Paul Morrison from the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) argues that we need to understand the current cost-of-living crisis in the context of over a decade of rising poverty in the UK, and move beyond crisis response towards long-term solutions.
Since April 2022, the headline rate of inflation has been running above 9%. Increasing prices have had huge impacts across our society, but the sharpest and most immediate effects are being felt by the least well-off. The charity Action for Children recently reported that ‘Our frontline staff have told us that child poverty levels are at the worst they can remember.’1 In communities that have gone through a decade of austerity followed by the pandemic, who understand and are sadly acclimatised to deprivation, the sentiment that ‘this is the worst we have seen’ has been repeated time and time again.
Churches have been responding with extraordinary energy and generosity. Foodbanks are the busiest they have ever been and thousands of Warm Welcome spaces were opened. Churches are making a hugely positive contribution, and their role in supporting vulnerable people is likely to become more important.
However, churches are also called to act for justice, which means seeking to tackle this situation at its roots. Poverty is unjust, diminishes individuals and communities, and is far from the vision of ‘life in all its fullness’ that is held out by Jesus. As Desmond Tutu famously said, ‘There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and f ind out why they’re falling in.’
To understand the context of the current cost-of-living crisis, this article draws on analysis of public data and evidence provided by a long series of interviews, focus groups and conversations that JPIT and the Methodist ‘Church at the Margins’ programme have held with church and community leaders and people battling poverty day to day.
Inflation is higher for the poorest families
The cost of living has been rising for everyone, but has risen fastest for the least well-off. The effective inflation rate for the poorest families is conservatively estimated at 12.5% for the year to April 2023.
