The 1st April marks a fateful turning point in the long history of the British welfare state. On that day, families not only face the biggest single cut in their living standards for at least 50 years but the social security system will meet only half the financial needs of millions of families on Universal Credit.
But 1st April signals a decisive shift in the government’s treatment of poverty that is even more ominous. Its withdrawal from welfare is now becoming so extensive that charities are having to take the state’s place as our country’s basic safety net.
Voluntary organisations — not the Department for Work and Pensions — are becoming the essential lifeline for families, with food banks, clothes banks, bedding banks and baby banks — and not our social security system — the provider of last resort.
After cuts in the real value of family benefits in seven of the last ten years, child poverty will rise by another 500,000 this year to 4.8 million and then, it is estimated, it will reach a record 5 million during 2023.
Read the full article here:
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/welfare/2022/03/the-tories-privatisation-of-welfare-is-a-catastrophe-for-the-poorest