​​Turning warm words into action to end the need for emergency food​

After positive signs at the first party conference from the new UK government, all eyes are on the Autumn Budget to see signs of real change.

The past couple of days have offered some glimmers of hope for those of us pushing for change to tackle soaring levels of hunger and hardship. There were clear commitments from the Chancellor, Prime Minister and Work and Pensions Secretary on investment, prioritising support to address economic inactivity, tackling child poverty, and helping families who need it most. In our wider conversations, we heard Ministers talk about their ambition to reform social security and tackle the areas that aren’t working.  

There’s no doubt the shift in language and priorities is a promising sign. If the days of threats and scapegoating from government rhetoric are a thing of the past, it would be valuable progress. Words matter.

We need our UK government to back words with action this autumn. A first priority should be updating our flawed social security system.

Winter is fast approaching, and the need for emergency food is already at record levels. With the Autumn Budget and Spending Review just weeks away, now is the time for the government to show its hand when it comes to delivering change that people will see when they put food on the table or top up the meter.

Any plan for renewal, tackling child poverty or overhauling employment support must also include a wider plan to update our social security system. Deepening hardship is undermining our economy and piling pressure on public services. Every day, across the UK, our community of food banks sees people struggling to get by, because they simply do not have enough money to live on. The biggest driver of this is our social security system, which does not provide enough to cover the essentials like food and bills.  

We know the government has difficult political choices to make. But people cannot wait for an economic turnaround. And voters are expecting change. The government must take urgent action now and has levers it can pull. Introducing a protected minimum floor in Universal Credit – a level below which social security payments cannot fall – would mean people can keep more of their income, and cover more of their essential outgoings. It would start to ease the way in which social security rules, such as debt deductions and the benefit cap, claw back vital support from people on the lowest incomes.  

A protected minimum floor should be a political priority for this government. Trussell’s research with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows it would be quick and affordable to implement. It offers a chance to take a first, yet vital, step towards the poverty-fighting overhaul of Universal Credit which the government has promised, delivering tangible change on the ground and giving hope for a more secure future for people on the lowest incomes. And it would help to fix the foundations of our social security system so that any future reforms fully deliver the support which is intended.  

If we want to tackle economic inactivity, we need to rebuild trust in both employment support and our social security system – particularly for disabled people.

Another big theme we heard was work – specifically, helping more people into work and reducing the numbers out of work due to ill health. It was welcome to hear the Prime Minister emphasise support and the role of employers to help people test employment, minimising the fear and risks if it doesn’t work out. But we need more detail on what a new localised employment and skills offer will look like – particularly for people facing barriers to preparing for, seeking and sustaining work, including disabled people and people with caring responsibilities. This autumn’s Spending Review is an opportunity to commit proper investment to deliver the tailored and specialist support that is sorely needed. Lately, we’ve had a merry-go-round of programmes and places announced and withdrawn, resulting in limited overall change. The Learning and Work Institute found that only 1 in 10 out of work disabled and older people get help to find work each year. Without a real increase in investment, it will be difficult to see a reformed system as a genuine offer of support.  

Alongside this, if the government is serious about encouraging engagement with employment support, it must refocus its attention on the culture and rules within our social security system. It needs to rebuild trust with the millions of people facing hunger and hardship who fear accessing the system’s support. This fear is especially acute among disabled people, who have felt scapegoated and targeted by harsh measures in the past. Sick and disabled people must be able to trust they can seek work without the threat of losing vital support or punitive sanctions.

These changes may not happen overnight. But pausing reforms to the Work Capability Assessment, which would withdraw support worth over £400 a month to hundreds of thousands of disabled people when fully rolled out, would be an immediate sign of intent in the Autumn Budget. It would signal that this government is prepared to think carefully about the impact of reforms not just on finances, but people’s mental health and trust in the system that should be there to protect us all in financial hardship.

There’s a long road ahead, but change is possible.

We know the issues driving the need for emergency food in the UK, so we know what will help to make serious inroads to tackling hunger and hardship over the next five years. But we will only see change if we start to tackle the problems head on. For the sake of the millions facing hunger and hardship, and the many more who may be pulled under in the coming months, we must start now.