Living shouldn’t cost everything in 2023.

In the world of policy, nothing ever stays the same… which, I guess, is a good thing?

Anyone working in policy will know that our main aim is to make positive change happen. Many will also attest to the fact that the environment we’re working in is constantly evolving, and let’s face it, sometimes devolving. We’ve got to be agile, innovative and aware. We’ve also got to be resilient, bold and determined.

I’ve been fully immersed in the world of policy for three months now. There’s a lot to learn, but luckily it’s not all completely new to me! I’ve been at Christians Against Poverty (CAP) for six years, four of which I spent in various roles in the External Affairs team, including managing relationships with creditors and doing some policy and research work on the side. Now, finding myself back in the team, I have the privilege of joining others in looking ahead and planning activities that we believe will take us closer to a world we want to see.

It’s an exciting time to be working in policy, there’s a lot that needs to change, which also makes it a tough time to be working policy.

Insufficient incomes

As I look back on all the policy recommendations CAP has made over the last year, I am saddened. This is because, really, when you boil it down, many of the problems we are trying to fix stem from people doing their best to l?i?v?e? survive on insufficient incomes.

Let’s take a look at what CAP was calling for last year.

Our policy asks in 2022

In 2022, we made policy recommendations for the cost of living crisis. This included:

• Calling for more targeted financial support for low income households, which takes into account actual energy bills due to family size and need, including for those not in receipt of means-tested benefits.
• Asking the Government to make debt deduction rates from benefits more affordable and pausing deductions from Universal Credit and legacy benefits until at least April 2023.
• Calling for the scrapping of the benefit cap. At a minimum, urgently reviewing the level if it is retained.

We’ve seen the Government provide support for energy costs, which was welcome. However, it also illustrated the fact that the cost of living crisis means millions of people have been struggling to afford the basic necessities, such as heating their home.

We also made recommendations in our briefing paper,?Lifelines to safety.?This paper spoke about the 4 million UK adults who depend on credit to make ends meet. Credit is used for a wide range of reasons. Yet, when people on a low income rely on credit to make ends meet, problem debt feels like an inevitable result — there needs to be a better option, one that ensures people have sufficient income to cover basic household expenses and do not need to rely on credit to survive. When we launched the briefing in November, we called on the Government to:

• Commission a cost of living review on the adequacy of social security.
• Expand Help to Save to all Universal Credit claimants, and broaden points of access to include credit unions and other providers of low-cost credit.

In other policy spaces, we made recommendations for the Insolvency review.?You can read a blog from my colleague Juliette about it here. In the majority of insolvency cases CAP sees the need for insolvency is often largely due to the lack of income available to repay debts. Across the debt advice sector we have seen a concerning rise in the number of deficit budgets, where incomes do not meet expenditure, leaving people in the red each month. Anywhere you look, people are falling into poverty, or being pushed deeper into it, by the cost of living crisis

Living shouldn’t cost everything. But for millions, it does.

Looking at the state of the UK as 2023 gets underway, CAP has set an ambitious policy goal. This year we have the opportunity to meaningfully interact with all major political parties as they begin to write their manifestos ahead of the general election. Our aim is to see commitments from the UK Government in power (Conservatives) and opposition parties (Labour and SNP) to tackle UK poverty by reviewing Minimum Income Standards in both social security and wages. If you’re not quite sure what we mean by this, we’ll talk more about the Minimum Income Standard in future blogs. But we don’t want to do this alone. We need the industry and public (that’s you) to join the call to see incomes raised to liveable levels.

In a fair and just society, there should not be millions of households living in poverty. People should not have to sit in cold, dark homes. Parents shouldn’t have to sacrifice meals so their children can eat. Individuals shouldn’t be spending sleepless nights worrying about how they will survive until the next payslip.

We are believing for better. We are determined to get there. Are you with us?