentary Questions on our behalf, which will further highlight the changes needed for the strategy to make a tangible difference to children and families living in poverty.
It remains essential that the two-child limit on benefits is brought to an end if we’re to see meaningful and lasting change for children and families trapped in cycles of poverty. Recent analysis has shown that scrapping the policy would, in the long-term, lift 630,000 children out of absolute poverty (where households have less than 60 per cent of the median income).
We recently supported a mother affected by the two-child limit through our energy advice service. Despite working with our team to reduce the family’s energy costs as much as possible, her income still does not stretch far enough to cover all the essentials, leaving her reliant on charities such as ours to provide food and other basic provisions for her children.
The Government must not wait any longer to act. No child’s future should be determined by the number of siblings they have.
You can join us in calling for change and strengthen our campaign to end to child poverty and demand a future where no child is left behind.
Changes needed for families experiencing homelessness
The Government’s most recent homelessness figures have revealed that more and more people are living without a safe, secure place to call home. Across England, the number of households living in temporary accommodation is the highest since records began.
Homelessness rates have also continued to rise locally. Across Greater Manchester and Lancashire, in the areas we cover, there are nearly 9,000 children living in temporary accommodation – an 11 per cent increase from the same time last year.
We believe it’s unacceptable that so many children do not have a suitable and stable home, and it is crucial that the Government’s upcoming Homelessness Strategy both addresses the current crisis and moves towards a more preventative approach.
Furthermore, temporary accommodation placements must be near to children’s schools and support networks. Too often, we hear about families placed far away, resulting in difficulties affording transport to and from school, so we’re encouraged that a number of the MPs we have met recently have added their support to a campaign for free bus passes for children in temporary accommodation.
Following our report, we have continued to call for a statutory duty to be placed on local authorities to notify schools when a family is placed in temporary accommodation, in order to ensure that schools can offer timely assistance to families and to prevent families falling through gaps in support. You can read more about our recommendations here.
Listening to people experiencing rough sleeping
“Just having somewhere, anywhere that would have been dry and being able to feel safe. That would have been a big thing for me.”
“It’s the waiting game, trying to get off the street because everywhere is full and I’m worried about money, when I finally get somewhere.”
“We are human.”
These are just some of the words shared by people at our day centres who have experienced rough sleeping.
At the core of our work are the voices of those who access our services. Their experiences shape both our services and our campaigns, and we’re very grateful to the 43 people who took the time to respond to a survey we recently carried out.
Their responses speak powerfully to the reality that homelessness can happen to anyone, and the toll it takes not to have basic needs such as safety and shelter met.
Through these conversations, we’re reminded that behind every statistic is a person with a story, who has worth, dignity and hopes for the future.
Hearing from people seeking asylum
In response to the protests and the misunderstandings surrounding asylum accommodation, a group of people with lived experience of life in hotels across Greater Manchester have come together to share their perspective.
The Greater Manchester Asylum Hotels Group has written a statement to respond directly to the concerns and questions heard from local communities. Their message is one of openness, understanding, and hope. They want to be part of their new communities, to contribute, and to live safely alongside their neighbours.
The statement is an important reminder that, as with people experiencing rough sleeping, people seeking asylum are real people with real lives, deserving of kindness and compassion. You can read the full statement here.
Read more about our work supporting refugees and people seeking asylum and safety.
Calling for dignity and compassion in immigration policy
The Government has recently announced further details of its ‘earned settlement’ proposals which will result in significant changes to routes to settlement for many migrants and refugees.
The changes will make it much more difficult for many people to settle in this country. People granted refugee status will be particularly affected, with many facing 20 or 30 year routes to settlement.
In our response to the Home Office’s consultation about the proposals earlier this year, we shared our concerns about how the changes risk increasing poverty, destitution and homelessness, undermining the Government’s ambitions to tackle child poverty and end rough sleeping.
Our response is rooted in Catholic Social Teaching which remind us of the importance of human dignity and how every person deserves to be treated fairly and with compassion.
These principles call us to advocate for and to build a society where everyone can belong, participate and flourish.
Therefore, we remain concerned about the harm that will likely be caused by these changes – the increases in poverty and hardship, as well as the anxiety and distress caused for many people.
We’ll continue to follow developments closely and call for policies that uphold the dignity of every person. As Pope Leo XIV says: “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”
Free Movement has published a detailed explanation of the announcements which you can read here.
Read more about our campaigning work and the changes we call for here.
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