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For too many families work is no longer an escape route from poverty For too many families work is no longer an escape route from poverty
(about 2 hours later)
I cut my teeth as a young vicar in a Britain where there wasn’t enough work to go around. In 1979 the Conservatives won a general election with a poster featuring a long line of the unemployed above the slogan “Britain isn’t working”. The decade that followed saw a mass contraction of traditional industry. Every week there were fresh announcements of the loss of the full time manual jobs that were the backbone of male employment across much of the country. I cut my teeth as a young vicar in a Britain where there wasn’t enough work to go around. In 1979, the Conservatives won a general election with a poster featuring a long line of the unemployed above the slogan “Britain isn’t working”.
Britain was not working big time, and many of my parishioners were struggling with the poverty this brought into their homes. My mother, ever practical, took early retirement and volunteered with the Citizens Advice Bureau. I helped set up programmes to retrain adults for self employment or new jobs. Work would be the way back out of poverty. The decade that followed saw a mass contraction of traditional industry. Every week there were fresh announcements of the loss of the full-time manual jobs that were the backbone of male employment across much of the country.
Britain was not working big time, and many of my parishioners were struggling with the poverty this brought into their homes. My mother, ever practical, took early retirement and volunteered with the Citizens Advice Bureau. I helped set up programmes to retrain adults for self-employment or new jobs. Work would be the way back out of poverty.
Thirty years on we’re in a different place. When my colleague John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, launched his book On Rock or Sand? earlier this year – probably the best resource in the shops for anyone looking for an evenhanded approach to understanding Britain’s present state – the dedication hit the nail on the head. “For hard-pressed families on poverty wages”, it read. In 2015 the problem isn’t that the poor are not working, it’s that too many of the working are still poor.Thirty years on we’re in a different place. When my colleague John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, launched his book On Rock or Sand? earlier this year – probably the best resource in the shops for anyone looking for an evenhanded approach to understanding Britain’s present state – the dedication hit the nail on the head. “For hard-pressed families on poverty wages”, it read. In 2015 the problem isn’t that the poor are not working, it’s that too many of the working are still poor.
Related: UK ‘failing its young’ as gulf grows between generationsRelated: UK ‘failing its young’ as gulf grows between generations
That’s why I want to applaud the announcement in this week’s budget that the minimum wage will be increased step by step to £9 an hour by 2020. It could have been better. Had the chancellor accepted the figures from the living wage campaign, rather than trying to steal its terminology, he would have made a more substantial attack on in work poverty, especially in London. But a big increase in the minimum wage is enormously welcome.That’s why I want to applaud the announcement in this week’s budget that the minimum wage will be increased step by step to £9 an hour by 2020. It could have been better. Had the chancellor accepted the figures from the living wage campaign, rather than trying to steal its terminology, he would have made a more substantial attack on in work poverty, especially in London. But a big increase in the minimum wage is enormously welcome.
And yet, for a large number of Britain’s hard-pressed working poor, the changes announced in parliament this week are not good news. Reducing tax credits will leave many households at least £1,000 worse off. Some face losses of more than twice that, even after accounting for any benefit they get from increases in the minimum wage.And yet, for a large number of Britain’s hard-pressed working poor, the changes announced in parliament this week are not good news. Reducing tax credits will leave many households at least £1,000 worse off. Some face losses of more than twice that, even after accounting for any benefit they get from increases in the minimum wage.
The day after the budget I visited a food bank in one of the churches in my diocese. The volunteers in these organisations are highly committed. They draw on their faith to maintain a positive attitude even in the face of the harrowing stories they hear every day. On Thursday the people I spoke with, as they made up and distributed their parcels, were angry and frustrated. The day after the budget, I visited a food bank in one of the churches in my diocese. The volunteers in these organisations are highly committed. They draw on their faith to maintain a positive attitude even in the face of the harrowing stories they hear every day. On Thursday the people I spoke with, as they made up and distributed their parcels, were angry and frustrated.
Reining back public support for those who are trying to work their way out of poverty, often by holding down several jobs at once, is a huge leap backwards. It asks those already struggling to keep their heads above water to take on an extra burden. Bad enough were we simply thinking about those of working age, but that is to forget the real losers from the tax credit cutbacks.Reining back public support for those who are trying to work their way out of poverty, often by holding down several jobs at once, is a huge leap backwards. It asks those already struggling to keep their heads above water to take on an extra burden. Bad enough were we simply thinking about those of working age, but that is to forget the real losers from the tax credit cutbacks.
The number of children who will be adversely affected by the budget change is almost certainly above the number of adults. Already we know that many school pupils lose weight over the summer holidays, simply because their parents can’t stretch their resources to give them that extra meal a day. Children who are not adequately fed will not thrive. Children who don’t thrive will not grow into the next generation of gifted and hardworking adults that we need them to be. Tax credits are a modest support for the hardest pressed.The number of children who will be adversely affected by the budget change is almost certainly above the number of adults. Already we know that many school pupils lose weight over the summer holidays, simply because their parents can’t stretch their resources to give them that extra meal a day. Children who are not adequately fed will not thrive. Children who don’t thrive will not grow into the next generation of gifted and hardworking adults that we need them to be. Tax credits are a modest support for the hardest pressed.
In Britain in 2015, for far too many households, work has ceased to be the escape route from poverty. It’s just one more dimension to living on or beneath the breadline. When the kids come home to empty cupboards and to mum slumped on the living room sofa, it’s not that she’s lain there all day. More likely she’s just grabbing a nap between part-time shifts. Let’s not make life any harder for her, or for them.In Britain in 2015, for far too many households, work has ceased to be the escape route from poverty. It’s just one more dimension to living on or beneath the breadline. When the kids come home to empty cupboards and to mum slumped on the living room sofa, it’s not that she’s lain there all day. More likely she’s just grabbing a nap between part-time shifts. Let’s not make life any harder for her, or for them.