Churches Criticise Autumn Statement

Monday November 27 2023

Churches and Christian anti-poverty campaigners have warned that the UK government’s Autumn Statement last week will not help to lift people out of poverty.

Responding to the statement, announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday, the campaigners also criticised the government’s threat to limit the benefits of the long-term unemployed, including people with disabilities.

In a statement, the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT), which brings together three denominations with the Church of Scotland as an associate partner, welcomed some of the Chancellor’s measures, including a rise in the minimum wage and the restoration of the link between Housing Benefit and rents.

But it said that neither the Chancellor’s statement, nor the response by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, ‘recognised the reality’ of increasing poverty and destitution in the UK.

The statement read: “Our Churches have called for concerted action to turn the tide on poverty and put us on the path to a poverty-free Britain. Despite the Chancellor’s upbeat tone, the Autumn Statement offered little sign of this message yet being heeded.

“14.4 million people in the UK are currently experiencing poverty, and 3.8 million people are now living in destitution, without the basics to keep warm, dry, clean and fed. This most degrading form of poverty had once been all but eradicated in the UK, but has tripled over the last seven years. The numbers experiencing poverty are steadily increasing, and poverty is deepening for those at the very bottom.”

Saying the Autumn Statement showed ‘poverty of ambition’, the JPIT continued: “This winter, between December and February the Trussell Trust will distribute one million food parcels from their largely church-based network of foodbanks. This Autumn Statement will not change that reality…

“With a General Election on the horizon, we want to see our political leaders step up, take responsibility for rising poverty in our communities and take action to address it. They should be using the tools at their disposal to take a stand and demonstrate more ambition to help our communities to thrive. The human cost of neglecting policies which address rising poverty is too big and too damaging to ignore.”

Earlier in the week the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott, had said that people with disabilities or mental health problems may be told to work from home or lose benefits.

Paul Morrison, policy advisor with the Methodist Church, said in a blog on the JPIT website: “The policies are rooted in the idea that the unemployed need to be punished or fixed so they can get a job, while factors outside the individual are ignored.

“The UK has rising poverty and destitution, it has experienced pandemic and turmoil, and has record waiting lists for NHS treatment. Is it really a surprise that mental and physical health problems are increasing?

“The Chancellor has stated he is going to make ‘difficult decisions on welfare’, but in reality, cuts and pressure on politically weak benefit claimants are the cheap and easy path.”

Church Action on Poverty also released a response from trustee Stef Benstead, who said the government’s proposals ‘don’t match the reality of benefit recipients’ lives’. She said the people affected may be in temporary or sheltered accommodation, or have sickness or disabilities or caring responsibilities not recognised by Universal Credit but that make finding work difficult.

She added: “The whole ethos of Government ought to be about building an economy with enough jobs and where jobs are decent, and where we look after people rather than making people’s lives as poor and miserable as possible in the belief that this will somehow create enough jobs, and the right sorts of jobs, in the right places. Government likes to talk about rights and responsibilities – let’s talk about the Government’s responsibility to make sure there is a decent standard of living for everyone.”

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