1.75 mn people in UK pushed deeper into poverty by welfare changes: Oxfam

A major survey of the impact of welfare changes in the UK found that over 1.75 million people received less money because of the government reforms, which included some of the poorest in the country.

According to Oxfam, which carried out the research, calculating exactly how much each individual had lost was complicated, Voice of Russia (VoR) reported.

The report titled, Multiple Cuts For The Poorest Families, warned that wide-ranging cuts were changing the shape of welfare support at a time when rising prices were making it harder for families to make ends meet.

Consequently, job seekers, carers, single parents or those with a disability or illness who were unable to work were being pushed deeper into poverty.

Around 300,000 households had their housing benefit cut, while 920,000 had seen a cut in council tax support and 480,000 had seen cuts in both.

The last year alone had seen 400,000 households pushed further into poverty by cuts to housing benefit or council tax support - households affected by both of these cuts typically lost around £18 per week.

Oxfam's Krisnah Poinasamy told VoR's Tim Ecott that it was not only the result of social security costs not rising with inflation, but also cuts at the local level which meant that people were having to spend money they were otherwise spending on food and travel on council tax and rent.

The coalition's welfare cuts had pushed 1.75 million of the UK's poorest households deeper into poverty, with more families now struggling to cover food and energy bills, The Guardian newspaper reported.

The report by Oxfam and the New Policy Institute highlighted a drop in the overall value of benefits, which were up less than inflation, as also changes to housing benefit and council tax support that had forced some families into paying housing costs they were previously deemed too poor to pay.

The report quoted Oxfam chief executive Mark Goldring as saying the organisation was already seeing people turning to food banks and struggling with rent, council tax, childcare and travel costs to job centres.

He added, at a time when the five richest families in the UK had the same wealth as the bottom 20 per cent of the population it was unacceptable that the poorest were paying such a heavy price.

The Trussell Trust, the UK's biggest food bank network, said that over 900,000 people received food parcels in 2013-14, a 163 per cent increase on the previous year.