Let’s End Poverty: what comes next?
After almost two years, Let’s End Poverty finishes its work at the end of May 2025. Since October 2023, Let’s End Poverty has united a diverse range of voices behind a shared, positive, vision-filled message that poverty in the UK can and should end. A collaboration between individuals, churches, charities, trade unions and grassroots groups, Let’s End Poverty brought people together with the aim of making ending poverty a primary issue at the 2024 UK general election. Now that the election has passed, Let’s End Poverty will end, but the collaborations and action it has inspired will continue.
Church Action on Poverty has been a leading partner in the work of Let’s End Poverty to strengthen the anti-poverty movement across the UK. Together, more than 75 organisations and grassroots groups have mobilised hundreds of leaders and thousands of individual activists.
Highlights supported by Church Action on Poverty include the Dreams & Realities exhibition. On their tour across the UK, Stephen Martin’s portraits have sparked conversation and inspired action, often accompanied by community choirs and grassroots voices sharing their stories and call for change.
In the lead-up to the election, the Neighbourhood Voices programme amplified the experiences and perspectives of otherwise unheard communities, feeding them into the election debate. More than 40 people took part in six locations, demonstrating the passion and commitment of communities to building a better future.
In partnership with Church Action on Poverty, more than 20 Local Pantries, individuals and community groups received small grants through the Artists for Change fund, inspiring art projects that expressed community voices and imagined a different future.
During Challenge Poverty Week 2024, the Dear Prime Minister campaign brought the lived experiences of 15 individuals into the Houses of Parliament, and right to the doorstep of the Prime Minister himself!
As the project draws to an end, individuals and organisations who have been involved have been celebrating everything that Let’s End Poverty has achieved and reflecting on the journey so far. At the start of April, 35 leaders bringing lived and learned experiences of poverty from across the UK gathered in Manchester for a National Poverty Consultation, hosted by Church Action on Poverty.
The National Poverty Consultation provided an important opportunity to bring together leaders from grassroots groups, individuals offering their lived and living experiences of poverty into their advocacy and staff from charities and Churches. This highlights the importance of a future for the anti-poverty movement in the UK that creates space for everyone to play their part, where ‘diagonal connections’ between the right people lead to transformative change.
Acknowledging that there is still a mountain to climb when it comes to ending poverty in the UK, the 24-hour residential created a space for reflecting back on how the journey of Let’s End Poverty might equip us for the way ahead. Throughout the process, two essential qualities for an effective anti-poverty movement emerged: relationships, and anger.
Transformative relationships
At its heart, Let’s End Poverty has been a collaboration of individuals in relationship with one another, listening to each others stories and drawing on each other’s skills and gifts to create change. Crucially, when these relationships bridge the often wide gap between people in roles of leadership, whether in political and public life, or in organisations, churches or charities and individuals who bring lived experiences of the struggle against poverty, they have the potential to be deeply transformative. The movement to end poverty in the UK must create spaces to build relationships that enable solidarity, transform shame and stigma and tell a different story about what it means to live alongside one another well.
Righteous anger
It also became clear that the deep-rooted damage poverty is bringing to the lives of individuals and communities means that true relationships often lead to anger. It cannot be acceptable that poverty is holding more than 1 in 5 people in the UK back from living full lives. Living and truly understanding this reality stirs up a righteous anger that is echoed by the biblical prophets, and prophetic activists from history who have stood up and raised their voices in resistance to injustice.
This anger has to be part of a movement if it is to successfully move society from passive acceptance to active resistance. It must be the fuel for collaborations that speak loudly and clearly about the different future we believe we can build together, and the steps needed to get there. Without anger, solidarity can easily become kindness and opportunities for transformation are limited to temporary change. In the face of continuing policy changes that are reducing incomes and opportunities for people and communities living on the lowest incomes, an effective movement has to draw on their anger to motivate sustained, impactful change.
Towards the end of the event, the group reflected on the image of a dandelion clock. In this image, perhaps being a movement committed to ending poverty means being the wind that scatters the dandelion seeds, giving them energy to land in new places, take root and bring new colour into the world. An effective movement means hundreds of different activities taking root, each bringing their own skills, gifts and impact to the wider environment. As Let’s End Poverty finishes, this image and the relationships it has sparked is carrying forward energy to continue to build a strong, effective anti-poverty movement that can and will see an end to poverty in the UK.
Hannah Fremont-Brown, Let’s End Poverty Facilitator
Vacancy: Chief Executive
£52,805 plus generous employer pension contribution.
Closing date: Midday, 2 June 2025.
Interviews in Manchester 16-17 June 2025.
Passionate about ending UK poverty? An empathetic innovative leader, strong on vision and strategy, with skills to run a medium-sized charity?
As Chief Executive, you will lead the staff team, be responsible for providing overall strategic direction, coordination and management of all Church Action on Poverty programmes. Partnership building is a key role to maximise our impact.
Currently, our programmes are structured on the principles of dignity, agency and power. They comprise: supporting a network of 130 food pantries with a membership of over 50,000; enabling people with lived experience of poverty to speak truth to power and supporting churches to explore what it means to be a ‘church on the margins’ as well as playing a leading role in high-profile national campaigns.
It is anticipated that the role will be varied and flexible, but will include:
- Assisting the Church Action on Poverty Council of Management in the development and implementation of the organisation’s programmes, campaigns, partnership building and public affairs work.
- Managing Church Action on Poverty’s staff and resources in line with the organisation’s agreed policies and priorities, and core values of collaboration, participation and empowerment.
- Fundraising and organisational strategy to achieve our aims.
- Ensuring that people with lived experience of poverty are actively involved in all aspects of CAP’s work.
- Leading and line managing the Senior Leadership and Management Team.
- Working with the whole staff team to develop and implement strategies that build dignity, agency and power to end poverty.
Starting salary £52,805 (pay award pending), rising to £56,073, plus 10% employer pension contribution.
- Permanent full-time post (35 hours per week), with occasional ‘unsocial’ hours, weekend working.
- 25 days’ annual leave pro rata (30 after five years’ service) plus New Year office closure.
- Hybrid working on a flexible basis from home with some time each week in the Manchester office.
The current Chief Executive, Niall Cooper, is very happy to talk with you informally. Please email niallc@church-poverty.org.uk to arrange a suitable time to talk.
Download background information to help you prepare your application below:
Completed applications should be sent to kate@church-poverty.org.uk and marked CE Recruitment. No CVs or other attachments please, only applications using our standard application form (available to download above) will be considered.
Faith, justice & awesome activists: Niall reflects on his 28 years
Niall Cooper is stepping down after 28 years at Church Action on Poverty. He reflects on some remarkable highlights.
How did you first come to be involved in Church Action on Poverty?
Niall: “My university degree had been in politics and religion, and I knew that I wanted to do that work – not just study it, but to do it. My passion was how the churches could make a difference.
“I worked on a project called the Churches National Housing Coalition, in 1991. I had helped set it up and Church Action on Poverty then took it on. I was doing community work in Hulme in Manchester at the time, and housing was the main issue.
“Then a few years later in 1997, the then director Paul Goggins was selected to stand as an MP, and I was appointed as director.”
What are some of your stand-out highlights?
Niall: “I think they come into four categories:
- the big supporter moments
- the really big policy wins
- the moments of impact in local communities
- and witnessing the inspiring activism of people with lived experience of poverty.
Supporter moments
“The two big supporter moments were the Pilgrimage Against Poverty in 1999, and the Tax Justice bus tour in partnership with Christian Aid in 2013. In 1999, we organised a nine-week pilgrimage from Iona to Westminster. Six people walked the whole way, but thousands of people joined along the route, for a mile or a day or a week.
“It was a significant thing for people to be part of, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We took a political message and it was amazing – we had a big rally in Trafalgar Square, a service in St Martin-in-the-Fields and the six people who had walked all the way met with the Chancellor, Gordon Brown.
“Then the Tax Justice Tour was amazing as well – we took a double decker bus around the country, engaging people in conversations. Both of those things really engaged people behind a powerful message, and created space for conversations.”
Big wins
“For big wins, I’m going to pick out two. The first was around financial inclusion work, under the New Labour government. We had meetings with a senior Treasury civil servant and we produced a report making the case for investing in affordable credit, as a result of which the Government then invested £120 million into credit unions.
“The other big win was the campaign with Thrive Teesside, around irresponsible high-cost lending. That was led by the women of Thrive over the best part of ten years, with our support.
“The Government was not initially interested, but we built up a coalition with about 80 backbench MPs, and that persuaded the Financial Conduct Authority to properly regulate high-cost lending, and as a result several million pounds in compensation was paid to customers of three main lenders. And because their business model was then broken, that really saw them off.
Community impact
“Along with Oxfam, we introduced Participatory Budgeting to the UK and got the Government to fund us to set up a unit that advised local government. This resulted in over 120 participatory budgeting projects in local communities around the country, each involving hundreds of people – so tens of thousands of people had a direct say in how pots of money were spent in their communities. The Scottish Government then enshrined that approach in law in Scotland.
“A second big community impact success has been Your Local Pantry. We took a very local idea and have enabled 120 communities (and counting!) to open Local Pantries, which are bringing people together through food, and enabling great things to happen. The characteristic of both of those areas of work is that they empower communities to have control and dignity and agency.”
Seeing lived experience campaigners rise up
“I draw huge inspiration from activists who have refused to give up – people like Wayne Green, Sarah Whitehead and Ashleigh May.
“Wayne spoke at the first National Poverty Hearing in 1996, and is still involved now. Sarah started off as a participant in one local project and now runs Community Pride in Salford, advises Joseph Rowntree Foundation and has trained and supported lots of other people to speak up. Ashleigh [pictured below] was made homeless and moved by her council 200 miles away from her community, but has been determined to speak up and create a space for other people, using her experience as an inspiration for making change.
“There are many other amazing people I could talk about as well!”
What big changes have you seen - and what hasn't changed?
Niall: “People’s belief in political solutions has shifted, and certainly the harshness of the DWP at the moment is more brutal than ever. People who don’t experience poverty do not realise just how punitive and brutal it is. That punitive nature of Government systems has got worse.
“As the state has pulled away, we’ve seen churches, charities and communities stepping up. Covid was the biggest example of that, where people stepped up. That trend has been for good and ill. Compared with 30 years ago, so many more churches are doing so much more, but there is still a pervasive attitude in places that it’s about tackling poverty one person at a time, individualising the problem and the solutions.
“One of the things that has endured is the nature of poverty. As Wayne Green said in the 1990s, “poverty is a battle of invisibility and being blamed for society’s problems”. The context has changed, but that is as true now as it was then.
“Another area where we have made strides is in the growing recognition of the importance of prioritising lived experience voices. The Dear Prime Minister letters last year exemplified that – we were able to gather 12 to 15 people, well supported by six or seven organisations around the country, and that would not have happened ten or even five years ago.”
What is your parting message to UK churches - and what are your own plans once you step down?
Niall: “The big task for churches is helping build a powerful movement in which people do feel they have agency, dignity and power, and in which they have enough allies to push back and say ‘enough; we are not going to take this any more’. Churches should invest in that, rather than sticking plaster solutions.
“As for my next steps… Well, in my 60s, I’ve started fell-running, and have just done the Yorkshire Three Peaks race, and I’ll also have some time for seeing family and travelling.
“I’m going to have a bit of a break and reflect on what I have learnt, but I am not stepping away from the anti-poverty movement. This is still what I am passionate about, and I still want to keep in touch with some of the amazing people I have met, but I also want to find out what’s the next challenge I can do.”
In a queue, and newly homeless, I realised: this is where change begins
10,000 miles and counting: Wayne Walton’s fight to end homelessness across the UK
Wayne Walton estimates he has walked more than 10,000 miles alongside homeless individuals. Now, he’s calling for national action—urging the entire UK to wake up, mobilise, and demand solutions.
“That’s what homeless people do,” he says. “You never know how much you’ve walked, but with everything I’ve done, I’d be surprised if it were less.”
Determined to see homelessness not just reduced but eradicated, Wayne Walton is launching a nationwide movement. He’s encouraging people across the United Kingdom to stand together, demand accountability, and help fund a mobile emergency unit to assist people in crisis.
Wayne: It's a nationwide crisis
Homelessness is a national emergency, with rising numbers in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow—and virtually every town across the UK. Government figures show that rough sleeping has surged since the pandemic, yet support systems remain broken and underfunded.
Wayne Walton believes it’s time for bold action, led by people with lived experience—not just policymakers and charities. He urges cities and communities beyond Yorkshire to join the fight.
“We cannot wait for another crisis. In March 2025, homelessness is worse than ever. The government keeps making false promises, but nothing is changing. We need a nationwide awakening.”
Walking through hardship: Wayne's journey to advocacy
Wayne Walton’s personal battle with homelessness began in 2019, when violence and racism drove him from his home in northeast London. With nowhere safe to go—and his social security payments stopped—he was forced into rough sleeping.
He soon discovered that up to 100 people a night were sleeping in a shopping centre, relying on faith groups for food. That moment shifted his perspective forever.
“Standing in that queue, I felt like I shouldn’t be there. But then I realised—this is exactly where change begins.”
Determined to help, Wayne Walton connected people with aid organisations, gathered a team of Christian activists, and petitioned the government in December 2019—only to be told homelessness couldn’t be solved even in a decade.
Then, in March 2020, the pandemic proved them wrong.
Wayne: The pandemic showed solutions are possible
Within three weeks, the UK government rolled out the “Everyone In” policy—placing thousands of rough sleepers into accommodation. The same Government that had claimed this was impossible for ten years had solved the issue in days.
Wayne Walton became a key part of this emergency response, volunteering at 5am daily to help homeless individuals find shelter. Alongside activists, he even helped set up a temporary village for those missed by councils—transforming an abandoned dairy into shelter with donated blankets, tents, and supplies.
When local officials tried to shut the effort down, media exposure forced them to accommodate those in need. Wayne Walton stayed for a year, distributing aid via a donated minibus.
Expanding the mission beyond Yorkshire
In 2021, a family tragedy sent Wayne Walton overseas. When he returned to the UK, his sister in Sheffield encouraged him to stay for a while—a move that unexpectedly reshaped his mission.
While walking Sheffield’s streets, he felt a spiritual calling—a divine push to finish the advocacy work he had started years before.
Since then, Wayne Walton has developed counseling and evangelism programs, helping homeless individuals nationwide navigate local services. He continues to move between sofa-surfing and rough sleeping, yet remains driven by faith.
“I have hope. That’s what Jesus gives us. God has a plan.”
Wayne's plan for a mobile emergency unit
Wayne Walton’s next step is big—a van-based emergency unit capable of reaching homeless individuals across the UK.
“Too many people can’t get from A to B, can’t transport their belongings, and can’t access support. A mobile unit would change that.”
He recalls helping a blind ex-Muslim man struggling with trauma and anxiety—terrified to leave his home. A mobile response team could bring care directly to people like him.
This is not just about Sheffield—it’s about every city, every town. Homelessness is not a regional issue, it’s a national crisis.
Wayne Walton urges the public across the nation to step up and push for real change.
“Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. The government’s approach isn’t working—people have the answers.”
How you can get involved
Wayne Walton’s group meets every Friday at Barker’s Pool, Sheffield, S1 1EF (6pm-9pm), inviting individuals to organise change beyond Yorkshire. He’s calling for people from all across the UK to join.
They aim to:
- Fund a mobile emergency unit
- Organise rallies nationwide
- Demand government accountability
The movement’s WhatsApp group has 75 members, and supporters can email:
praiseuk3@gmail.com
Upcoming national events
- May 25: UK Prayer Festival at Barker’s Pool, Sheffield
- August 23-25: National Rally—Praise UK (Christian music festival)
“We are seeking the greatest sustainable revival movement in the history of God. We pray daily at 8am, calling the UK to pray together for an hour—asking for sustainable change.”
Help Fund the Mobile Emergency Unit – Donate Today!
Wayne says: “Homelessness is a national emergency – we must act now! We’re raising funds to create a mobile emergency unit that will provide direct support, transport, food and urgent care for rough sleepers across the UK.”
- Donate today.
- Share & spread the word!
- Join us in Sheffield every Friday!
Homelessness isn’t inevitable—it’s preventable. The UK must wake up and demand real change.
Together, we can make a difference. Thank you for standing with us!
Sharing Power to Shape Mission
Felicity Guite, Church Action on Poverty’s Speaking Truth to Power Development Facilitator, introduces a new project that is happening in South Manchester in 2025.
‘Sharing Power to Shape Mission’ will bring together local people who have lived experience of poverty with local church leaders to develop a shared understanding and find ways of working together to tackle poverty in South Manchester and beyond.
The project is inspired by Poverty Truth Commissions, which bring together grassroots commissioners with local decision-makers from the civic and business sectors. Now we seek to bring this approach to the church. This builds on work Church Action on Poverty has been doing with the United Reformed Church on developing an anti-poverty strategy, ‘A Church With People at the Margins’.
The group have spoken powerfully about identity and stigma, and the labels and assumptions that people put on them. They have talked about the power of being able to make choices over their own lives, and how dehumanising it can feel to have those choices taken away from them.
The grassroots participants, who come from across South Manchester, have been meeting together since February to share their experiences and explore the theme of dignity. The group have spoken powerfully about identity and stigma, and the labels and assumptions that people put on them. They have talked about the power of being able to make choices over their own lives, and how dehumanising it can feel to have those choices taken away from them. The group are beginning to explore these themes in relation to their experience of church, whether that is as church-goers, as recipients of services provided by churches, or as volunteers in church-run projects.
After Easter the grassroots participants will be joined by a group of church leaders from a range of denominations. This larger group will meet together regularly for the rest of the year. The aim is to come up with two or three concrete ideas for things that the group, the church and wider community partners could do together. What the group will do has not been decided in advance – it will emerge from a process of deep listening and collaborative learning.
This approach draws on the methodology of Paolo Freire, creating an environment where all members of the group, grassroots and church leaders alike, will learn from each other and take action together based on what they learn. Together the group will create a deeper understanding of what poverty is and take steps to change that reality.
Activists work to shape policies of the future
Change happens when people come together to make it happen. Activists with experience of poverty have been doing just that, with three UK universities.
Members of the Speaking Truth To Power panel took part in a national event at London School of Economics with academics and practitioners, and then delivered online workshops at the University of Staffordshire and the University of Salford.
Panel member Wayne Green, from Shoreham by Sea in West Sussex, reflects on the two most recent events.
Wayne: we're speaking to tomorrow's decision-makers
“Why universities? We felt it was important, as activists seeking to end all forms of poverty and exclusion. It is important for students who could be tomorrow’s decision makers, policy makers and future leaders, to fully understand how and why we do what we do and how to challenge power structures, with a human-centred experience besides the academic rational perspective.
“The work at times I found was slow, and now and then disagreements got in the way. But I was learning to dump much of my professional experience, relearning to be more empathetic and take more of a back seat, and try not to see it all from my perspective.
“It was hard for me. But each time we met I could see that I was changing a little more my perspective. Slowly but surely we started to gel really well as a group. And I now understand why the planning took time.
“Finally, we had built two two-hour programmes. We had full control of the design, agenda, subject matter, and timings, and we chose who best to speak on each topic. It was a really fully human-centred, collaborative and equally balanced process.
“The workshops were with the Universities of Staffordshire and Salford.
“We were there by experience to share – for example, to show what the difference is between experience and academic
knowledge, also to show the value of real experience of poverty, the pain, how to avoid tokenism, how to navigate power dynamics, types of power flows, and the value of listening by those in power.
Wayne: You have so much power
“I felt all the lecturers and departments were highly motivated, and positive in working with us, which gave us much confidence.
“We wanted to highlight to the students that they do have power, and how to be more politically active.
“Often your experience and knowledge is more than the power-holders’ or decision-makers’. We showed real-life examples of how people in poverty can still have a voice and make changes.
“For example, we told how we had attended events at Parliament, and led on campaigns in our local communities, and spoke about our experiences of campaigns at local and national levels. It was important to show them what is often missed or not shown.
“It is important for students to see and learn from real-life activists in poverty, as this sets the agenda. They too can change the world.
“I wanted to say, ‘You have so much power, it’s all around us up for grabs. Look at us, look at what we are doing. Do not be afraid.’ As I noted, poverty is a battle of invisibility, it must be won, we must be seen and heard.
Wayne: what I've learned
“What have I really learned from all of this? I think I have learned to be more humble to the other members.
“Even though I find it hard to show, I do really care about them all in the years we have grown with each other. At the end of the day who am I, but a poor weak man offering my small bit of experience to such large problems. But I do believe change can happen and the younger generations have so much more to offer than I for that change.”
Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?
Broomhall Centre, Broomspring Lane, Sheffield
Thursday 29 May 2025, 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Churches across Sheffield are being asked to take a long hard look at the support they provide for low-income communities. Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield is responding to research showing churches are more likely to close in low-income areas than in better-off ones by organising an evening conference asking the question: ‘Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?”
- Church Action on Poverty research found that in Greater Manchester, three out of every five churches closed by the Church of England between 2010 and 2020 were in deprived areas, while half the Methodist and Baptist churches and two out of five Roman Catholic churches that closed were in deprived areas.
- Speakers at the conference will include:
Niall Cooper, CEO of Church Action on Poverty;
The Rev Lucy Sablan, who has been working in Arbourthorne and is now Rector of the Manor;
Nick Waterfield, a Pioneer Methodist minister and community worker in the Parson Cross community. - There will be an opportunity to ask questions, contribute to the debate, and light refreshments will be available.
Admission is free and there is no need to book.
For more information about the event, please contact Briony Broome: briony.broome@hotmail.co.uk or 07801 532 954.
Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM
You're invited to attend the AGM of our local group in the North East, with speaker Amanda Bailey, Director of the North East Child Poverty Commission.
Wednesday 14 May
St Joseph’s Church, High St West, Gateshead NE8 1LX
(1 minute from Gateshead metro station and interchange)
- 5:00pm refreshments
- 5:30pm AGM business
- 6:00pm local voices
- 6:15pm Amanda Bailey
Right now, too many children in our region are going hungry and living without hope—and as people of faith, we are called to respond. It’s a matter of justice and compassion. Working together, we can make a difference.
31% (170,000) of all children and young people across the North East were living below the poverty line over the
three years to 2023-24. This is up from 30% over the three
years to 2022-23.
The North East has the UK’s second highest proportion of children living in single-parent families, and the highest
rate of children living in families where an adult or child has a disability.
HEAR THE CRY OF THE EARTH AND THE CRY OF THE POOR
Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines
The Government's own statistics show that disabled people are already three times as likely to be living in food insecurity
Church Action on Poverty briefing
9 April 2025
Newly published Government data has shown the severe scale of poverty and food insecurity in the UK, and shows once again how disastrous it would be to further cut support for disabled people, as the Government proposes to do.
The newest release of the Family Resources Survey shows that one in ten UK households was living in food insecurity in 2023/24.
That equates to around 2.8 million households where people do not have consistent access to the good food they need – an increase of 600,000 in four years.
The picture is even more shocking for groups already hit hardest by Britain’s neglected housing and social security systems. The data shows that:
- In households where there are no disabled adults, food insecurity is 6%, but in households where there is one or more disabled adults it soars to 16%.
- Among homeowners (with or without a mortgage), food insecurity is only 3%, but in the private rented sector it is 17%, and in the social rented sector it is 31%.
The data covers the year 2023/24, so reflects the position when the current Government took office.
Food insecurity: background and context
The fact that this data is even measured is thanks to the tenacious efforts of food justice campaigners, including through the End Hunger UK campaign.
In 2020/21, the Government added a series of food-based questions to the annual Family Resources Survey, allowing the scale of the issue to be shown clearly for the first time.
The first data release, covering 2019/20, showed that 8% of households were in food insecurity. That number reduced in the subsequent two years, at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, but has since increased sharply as vital lifelines have been withdrawn.
Church Action on Poverty comment
“Millions of families in the UK worry about whether they will have enough food, and whether they can afford a nutritious and varied diet. It is a shameful indictment on successive Governments that such poverty is continuing in such a wealthy country.
“The direction of travel should be obvious to politicians: As a starting point, we need to repair our shared social security system so that everyone has enough to live on.
“There should be no cuts to social security, which is already woefully inadequate. It is immoral for the Government to raid the country’s poorest households, just so it can stick to its self-imposed financial tactics. Disabled activists like Mary, Stef and Sydnie say the impact of yet more cuts to disability support would be devastating and terrifying.
In recent years, the cost of living scandal has swept more and more people into poverty, very few people’s wages have kept pace with inflation and housing has remained prohibitively unaffordable for most people.
“Against that context, Westminster politicians have been steadily dismantling Britain’s cherished social security system instead of bolstering it. This data shows that an extra 600,000 households have been made food insecure in the past four years.
“The Government response must be to reverse those damaging trends, not to accelerate them. Repeated polls show that the public are unhappy about levels of poverty and inequality in Britain, and want action.
“Ending poverty needs to be a national priority. Instead this Government is singling out disabled people for swingeing cuts, while allowing far richer people to bear little or no burden.”
Food insecurity: links and data
- The 2023/24 Family Resources Survey report was published on March 27th.
- The household food security section is here.
- The full data tables, including breakdowns by region, income, disability, ethnicity, age, housing tenure and more can be downloaded here.
Say no to the immoral cuts
Church Action on Poverty is supporting the widespread national calls to oppose the immoral cuts to disability support.
The threatened cuts to Britain’s shared social security system are immoral, deeply harmful to some of the country’s poorest people, and are based on misleading spin.
Disabled activists Stef, Mary and Sydnie, who work with and advise Church Action on Poverty, say the further dismantling of crucial welfare support threatens to impoverish them, and flies in the face of Government promises and thorough evidence. Read more of their story and ask your MP to help oppose the cuts here.