Ways to take action – latest policy update

Date Published: 09 Oct 2024
Person spooning out soup from a pan into a bowl

As part of our efforts to end poverty, uphold dignity and promote a fair world, Caritas Salford engages in various activities to raise awareness of and call for action on issues affecting people in our communities.

Over the coming months we will be publishing regular updates on campaigns and other actions to help you stay informed on how you can contribute to delivering positive change. 

Hopefully these updates will inspire you 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.

 

Caritas Salford report highlights urgent need for change 

This month, we released a report about health and homelessness, which highlights the staggering disparity between the health and wellbeing of people experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless and the wider public in our area.   

The data was gathered from a health audit survey of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness who attended four direct services in Greater Manchester in February and/or March 2024.  We found that 78% of those surveyed identified as having mental health issues, compared with 12.7% of the general population. Furthermore, 88% of those audited also said that they wanted help with either accessing services or to improve their health and wellbeing, highlighting the significant inequalities that exist for those who are homeless.   

As a result of the report, we are making a number of recommendations including calling for service commissioners to do more to address the specific health needs of people who are homeless, targeted health promotion to people experiencing homelessness, and increased provision of specialist workers to help people access health services. 

You can read more about our findings, people’s experiences and our recommendations here. 

 

Advocating for change: A collective call to DWP Ministers on poverty and social security reform  

In September, we joined with Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and 15 other organisations in the anti-poverty and debt advice sector to send an open letter to the Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

In the letter, we asked the Government to review the statutory minimum wage and social security rates in order that people received a protected minimum amount, to ensure that no one is pushed into deprivation. We also asked that the Government develop a strategy to guarantee that every individual and household across the UK receives the social security benefits they are entitled to. 

The letter came after CAP’s latest report ‘Deficit budgets: The cost to stay alive’ found that 22% of adults in the UK do not have enough income to cover their basic needs. The report states that living on a deficit budget significantly affects mental health and wellbeing, and the rise in deficit budgets is deepening social inequality.  

The joint letter states that: “…the cost of living has become untenable for many, leading to severe consequences such as deteriorating mental and physical health, strained relationships, and increased isolation. This issue is not only a personal crisis but also a societal one, placing increased pressure on health and social care systems.”  

Our charity believes that everyone should receive adequate income so that they don’t have to choose between having a meal or using their electricity, and even more than that, so that all people can live in dignity and have the opportunity to thrive. This is why we were pleased to add our name to letter and we remain committed to calling for change.  Image that shows logos of all organisations that are part of the Christians Against Poverty group

You can read the letter here and read CAP’s report here. 

 

Are you receiving the support you’re entitled to?  Understanding support available to people in need. 

Policy in Practice has found that £22.7 billion of benefits go unclaimed each year.

This could be for several reasons, including people not knowing about certain benefits or assuming they won’t be eligible, the complexity of claiming benefits and proving eligibility, as well as negative perceptions and stigma around claiming benefits. With more and more people experiencing poverty and the continuing cost of living crisis, ensuring that people are receiving the support they are entitled to is increasingly important.  

Look out for more information about this on our website later in October, but for now, you can use a free and independent benefits calculator to check what you could be entitled to.

Man holding child in a garden or park. He is hugging them and the child is smiling and laughing

Help tackle child poverty – one urgent step you can take 

Every child should have the opportunity to thrive, and no child should grow up living in poverty.

We are members of the End Child Poverty Coalition and each year, together with Loughborough University, they publish data on the number of children experiencing poverty. The data, released earlier this year, shows that in almost three quarters of local authorities in the Diocese of Salford, over 40% of children are growing up in poverty. This equates to a staggering 333,000 children, which we believe is unacceptable. 

Caritas Salford has long campaigned for an end to the two-child benefit cap, and we are privileged to support the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales as they continue their call to end this cap because of its impact on children and family life.   

An accumulation of evidence now shows that there is a strong correlation between child poverty and the two-child cap, so it is one of the changes in policy we are calling for in order to improve the lives of many children and families.  

You can add your voice to the campaign by going through the Bishop’s Conference website to contact your local MP. Simply enter your details and follow a few steps to let your MP know you are joining the call for an end to the cap. 

We were also pleased to join with other Catholic charities to make a joint submission to HM Treasury ahead of the Autumn Budget, asking the Chancellor to put children and families at the heart of her statement, to ensure that no more children are forced to live in poverty.  

Read more about our calls for urgent action around child poverty here. 

 

A rise in the number of people experiencing homelessness 

The Government regularly releases information about how many people are experiencing homelessness, both for those rough sleeping and those living in temporary accommodation. Sadly, the latest figures show that the number of people experiencing homelessness is rising, both in England and in the Diocese of Salford.  

In the Diocese of Salford, the number of households in temporary accommodation in January to March 2024 had risen by around 800 compared with the same period in 2023, and 1,400 more children were living in temporary accommodation compared with the same period last year. 

We believe that everyone should have a place to call home which is safe and secure. This is why we run a range of services to support people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and why we are calling for important changes to policies and systems. We are asking for an increase in the amount of social housing, reforms to the private rented sector, and an end to unsupported temporary accommodation. 

Find out more about what you can do to help here. 

 

Reports by other agencies: 

Destitute and in Danger: people made homeless by the asylum system 

The Jesuit Refugee Service published a report about what life is like for people whose asylum claims have been refused. They found that rough sleeping was common and 43% of survey respondents had slept rough in the last year. Since many people experience homelessness and destitution for a number of years, and even a short period of homelessness can have a long-term psychological impact on a person, they are calling for a number of reforms to the asylum system, including allowing people seeking asylum to work and an end to the hostile environment. 

 

Vital solutions to ending migrant homelessness 

As members of Homeless Link, we supported their recent joint policy briefing with NACCOM (The No Accommodation Network). The briefing outlines the key drivers of migrant homelessness and gives recommendations to the Government about how homelessness among migrants can be ended. The recommendations include coordinating move-on processes from the asylum system to ensure that people do not become homeless once refugee status is granted, improved access to good quality legal advice around immigration and welfare benefits, and a cross-departmental approach to tackling homelessness.  

 

Empty Plates and Cold Homes: What it’s like to grow up in poverty in 2024 

A new report from Barnardo’s highlights how poverty impacts the ability of families to afford food and fuel. The report found that one in four parents struggled to provide sufficient food for their children in the last 12 months, and one in three parents have cut back to save money on energy bills in the last 12 months. Growing up in poverty has a detrimental and lasting effect on children, so Barnardo’s are calling for urgent change, including ending the two-child benefit cap and extending free school meals to all primary school children in England. 

 

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