With one week until the General Election, over 200 organisations have come together to ask Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer to put hardship at the top of their to-do list
Organisations who have added their signature include food banks, economic support groups and advice forums.
Also among the organisations are Health and wellbeing, housing, homelessness and community services, third sector, disability and women’s orgs, carers, and environmental groups
Seven million low income households were going without essentials like food and adequate clothing while almost four million people experienced destitution in 2022 – more than double the 2017 figure, including one million children and nearly two and a half million people with a disability or limiting health condition.
Over one million low-income households were in arrears with four or more bills and in the past year, food banks in the Trussell Trust network distributed a record 3.1 million emergency food parcels.
In the sixth richest country in the world, this is shameful says the organisations
This they say sets out the reality currently facing low-income households which the new Government will inherit.
While there are some promising signs with fewer low-income households going without the essentials, in arrears or debt, this is only one data point and there is much further to go.
This is particularly the case for families on the lowest incomes who have yet to see any reprieve from the cost of living crisis, and tackling hardship for this group must be an urgent priority for any incoming Government.
