Cost of living crisis: Empowering change

Summertime has always been a bit quieter at our Foodbanks but despite our numbers at Bracknell dropping over the summer, we’re very conscious of the impact the cost-of-living crisis is having and are bracing ourselves for the months to come.

Citizens Advice’s latest policy report paints quite a bleak picture:  

“It wasn’t so long ago that we only saw people in the very worst of crises in a negative budget — spending more on essentials than they have coming in. Now it’s people in full-time work. It’s nurses. It’s homeowners. It’s care workers. People with a steady, normal income who just can’t make ends meet. And many more are on the brink, one unexpected cost away from their finances spiralling…

It’s getting harder and harder for our advisers to make the sums add up for people. We’ve always helped people in debt with negative budgets, but now over half the people we see are in the red — up from just over a third in 2019.

We’ve seen the warning signs for years, but we’re now at a tipping point. The annual income the people we help with debt advice need to avoid a negative budget has more than doubled since 2019 from around £7,000 to more than £15,000. As the cost of essentials continues to rise faster than incomes, we’ll see even more people who just can’t make ends meet.”

It's easy to feel helpless when looking at the state of our nation and to feel that there’s nothing we can do but there is, could you do 1 of these things?

• Pray: As Christians, we believe that God is bigger than the cost-of-living crisis and as we pray for our government and for the people that are most vulnerable in our society I believe that change is possible.

• “Never worry about numbers, help one person at a time and start with the person closest to you.” We were recently reminded of this quote from Mother Theresa. We’ve seen so much fruit through doing just this at foodbank & in our other ministries so let’s continue to do so.

• Consider donating to your local Foodbank. The Bank the Food app is a great tool to ensure Foodbanks always have exactly what they need.

• Write to your local MP to appeal for change. If you don’t know who this is you can find them here.

• Add your name to a petition to campaign for change such as these:

  Trussell Trust Guarantee our Essentials Campaign

  CAP Keep Poverty on the UK Governments Agenda
  

  Remember, every small step you take towards advocating for change and tackling the cost of living crisis contributes to a brighter future for us all.

  Much love, Sarah Walker