Challenge Poverty Week Blog | Welfare & Social Security
We need a social security system that works
Despite the UK being one of the world’s wealthiest economies - charities, frontline services and community organisations are seeing an altogether different, sobering reality across the country - which appears especially pronounced in Edinburgh. Recent poverty rates in the City showed that 78,900 people (17%) in Edinburgh were living in relative poverty after housing costs last year, including 16,100 children. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation ‘Poverty in Scotland 2022’ report published this week revealed that two in three people have cut back on essentials due to the current squeeze on finances. Alarmingly, this includes one in five who have skipped or reduced the size of their meals.
At Turn2us Edinburgh Trust, alongside our referral partners, we are co-designing new, innovative and more equitable ways to meet the needs of people in the City, who are struggling to feed themselves or their families. In September, we discovered that demand for our grants was up a staggering 41% on the previous year. Our latest survey of our service users lays bare the impact of soaring living costs, with almost half (47%) left with nothing to live on each week after paying housing, council tax and utility bills.
Programmes and services that better meet the needs of people in the City are key, but we must acknowledge that a system exists already that should be catching people before they are plunged into poverty. Yet, for too long that system of welfare benefits has failed and arguably does more to punish, stigmatise and demean those of us who need help the most.
Patrycja Kupiec, Head of Turn2Us Edinburgh Trust
Our sector’s response vs government responsibility
In 2021, the Turn2us Benefits Calculator hosted 1.9 million calculations for people looking to maximise their income through the benefits system. Many of these users find our calculator and other services via signposting from their employers, financial service providers and at touchpoints across the various frontline services they use. Reaching the digitally excluded, individuals in minoritsed communities or people with care responsibilities where they are is a greater focus for Turn2us Edinburgh Trust.
Turn2us commissioned a YouGov poll this year, which found that 22% of people over the age of 65 say they feel more anxious as a direct result of the rising cost of living. In addition, 48% say they would not know how to get support from an organisation offering advice around finances and debt. Additional income from Pension Credit would lessen the stress for people in this group, yet 30% of the estimated 2.5 million people entitled to the benefit are not claiming it. According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), this equated up to an estimated £1.7bn being left unclaimed in 2019/20. The scale and impact of just this benefit being underclaimed underscores the importance of better signposting across sectors and more accessible routes for people to get the support they need.
In recent months, driving people to claim their Pension Credit entitlement has been a priority for Turn2us and increasing uptake of that benefit depends greatly on the support of organisations in the private sector, particularly financial services, to signpost to tools such as benefits calculators and application forms.
The majority of people living in poverty in Edinburgh are of working age and in employment. Lone parents (nine in ten of them women), disabled people, carers and Black and Minority Ethnic families are more likely to be in poverty than others in the city. These are people for whom a simple and accessible benefits system should be readily available. Instead, too many of us are sanctioned for missing appointments due to poor health, childcare concerns or other unavoidable issues. To compound the issues caused by burdensome administrative processes and the lack of understanding of available entitlements, there exists still, shame and stigma around claiming benefits, with the Edinburgh Poverty Commission estimating that £70-80m of key income related benefits may be unclaimed in this city every year.
Not enough has been done in recent months to address the financial burden of soaring energy bills and increase in food costs. Furlough scheme aside, packages of support rolled out by the government in Westminster since 2020, such as a temporary uplift of £86.67 per month to the Universal Credit Standard Allowances, have been little more than a sticking plaster, especially for those of us who are on the lowest incomes. The Scottish government, who, working with a restricted budget have allocated an additional £3 billion in this financial year to help families and households face the increased cost of living. This funding includes support for energy bills, childcare, health and travel.
As part of these measures of support, are social security payments not available anywhere else in the UK, such as increasing Scottish Child Payment to £25 per child per week once the benefit is extended to under 16s by the end of 2022. In just the past few years, the Scottish government has implemented measures to mitigate the impact of the bedroom tax, launched the Adult Disability Scheme (which replaced PIP) and Child Disability Payment Scheme (replacing DLA), plus rolled out Best Start Grants, Best Start Foods and Bridging Payments, and increased incomes of unpaid carers. This is a positive step towards establishing a social security system that truly helps people, especially those of us on the lowest incomes.
Fixing a broken system
It is critical that better financial support and reforms to our welfare benefits systems are implemented as soon as possible, to ensure people can keep the lights on and feed their families this winter.
Though there are external factors and challenges that have impacted the nation’s financial health, more must be done in the long-term to reform our economy and to stop the growing inequalities in our society. This needs to include strengthening the social security system, enabling people to have enough money to live on with dignity. The impact of this cost-of-living crisis is more evidence that at minimum, it is vital that benefits are increased in line with inflation and that our social security system is strengthened so people accessing the system are more financially resilient in the uncertain months to come.
We want to ensure that people in Edinburgh are not merely surviving but thriving. Access to fair and affordable banking services, including low-cost credit, support with building-up personal savings, and the provision of quality financial advice are critical if we are to improve financial resilience within our Edinburgh communities. We also recognise that the private sector plays a key role in making paid work a more reliable route out of poverty in Edinburgh, and so Turn2us Edinburgh Trust will work closely with employers, trainers, coaches, and social enterprises in the city to maximise the impact of our interventions.
These are but a handful of measures that would bolster financial security for people and families, especially those on the lowest income. Food insecurity and people going without energy in the winter is simply unacceptable. The UK and the Scottish government must act now and with more resolve to ensure that our social security system truly protects people’s wellbeing and offers certainty, especially in such challenging times.
Patrycja Kupiec, Head of Turn2us Edinburgh Trust
Learn more about the work of Turn2us Edinburgh Trust
Follow Patrycja Kupiec on Twitter @pmkupiec