{"id":1403,"date":"2024-03-07T11:35:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T11:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jpit.uk\/?p=22160"},"modified":"2024-03-07T11:35:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T11:35:07","slug":"response-to-the-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/standrewsurcrustington.org.uk\/?p=1403","title":{"rendered":"Response to the budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Leaders from across the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches have responded to the Chancellor\u2019s announcements made in the Budget on 6 March. They have highlighted the lack of acknowledgement of people struggling against poverty in our communities, and the lack of difference announcements will make to the communities they live and work alongside.<\/p>\n

Paul Morrison, Policy Advisor for the Joint Public Issues Team, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 2p cut in National Insurance offers the bottom fifth of households around \u00a3350m a year, but the top fifth of households will receive over 10 times more \u2013 more than \u00a34Bn. This cut represents a long-term choice to target resources on those with the most rather than those with the least.<\/p>\n

In the context of a country where 14.4 million people are held back by poverty and where one million children are growing up experiencing destitution \u2013 a form of very deep poverty we had all but eradicated in the UK \u2013 the choice to focus money on the best-off households is the wrong one.<\/p>\n

Today five out of every six households receiving Universal Credit (the main benefit designed to support low-income families), are going without essentials. The six-month extension of the Household Support Fund, which provides funds to councils to help families struggling to meet their basic needs, is welcome, but it is a temporary measure that will barely touch the sides of the problem. A decent welfare system would at the very least ensure that everyone is able to afford the essentials.<\/p>\n

The Churches are supporting the Let\u2019s End Poverty movement, because with political we can turn the tide on rising poverty in the UK. The movement is bringing together voices from across society to demand that our political leaders take poverty seriously and set out their long-term plans to address it as an election approaches. The reality of deepening poverty did not feature in either the Chancellor\u2019s Budget speech or the Leader of the Opposition\u2019s response \u2013 next time, it must be central.<\/p>\n

Community responses<\/h3>\n

Church and community leaders who work alongside low-income communities also offered their first reflections on the budget announcements:<\/p>\n

Revd Neil Johnson, Pioneer minister at the Methodist Church\u2019s Street Banquet in Birmingham said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI work alongside the street community, particularly those in Birmingham City Centre \u2013 those living with the daily injustice of homelessness. This includes rough sleepers, hostels and house of multiple occupancy (HMO) residents and tenants in insecure and inadequate housing. These are people, many of whom are receiving benefits, but also those who are working in poorly paid work and receiving very low incomes. This budget has done those people no favour at all. In fact, quite the opposite. Jeremy Hunt said that his budget was a budget for long-term growth. And yet we\u2019re living in a society where many, many people are in immediate need.<\/p>\n

The future was already bleak for the street community but now, after this budget, it seems even bleaker. The budget makes the richer, better off while poverty increases. Cuts to public services will have a devastating impact on the poorest and most marginalized of communities. This budget was not meant for the members of the street community, people who already feel disenfranchised because they have been disowned by society.<\/p>\n

So what will make a difference? A truly just tax system, solving the housing crisis and long-term investment in public services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winnie Baffoe, Director of Engagement and Influence at South London Mission said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe budget refers to fiscal drag, a recovery of finances, but not to people\u2019s lives. The negative accumulative effects of inadequate housing, the lack of investment in mental health and reduced funding in education is not spoken openly about. We cannot recoup the loss of time and the impact that has had on people\u2019s lives. What we need is a budget that tells the story of the social contracts of housing, education, and health. Children and young people are heirs of the past 10 years, the suffering children of the present and makers of the future. What does this budget tell us that they have to build on?\u201d<\/p>\n

Deacon Jenny Jones, based at Methodist Central Hall Manchester, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis budget makes no additional provision for refugees and asylum seekers, and actually blames them for the problems the countries are having. In recent months, the Government has improved the speed with which applications are processed for those who are looking for right to remain. And that\u2019s good news in some ways. But I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve really talked about how once leave to remain is granted, their benefits anything they have like their accommodation all stops within a few days. I think this budget should have been addressing that, because these people are becoming homeless, their mental health is being destroyed. These people become dependent on food banks, clothing, banks, warm spaces, the places that churches provide. But this government and this budget have forgotten that these are real people with real emotions. The people that I have met are wonderful people who would love to contribute to this country. But they\u2019re being held back by the systems. And this government doesn\u2019t seem to care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen Pearce, Social Justice Enabler, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Methodist District, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFor many in Cornwall, the Budget told no good news, especially those who struggle to find accommodation to live in. For the 28,000 people waiting on the home choice list there has been no announcements of a plan to enable people to be able to access long term homes and accommodation for so many families and children. A long term plan is required.  A home is something that everyone needs and has a right to live in,  in order to build a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vicky Longbone is a Church Related Community Worker in the United Reformed Church, based in Derby. She said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working in one of the most deprived areas of Derby, where there\u2019s a spiral of low income, low aspirations, low education. So the difference that this budget is going to make is not a lot, to be honest. The people that we\u2019re working with are on the lower incomes, where the National Insurance cut is going to make no difference to them whatsoever. My personal, biggest fear is the determination to get 10 million people into work when they really aren\u2019t capable. I\u2019m already working alongside people who have recently had their Personal Independence Payments (PIP) stopped, including one gentleman who actually has a terminal illness, and I just fear that the stopping of PIP payments is just going to get worse and worse and worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirsty-Ann Mabbott is a Church Related Community Worker in the United Reformed Church, based in Coventry. They said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that the measures announced in the budget yesterday are going to have any sort of positive effect on the people in my community. 2p less on national insurance won\u2019t affect a lot of them in any significant way. And for those people the future doesn\u2019t really look any different to how it does now, to be completely honest. The folk in my community who are struggling are going to continue to struggle. People are not affluent. We know that the staff at the hospital, which is a quarter a mile away from my church. There are folk there who are relying on food banks. That\u2019s not going to change with this budget. I think the differences that would need to be announced would need to be significant. We\u2019re not talking tax breaks. We\u2019re not talking non-dom status for folk. We\u2019re talking about real genuine change. We\u2019re talking about increased funding to the NHS. We\u2019re talking about more realistic payments in benefits. We\u2019re looking at income tax cuts that actually affect real people. But unfortunately, that\u2019s not what we\u2019ve been given. And so I don\u2019t think anything positive is going to change for our communities who are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pam Davies<\/strong> is a Minister at Southend City Baptist Church. She said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>The budget doesn\u2019t reflect or address the needs of our community at all. I didn\u2019t expect that it would. There is no investment in the government pledge to end rough sleeping, and what I see here day-to-day is that rough sleeping is that it\u2019s the worst it\u2019s been here since before Covid. The changes in the budget benefit our community in now way at all. Change for us would look like an end to the housing crisis, which requires significant investment. The change in the budget to remove stamp duty for an additional home is especially hard for our community to hear, because people have no home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandra Crawford is a<\/strong> Pioneer Baptist Minister serving in one of the most deprived communities in the country. She said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is another missed opportunity. The gap between the rich and poor is getting wider and wider. We see headlines about private companies reaping rewards and making record profits. Then the budget tells us they\u2019re cutting National Insurance \u2013 that does benefit the rich. In the areas where I work the local authority provision is just being cut and cut and cut. We need massive investment in those areas, not cuts. And the charities are picking up the things local authorities aren\u2019t able to do any more, but with less resources to do that. The schools that are struggling the most need investment. We need investment into the local health service and dentistry \u2013 it\u2019s everything across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s End Poverty<\/h3>\n

The Joint Public Issues Team is part of the Let\u2019s End Poverty movement, calling on political leaders to make tackling poverty a core priority ahead of the next General Election.<\/p>\n

In response to the budget, individuals and groups are invited to write to their MP to ask them how they will raise poverty up the political agenda. You can use the digital action to find your MP and send them a personalised email on the Let\u2019s End Poverty website: https:\/\/letsendpoverty.co.uk\/action\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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