Taking on UK poverty — CAP’s 2023 Client Report
Poverty is not going anywhere unless we do something about it
Today, we’ve published our 2023 client report. In this blog, I explain what the stories and statistics tell us about the debt crisis. The headline? As a society, we have a severe problem on our hands and we cannot allow it to continue.
Every day at Christians Against Poverty (CAP), we’re helping thousands of people in deep debt crisis. Too often, this feels like a life sentence. In fact, 1 in 4 new CAP clients in 2022 would be making repayments for more than 25 years to clear their debt without an alternative solution. For nearly 1 in 10 this would have been over 100 years!
CAP client James, who is featured in the report, describes this experience as barely surviving.
CAP has been able to help James and thousands of others see their situation transform — debt free, connected to a community and in a better mental space. But, too often, this is not a life free from financial struggles.
The reality of debt and poverty in the UK
Digging deeper, there are worrying trends in the types of debt that clients sought help with in 2022. Poverty is behind this, causing ruthless damage in people’s lives throughout the UK.
In 2022, we saw an increase in the numbers struggling to afford household bills and a higher demand for emergency food shops and fuel vouchers.
56% of CAP clients had to borrow money to pay for food, clothing or other living costs
53% of CAP clients had to borrow money to pay household bills
The proportion of people who owed arrears on rent, Council Tax and utilities were also all up compared to 2021.
60% of new clients in 2022 owed Council Tax arrears (up from 54% in 2021)
54% owed water arrears (up from 48% in 2021)
43% owed rent arrears (up from 39% in 2021)
Of particular concern was that more than 50% of the budgets we created for clients in 2022 were unsustainable due to low income — these budgets just can’t be balanced. The client’s income is not sufficient to cover their expenditure, even after debt advice and reducing non-essential spending. This is an issue seen not just here at CAP, but across the whole debt advice sector, and it is presenting significant challenges.
More and more people are being driven to a place of extreme poverty and destitution. Over half of our clients said that debt forced them to skip meals, and almost two thirds said they were unable to afford basic hygiene products.
Driven to despair
The impact is not only material. We’ve long been worried about the numbers of people considering suicide because of debt, which has been consistently reported by around a third of those we help at CAP.
Yet the extent of hopelessness and despair has seemingly stepped up to terrifying and previously unseen levels. In our latest survey, half of respondents who came to us for debt help said they had considered taking their own life because of the debt they were in.
Before seeking help, 1 in 2 CAP clients had either considered or attempted suicide as a way out of debt.
This all comes against the backdrop of the rising cost of living. These figures are from 2022, when the cost of living crisis hit new highs, with inflation in double figures and energy bills hitting more than double what they were the year before. We’ve written previously how difficult this has been for low-income households to cope with, with 10.5 million people actively experiencing financial difficulty as a result of the cost of living crisis.
While there are hopeful predictions that inflation levels will halve this year, that won’t reduce prices — it will just slow down the rate at which they’re rising. There has been no relief yet and people living in poverty continue to not only face a squeeze on their living standards, but are being forced to make unacceptable sacrifices daily.
Belief in action
At CAP, we’re pushing our 27 years of expertise to the limits and doing everything we can. Last year, we helped 9,168 people with their debts, delivered emergency support to 1,831 homes, and played a part in encouraging over 4,000 local churches to open Warm Welcome spaces during the winter.
Read more in the report about how:
We provide holistic debt help
We support people in finding work
We help people to navigate life on a low income
We equip people to manage their money well
We address people’s immediate needs
We make sure people get the income they’re entitled to
We speak up and take action
But we need action across society and from the Government to turn the tables. It requires coordinated and sustained action to take on poverty — we need everyone to join the fight.
As individuals, organisations and churches who care deeply about people, and who ardently want to see change, now is the time to come together and fight back. Because poverty isn’t going anywhere unless we do something about it. All of us. Together.
One thing we want to see is political parties in the UK making tackling poverty a key priority in their manifestos ahead of the election expected next year — to show their commitment to helping people recover from the current cost of living crisis and addressing the underlying issues that have meant it has been felt so deeply by those on the lowest incomes. CAP is calling for a review of social security and of minimum wages, to see them set in line with the Minimum Income Standard so that they will always cover the basics.
Read the full report at capuk.org/clientreport.
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