The UK’s poorest households face another winter of hardship, charities have warned, as research showed two-thirds of working families on universal credit are struggling to afford food, energy and other essentials.
The Trussell Trust, the UK’s biggest food bank network, called for urgent action after revealing that half of people on universal credit – the UK’s main low-income benefit – had run out of food in the past month, with a similar proportion falling behind on energy bills and debt payments.
Campaigners are challenging the government’s tight focus on economic growth as the key to tackling poverty, warning that “tough decisions” on maintaining rigid fiscal discipline will not provide short-term relief for millions of low-income working families facing soaring living costs this winter.
Emma Revie, the chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said its research showed people in hardship were being “pushed to the doors of food banks” because of inadequate benefit support. “These findings show clearly that people cannot wait for an economic turnaround to improve their current situations,” she said.
Ministers are already under pressure to support up to 2 million pensioners who will struggle to pay energy bills or face “heat or eat” choices in the coming months after losing eligibility for winter fuel payments, worth up to £300 for each household, which will now be strictly means-tested.
The Trussell Trust survey found nearly half of universal credit claimants struggled to keep up with bills, with two-thirds borrowing money to stay afloat. Two-fifths said they expected their ability to afford day-to-day basics to worsen over the next three months.
Although anti-poverty charities’ headline aim is to increase the rate of universal credit and abolish the two-child limit, they also believe ministers have scope to tweak benefit rules to create more financial breathing space for millions of claimants this winter, such as by further limiting the scale of automatic deductions from benefits.
Rachelle Earwaker, of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said the Trussell research showed it was “painfully clear that millions routinely can’t make it through the month without turning to help or going without. With energy prices rising again from October, the government must act to help people fearing another difficult winter.”
The warnings over the continuing cost of living crisis came as ministers confirmed they had approved an 11th-hour extension to an under-threat £1bn crisis fund used by English councils to provide emergency help for millions of low-income households.
Uncertainty over the household support fund (HSF), which was due to run out at the end of September, had prompted fears of a “holiday hunger” crisis, and concern that a third of English councils would no longer have the means to provide local crisis support – putting millions at risk of destitution.
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, said: “We are extending the household support fund for the next six months because it is a lifeline for people who are struggling with the cost of living.
“The dire inheritance we face means more people are living in poverty now than 14 years ago – and this government is taking immediate action to prevent a cliff edge of support for the most vulnerable in our society.”
Although charities welcomed the six-month extension of the fund – nearly half of which was last year spent by English councils on providing food vouchers to families on free school meals during school holidays – they said it would not in itself prevent millions of families from falling into hardship over the winter.
They regard the HSF as a poorly designed “sticking plaster” for an increasingly decrepit social security system and have urged ministers to use the next six months to formulate a fairer and more comprehensive replacement crisis scheme.
