Fight for decent benefits that rise with the cost of living
Karen Seymour, Mansfield Socialist Party
The cost of living is now 13.9% higher than it was last year, according to official RPI inflation. Universal Credit (UC) and other benefits rose by a measly 3.1% in April, and are not due to rise again until next spring. How are people supposed to manage until then?
Many were already struggling to survive even before the cost-of-living crisis, parents skipping meals so their kids could eat, for instance. Food banks have been fighting to keep up with demand. Meanwhile, some people are taking drastic measures to try to cut down on energy, including turning off fridges and freezers at night, and using dangerous candles to light their homes.
Two-thirds of families claiming UC are in work. Some part-time workers claiming UC, often to be able to care for children or elderly relatives, are coerced into taking on more hours, under threat of sanctions if they refuse!
Some families will miss out on any increase at all. The benefit cap, frozen at £20,000 (£23,000 in London) since 2016, will rule out any cost-of-living increase for many – including families with a number of children.
Scrap the cap
The cap includes housing benefit, which goes directly to the landlord. It is not money that can be used for day-to-day expenses!
The government argues the cap incentivises work, encourages people to move to smaller homes, and is fair to taxpayers. In fact, it causes social cleansing, pushes poorer families out of inner cities, and families into overcrowded housing. It is designed to wear low-income families down, making our lives just that little bit harder.
Meagre ‘emergency’ cost-of-living payments bear no relation to the extra we are having to pay at the checkouts and in our bills. The government is paying as little as it can get away with, trying to avoid social unrest. The growing strike wave shows that this won’t work! The Socialist Party fights for decent benefits that rise in line with the cost of living, and scrapping the benefits cap. We need a welfare system that is a proper safety net for those who fall on hard times, not something they are frightened to use.
