The Joseph Rowntree report “UK Poverty 2017”, spells out that one in five people living in Britain are now struggling to make ends meet. The research found 400,000 more children and 300,000 over 65 year olds now living in poverty compared with the numbers in 2012-3. In other words, the total numbers in poverty according […]
UK Poverty
The Church, ‘Family Values’ and the scandal of family poverty
The Catholic Church would self-describe as a strong advocate of ‘family values’: the importance of bringing up children in a loving atmosphere with two parents, being open and generous towards one another, praying, doing things together and supporting one another throughout life so that all members of the family can enjoy the full dignity that […]
Tackling UK Poverty
Arguments between the major political parties over student tuition fees have eclipsed any discussions of tackling real rising poverty here in the UK. The Government believes that the reforms introduced by the new ‘Universal Credit” (which attempts to simplify and roll all social security benefits together) has resolved the problem by pushing benefit claimants quickly […]
Austerity is still with us
At the ecumenical Thornbury Centre in Bradford, a recent conference organized by the Bradford Churches Welfare State group assessed the post-election position. What was clear from the contributions of the participants is that media and political announcements that ‘austerity is over’ are at best wishful thinking. While the newspapers declare that the election result has […]
UK Poverty and the 2017 General Election
Over two years ago the Commission held a one day conference about foodbanks. At that time nearly a million sets of emergency food supplies were being given out by the foodbanks organised by the Trussell Trust. Since then the situation has become worse. More people are using foodbanks today than 2 years ago. The rate […]
18 Feb 17 – “Towards a Listening Church” Conference Report
Not only was this event a Leeds J&P Conference, it was also the place where we launched our Annual Review for 2016 and, on top of that, it was also an Open Networking Day of the National Justice & Peace Network (NJPN). As a result, not only were there people from across the Diocese, there […]
28 Nov 16 Housing Justice
by John Battle. The national homelessness charity HOUSING JUSTICE, formed from the Catholic Housing Aid Society has for some years now worked to build and enable local groups and churches to provide practical help to people in housing need. The recent “Faith in Affordable Housing“ project is campaigning to release surplus land or buildings for […]
07 Nov 16 Poverty Bites
By John Battle (chair) The Minister for Work and Pensions was recently interviewed on November’s introduction of a new housing benefit cap but after a few brief questions the topic quickly switched to the government’s approach to Brexit. The debate on our future disengagement from Europe is now burying all other policy discussion. Significantly, decisions […]
05 MAR 16 – Las Casas Conference ‘A poor church, for the poor?’
The Justice and Peace Commission were proud to be associated with this national level conference that took place at Leeds Trinity University on Saturday March 5th 2016. A full account of what happened at the conference can be read in our March 2016 newsletter (though it did gain some publicity in the national Catholic press […]