Month: November 2023

The cost-of-living crisis has affected all of us but, for the many people who rely on the support provided by the food banks and community groups to which we deliver, making ends meet has been particularly challenging.

Research by the Trussell Trust has shown that the most significant cause of the financial insecurity that drives the need for food banks, is the design and delivery of the social security system. With 4 in 5 food bank users in receipt of some form of state support, what might be the impact for them of benefit changes announced in the Autumn Statement?

Many will welcome the Chancellor’s announcement on Wednesday that benefits for 2024-25 will rise, although there will be stricter sanctions for claimants who don’t look for work.

Universal Credit and other benefits to rise by 6.7%

Benefits for working-aged people will increase by 6.7% from April 2024, in line with September’s inflation rate. This will include Universal Credit (UC), means-tested benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

State Pension increased by 8.5%

The so-called triple lock, about which there had been pre-statement speculation that it may change, remains in place, with the announcement of an increase by 8.5%.

• For anyone reaching state pension age before April 2016, their full weekly basic state pension will rise from £156.20 to £169.50.
  
• For anyone on the full new state pension, from April 2024 their weekly payment will rise from £203.85 to £221.20.
  
• Compared to 2023-24, over a year, a single person will receive £690 more and couples £1,104. People in receipt of the new state pension will get up to £902 more.

Changes to the Local Housing Allowance

The Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which differs depending on where claimants live and according to the number of people in a household, is used to calculate the rate of Housing Benefit (HB), or the housing element of UC for which tenants are eligible.

Bringing an end to the freeze on rates in place since 2020, the Chancellor announced that, from April 2024, although only until April 2025, there will be an increase in LHA to the 30th percentile of local rents. Effectively this means that, for recipients of HB, or the housing element of UC, they will be able to afford the cheapest 30% of homes, linked to the size of their household and to the rates in the area in which they live.

Changes to benefit assessments

The Chancellor announced changes to work capability assessments (WCAs), which will now consider if people are able to work from home, the intent being to lower the number of people accepted for disability benefits.

Assessments will consider the impact that a claimant’s physical and mental health has on their ability to work. For people who an assessor thinks capable of doing physical work, they will then automatically be considered a job seeker and required to prove they are actively looking for work.

Although better employment support for people living with physical, mental ill health or disability, but who are ready to return to work, is viewed as a good investment, there are concerns by some organisations that the changes announced could herald the imposition of unnecessarily punitive sanctions. 

After a year without finding a job, for example, people claiming UC will face a mandatory work placement to ‘increase their skills and improve employability’. For anyone facing an ‘open-ended sanction’ for more than six months, benefits will be stopped entirely, and their case closed, leading to a loss of entitlement to free NHS prescriptions and legal aid.

Today’s announcement of an increase in benefits in line with inflation and an end to the freeze on LHA will undoubtedly ease some of the pressures driving millions of people to food banks. For some, however, the impact of unnecessarily harsh sanctions, which many charities and campaigners fear, will be less welcome.

The full 2023 Autumn Statement and related documents can be viewed on the gov.uk website via this link.

Earlier this week, as Storm Debi blew in, EFA’s tree-decorating task force assembled beneath ours, part of the 11^th Princesshay Charity Christmas Tree Festival, where 35 trees will be lit this evening.

As we decorated our tree, storm Debi’s gathering force roared into the centre, turning our spot into a wind tunnel – the wind’s equivalent of rapids. At times we had to hold on to keep it standing, and us from being blown away.

But despite the challenges, the task force excelled, and we now have an impressively dressed tree. Although other trees are available, we think that ours stands out from the crowd.

Huge thanks to everyone involved, especially volunteer, Dave Turner, who balanced valiantly on a ladder that Debi tried hard to blow over. And a huge thank you to Mitch Siviter, activities coordinator at Exeter care home, Alexander House. Mitch enabled us not only to adorn our tree with hanging fruit and other food, but to top it with a team of reindeer pulling a beautifully constructed model of a food delivery van, reaching towards the heavens. Thanks, Mitch, for the icing on the cake!

Thursday evening, our lights finally turned on.
Courtesy Wendy Kearns (Tree-decorating Task Force Commander).

It’s King Charles’s 75th birthday today and, as part of the celebrations, he’s launched a venture to help mitigate the growing national crisis of food poverty, the King’s Coronation Food Project.

In a birthday interview with the Big Issue, he voices his concerns about cost of living pressures, lamenting the fact that so many families and individuals are missing out on nutritious meals. Referring to the millions of tonnes of food that go to waste, he commits his project to creating a lasting legacy to help others – and help the planet.

With his initiative’s ambitions chiming so well with the work of Exeter Food Action over many years, his voice is a welcome addition to those of the many organisations challenging food poverty and waste. It doesn’t get much better than having the King of the Land helping to raise awareness and committing resources to the work in which we and so many others are engaged.

With the project’s commitment to expanding warehouses, fridges, freezers, vans and drivers, fast tracking the transit of food to communities in need and the considerable resources at its disposal, we’ll be keeping a close eye on developments.

This year we’ve delivered more good quality, nutritious food than ever before, supporting nearly sixty food banks and community groups in Exeter and across Devon, getting food onto the tables of people who need it.

Obviously, just as demand has increased, so have our costs, and we’d like any visitors to our website to consider nominating us for a Movement for Good Award. Doing so only takes a minute and, if enough people do, we stand a good chance of winning £1,000, which will be a tremendous help to us at the moment. Nominations are open until 17.12.23.

Please spare a moment to nominate us, which is easily done by clicking on the Movement for Good Awards image below.

Thank you.

Park Life Heavitree is a community group that brings people together in and around Exeter’s Heavitree Pleasure Ground. In September 2023, through a partnership with Exeter Food Action, a local allotment and Refugee Support Devon, Park Life began offering a space where asylum seekers can cook culturally sensitive food with fresh ingredients, which they can take back to their families at the hotel where they’re housed, which prohibits them from cooking on site. Food provided to the hotel by a contractor has been described by local councillors as ‘unappetising’ and ‘lacking variety’.  

The project, which runs every 2 weeks, is supported by local volunteers and Park Life staff. Sessions have been very popular, with a lot of positive feedback on how much people enjoy attending. Volunteers support the set up and running of the afternoons, as well as a small area for pre-school children who attend with their parents.

Anyone interested in participating or volunteering for the project should contact k. Similarly, anyone interested in volunteering for Exeter Food Action can find out more via this link.