Concern around the Autumn Statement

On Thursday last week, the Government published its Autumn Statement. 
 

“This Autumn Statement is deeply concerning and offers little relief for individuals, communities and services. After 13 years of austerity there is no ‘slack’ left in household budgets to absorb the 9.1% inflation rate which has been forecast for this year.” Andrew Evans, METRO CEO.  

While it has been announced that benefit rates will increase in-line with inflation, that will not come into effect until April 2023. In the meantime, many of our service users are already struggling significantly. Through the services we deliver we are aware that economic hardship often compounds existing disadvantages. For example, our Insights report into the Cost-of-living crisis (PDF) found that:  

• 85% of children in our HIV family support service are now experiencing poverty  
• Service users report being unable to afford transport to doctors’ appointments 
• Our team report spending hours on the phone, on behalf of digitally-excluded service users, trying to contact energy companies 
• Foodbank referrals have increased to 44% in some client groups, rising to 65% in specific boroughs   
• Applications to our Hardship Fund for service users to secure a £50 grant, have increased 45% compared with applications in 2021 

The Budget talks about ‘growing’ public spending, but at a lower rate than the rest of the economy. In real terms this is a significant cut, and comes as NHS services are already reporting record-breaking waiting times.  

Universal Credit will increase, helping recipients to cope with some of the rising costs of food and fuel, but the Autumn Statement has kept housing benefits frozen at 2020 levels, despite private rent costs accelerating at record-breaking levels. Meanwhile, the economic contraction is predicted to increase unemployment, poverty and homelessness.  

Forecasts show that people will have considerably less money, with those closest to the poverty line being impacted the hardest.  We continue to call on the Government to urgently meet the current need and provide a comprehensive long-term plan for supporting everyone in our communities, equitably, including the most vulnerable. 

We recently launched a Cost-of-living Hub for service users, volunteers, staff and the general public which gathers useful resources into one place. Visit the Cost-of-living Hub.

Find out more about how the economic crisis is affecting service users and staff in our Insights report into the Cost-of-living crisis (PDF).