According to a Guardian article the study found austerity policies such as cuts to welfare and local services are driving the rapid spread of foodbanks in the UK. The research shows emergency food aid is most concentrated in areas where there are high levels of joblessness and benefit sanctions.
The Conservative-led coalition persistently refused to acknowledge a link between its economic and social security policies and the explosion in foodbanks. But the Oxford study, published in the British Medical Journal, shows demand for food parcels is strongest where poverty is accompanied by restrictions on, and reductions in, social assistance.
As part of our general election campaigning we are asking candidates to support the removal of the sanctions regime.
We want a welfare state that ensures everyone has a decent standard of living free from poverty, and for our highly-skilled members in the Department for Work and Pensions to be able to use their expertise in supporting people back to work, and help them receive the benefits they deserve.
Here are the key stats showing the impact of government policy on welfare over the last 5 years:
We are asking candidates to pledge to support well-funded public services, help end the public sector pay freeze and back our campaign for tax justice, if elected MPs on 7 May
All branches are being encouraged to get involved in this year’s general election by asking their local candidates to support our 5 key election pledges:
We will be reporting what our activists have had back from candidates as well as summarising what the party manifestos mean for our members.
A big part of the Make Your Vote Count campaign is to highlight the importance of voting to members. By contacting candidates, feeding back on whether they support us on our issues, we can help make the election more relevant to our members.
If you live in a safe seat you may wonder whether it is worth contacting candidates. However, making links with candidates standing in an election can help with our political campaigning going forward. An elected representative may not necessarily agree with you on all issues but if a specific one was to come up, say an office closure, that affected local jobs and services it would be an advantage if there was already an existing relationship.
Clearly we want as many candidates as possible to be aware of our national issues and to support our pledges. It’s also important to remember to localise the issues by raising office closures in your area or examples about how people in your workplace have been affected by the low pay and cuts to services.
We have all the resources you need are on our Make Your Vote Count pagesincluding an up-to-date list of candidates and a feedback form to send to your regional secretary once you have heard back from any of your candidates.
The first electronic only copy of the Voice is attached for your distribution to all members in your branch.
In order for this to work, branch secretaries need to have an e-mail distribution list for members. We believe that in most branches, this will already be the case, but if not branch secretaries do need to set this up. Ideally, you should have two separate lists; one of office addresses and one of home addresses.
Whilst this briefing concerns the journal, it is of course best practice that branch secretaries have e-mail distribution lists to disseminate other PCS information to members.
If you need assistance in setting up a distribution list, please contact your regional secretary in the first instance who will liaise with group office as necessary.
