🚨 £23 billion in support to go unclaimed in the UK this year

Deven Ghelani spoke to Chris Choi on Tonight about why billions of pounds in rights-based benefits and support is going unclaimed and how you can check if you're missing out:

youtu.be/rYzARr0lki8

We have signed this joint letter from Just Fair calling on the UK Prime Minister to stop evading the scrutiny of the UN on the issue of food poverty. The UN Special Rapporteur wants to conduct an official visit to the UK and should be granted access.
justfair.org.uk/civil-society-…

Excellent piece by Rachel Loopstra The BMJ - 'The human and financial costs of children growing up in food insecure homes will continue to grow unless urgent action to reduce poverty is taken.' #CashFirst
bmj.com/content/385/bm…

We’re delighted that Charlotte White is working with us to support IFAN member organisatons - Read her first blog for IFAN on putting #cashfirst into practice while running a food bank…

What are your thoughts on Prime Minister's speech?

Our living archive documents the reality of life on a low income.

Read over 6,000 entries from parents and carers from across the UK:

changingrealities.org/entries

England’s quarterly homelessness statistics have been released, and the picture is dire.

A record 145,800 homeless children are living in temporary accommodation - an increase of 15% in the past year. There are also a record 112,660 homeless households - an increase of 12%.
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Disability benefit cuts that are expected to affect more than 450,000 people by 2029 will only lead to 15,400 more people finding paid work, according to official forecasts

That's about three percent of the number of people affected.

By me, for Big Issue bigissue.com/news/social-ju…

Stripping what little dignity disabled people have away from them.

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.'