As part of the #CarerPovertyCoalition , we are supporting a new petition calling for urgent reform of Carer's Allowance Carers UK
Sign at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/6604…

“Most importantly, disabled people and people with health conditions must listen while our political leaders avoid or misrepresent the harsh realities they face.” Excellent piece by ⁦Sumi Rabindrakumar⁩ ⁦The Trussell Trust⁩ for ⁦Big Issue⁩ bigissue.com/opinion/dwp-di…

Shocked by the injustices revealed by the The Guardian's stories on carer's allowance? Carers UK has launched an online parliamentary petition calling for a review, and urgent action from DWP to cap and prevent large overpayment debts for unpaid carers.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/6604…

Great Big Issue article by Sumi Rabindrakumar: PM's disability speech last week was 'heavy on rhetoric, light on credible solutions [to] help people excluded from work or address unacceptably high numbers of disabled & sick people facing hunger and hardship.' bigissue.com/opinion/dwp-di…

Unpaid carers continue to be disproportionately represented at our food banks and this will be the case until interventions like the carers allowance are fit for purpose.

'A system that is very punitive, that is very conditional, and that for most people on benefits is completely inadequate.'

NEF's Tom Pollard on this week's Guardian politics podcast with John Harris discusses the government attack on 'sicknote culture'.

🚨 NEW: UK government has failed to address 'grave and systemic violations' of disabled people's rights, a UN committee has found.

Disabled people face “abuse”, “trauma” and death as a result of government policies in social care, welfare and housing

bigissue.com/news/social-ju…

Our statement on the sad death of Frank Field:

Frank was a steadfast, highly successful and diligent campaigner against child poverty. It is largely down to Frank that we have child benefit today – a truly towering achievement.

IFAN envision a society without the need for charitable food aid and advocate for a #CashFirst approach.

They have been giving 'Money Counts' training across the UK, including #London .

See this blog on the topic for more information.

lght.ly/205p70d

‘It is nothing short of shameful to have to bring to this House yet again the issue of hunger as a form of injustice that continues to blight the lives of millions of people in the UK’, ⁦Chris Stephens MP⁩ in last night’s adjournment debate on poverty hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-0…

This The New Statesman piece by Anoosh Chakelian covers work NEF is undertaking to explore alternative approaches to harsh & prescriptive benefits conditionality

Here's what we've found so far & why this issue is critical for any government serious about improving employment outcomes...🧵

Annie McCormack of IFAN member Broke Not Broken for SCVO Third Force News 'We rely on those who act, for and with us.'

In 2023-24, IFAN member Caring Hands experienced its busiest year in its 21-year history. Their team supported 650 households with 1505 food parcels for 3565 people - an increase of 25% from the previous year's figures. Looking at the reasons people needed support...

Read about London Money Counts training linked to 'Worrying About Money?' #cashfirst referral leaflets now available across London in our latest blog by IFAN's Abby and Emma Österberg

Thanks to London Plus and Mayor of London #CashFirst

foodaidnetwork.org.uk/post/money-cou…

Responding to the Prime Minister’s comments on the two-child limit in The Sun, CPAG Chief Executive Alison Garnham said:
 
“With child poverty at a record high, the prime minister has now clearly decided that making kids poor is his political priority. 1/2

When I was growing up we had no money to buy books. All I had was my local library. I spent hundreds of hours in it. But for that library I might never have become a lawyer. A thousand have closed under Conservative Governments. It’s almost like they don’t want us to read

On the contrary, as Sir Michael Marmot and I outlined in Prospect

“Britain is objectively sicker than it was a decade ago: people are dying earlier…more babies are dying in their first year of life than three years ago”

prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/polic…

Britain does not have a sicknote culture but it does have a broken social security system, labour market failings & a health service that is beyond stretched.

Dealing with these system problems is the best means of supporting people, both those who can work and those that can’t.

Reminder from Tom Clark of Joseph Rowntree Foundation analysis: single adult families with a disabled adult or child were ~4 times less likely to keeping up with the bills, ~6 times more likely to be going cold, and ~9 times more likely to be going hungry compared to non-disabled families.

⚠️ The Prime Minister’s speech this morning will be very worrying for many vulnerable people who rely on our social security system.

Almost two thirds of people in destitution live with a chronic health condition or disability. (1/2)

gov.uk/government/spe…