- Benefits changes: Warnings as crisis loans scrapped, By Alex Campbell, March 29, 2013, BBC News: “A national scheme to aid vulnerable people in financial trouble is ending just as demand for such help is expected to surge, campaigners warn. Community care grants and crisis loans paid through job centres, as part of the social fund, will end on Monday. Instead, councils in England and the Scottish and Welsh governments are being given funding to provide alternatives. Critics warn demand will rise as the government’s welfare changes kick in. And, they fear, the changes means help for tens of thousands of people will be a “postcode lottery”, meaning the level of aid they get will be dependent on where they live…”
- Food vouchers to provide emergency help but prevent spending on alcohol, By Patrick Butler, March 26, 2013, The Guardian: “‘Food stamps’ arrive in Britain next month, when tens of thousands of vulnerable people will be issued with food vouchers in lieu of money to tide them over short-term financial crises. Rather than, as now, offering a cash loan, most councils will from April offer new applicants who qualify for emergency assistance a one-off voucher redeemable for goods such as food and nappies. Many of the 150 local authorities in England running welfare schemes have confirmed that they will issue the vouchers in the form of payment cards, which will be blocked or monitored to prevent the holder using them for alcohol, cigarettes or gambling. Several plan to issue charity food parcels to people applying for crisis help, and are preparing to give cash grants to food banks to enable them to take on full-time staff and increase opening hours. Each authority has drawn up eligibility rules, setting out who will qualify for crisis help and the conditions under which it will be given. One plans to make emergency help conditional on good behaviour…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty