Bevan Foundation » Poverty & exclusion

Bevan Foundation on Radio 5Live

victoriawinckler — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:23:58 +0000

Bevan Foundation Director Victoria Winckler commented on the UK Government’s bill to limit the uprating of welfare benefits to 1% on Tuesday, 8th January 2013. Speaking on ‘Morning Report’, Victoria pointed out that whether benefits had risen faster than wages depended on whether they were compared over the recession or the long-term. She said that a rise of 1% was worth just 71p a week to someone on Jobseekers’ Allowance – this is well below the cash increase that would be enjoyed by a worker on even the lowest quartile of earnings.

Victoria also spoke on BBC Wales’s Good Evening Wales on 8th January 2013, and in addition commented in the Western Mail of 9th January.

Listen to the Radio 5 interview:

listen to ‘1% Benefit Uprating – radio 5 live 8/1/13’ on Audioboo

Listen to BBC Radio Wales Good Evening Wales:

listen to ‘1% benefit uprating – BBC Wales Good Evening Wales 9/01/13’ on Audioboo

See the Walesonline coverage:

Child Benefit Concerns

victoriawinckler — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 11:24:19 +0000

Changes to Child Benefit affecting families with someone earning more than £50,000 a year could put families under strain, Bevan Foundation Director Victoria Winckler has told BBC Wales’s Good Morning Wales (5th January 2013) and the Western Mail.

She said: “The gradual withdrawal of benefit from people earning more than £50,000 a year will adds to the financial pressure faced by many families. Although £50,000 is well above average income, these families are undoubtedly feeling the pinch – especially if there is just one person in the household earning this amount.

“There can be few people who can afford to lose the £1,752 a year a family with two children gets in child benefit, at a time when costs are rising. Many employees have not had a pay rise for several years while transport costs, energy bills, food prices and childcare costs have shot up.”

Winter Fuel Allowance changes “ad hoc”

victoriawinckler — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:00:58 +0000

Proposed changes to Winter Fuel Allowance be the thin end of the wedge for universal benefits, warned Bevan Foundation Director Victoria Winckler. Responding to an idea by UK Minister Paul Berstow that the Allowance could be abolished, Victoria told the Western Mail on 3rd January 2013:

“It is hard to justify keeping the allowance for well-off pensioners when other universal benefits – like child benefit – are being withdrawn from relatively high earners and benefits for people on low incomes are being drastically cut. But ‘picking off’ benefits to be withdrawn in an ad hoc way and pitting one group of people against another is not the way forward.

“The risk is that the social security system – which is there to protect anyone if they fall on hard times – is being eroded by a raft of piecemeal changes made in the name of austerity.”

Benefits cuts create “perfect storm”

victoriawinckler — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:01:36 +0000

A “perfect storm” was how Bevan Foundation Director described the likely impact of changes to social security benefits in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. Speaking to staff and volunteers at Swansea and Neath Port Talbot’s AGM on 30th November, Victoria outlined the main changes that would affect more than one in four of the population of working age.

“People are not just affected by one change to their benefits – they are affected by multiple changes”, she said. “Someone who is disabled might not only see their eligibility for Disability Living Allowance re-assessed, but if they have a ‘spare’ bedroom they could see their help with housing costs affected too and are also likely to face having to pay Council Tax for the first time. And if they are no longer eligible for DLA, then anyone who cares for them and get’s Carers Allowance will lose that too. It is a ‘perfect storm’ “, she continued.

The changes to benefits come at a time when Citizens Advice Bureauc across Wales are struggling after their own budgets are being cut too. Neath Port Talbot CAB for example has lost about a quarter of its income, resulting in some tough decisions about priorities.

The presentation was part of the Foundation’s work with Cuts Watch Cymru.

Victoria speaks to Swansea and Neath Port Talbot CAB’s Annual General Meeting

Hands Off our Benefits!

victoriawinckler — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:23:11 +0000

Bevan Foundation Director Victoria Winckler has responded to a Western Mail survey which shows that more than two out of three people in Wales are against government welfare cuts. An online poll conducted by WalesOnline found 68% of respondents had a negative view of welfare reform and 64% would rather see them reversed rather than the coalition government go ahead with an additional £10bn cut to the budget.

Around a fifth of people who responded to the survey said their benefits have reduced since the recession, with another 9% saying they had to start claiming benefits. While a third of respondents said they could meet their outgoings comfortably, 27% said they were struggling and having to make big lifestyle adjustments and 13% say they are at breaking point.

Of the government benefit changes, the freeze on child benefit since April 2010 has hit the most people, while 24% of respondents said they had been affected by the reassessment of incapacity benefit claims and 19% by the reduction of the Local Housing Allowance rate.

Dr Victoria Winckler said: “Despite the attempts to paint claimants as scroungers the vast majority of people who get a benefit get it because they are in low-paid jobs, have high housing costs because of the shortage of rented accommodation or are affected by illness or disability – either as a carer or themselves.

“Their benefits are their lifeline, and the combination of cuts to benefits and rising costs – especially basics like food and energy – are hitting people very hard indeed. This isn’t about people cutting back on luxuries but people making really tough decisions about how to manage to feed and clothe themselves and keep warm.”

Benefit Changes Hit Hard

victoriawinckler — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:44:58 +0000

The changes to various social security benefits could hit people in Wales hard, Bevan Foundation director Victoria Winckler told BBC Radio Wales’s programme Good Morning Wales on 10th September. Plans to change benefits to monthly payments and to require claimants to claim online could have a devastating impact on household finances, Victoria said, increasing the risk of use of very expensive doorstep lending or families going without.