Jack Monroe’s powerful comments to the work and pensions select committee tell us more about the social security system than some MPs might have realised (Cost of living crisis could be fatal for some UK children, Jack Monroe tells MPs, 9 March).
Eight years ago, Monroe told an all-party parliamentary inquiry into hunger, on which I served as secretary, that “if my benefits had been paid quickly, in full and on time, I would have been able to meet my living costs”. The cruel caps, cuts and freezes to which the social security budget has been subjected since then mean that, in Monroe’s words to the committee last week, even a 6% increase in April “is not going to adequately cover the difference in cost of living, plugging the gap for what people haven’t had for so long”.
Simultaneously, while Monroe was giving evidence to the committee, one of Feeding Britain’s affordable food clubs was reporting that it was serving a new group of people who, for the first time, find themselves on the edge of crisis. Unless April’s increase in benefits is bound more closely to the rising cost of living, the size of this new group will expand at an alarming rate.
Andrew Forsey
National director, Feeding Britain
Last week, I was asked if I knew of any way that a single mother of two could get help to pay for an oil delivery. She could not afford the minimum 500-litre order, the price of which has nearly doubled since her last order. I searched diligently, but while there is help for users of energy firms, there appears to be none for those who have to pay for their heating upfront, be it oil, bottled gas or even solid fuel. Here in rural Northumberland, we have no access to mains gas and even the moderately well-off are sinking into fuel poverty.
This is causing real hardship and needs a rethink from the government. Taxes on wealth and excess profits, and stopping wealth being hoarded offshore, would help the economy work the way it should, supporting the most vulnerable. What we lack is a government with vision, courage, a sense of urgency and basic competence coupled with an understanding that the world has changed. I’ve left off wishing for compassion, fearing that that is too much to ask.
Pam Walker
Associate minister, Upper Wansbeck churches, Northumberland
I am surprised that there has been so little adverse comment on the large increases in daily standing charges that many gas and electricity companies have imposed as part of higher energy prices coming into force. Standing charges favour large fuel users over small ones. They disincentivise customers from reducing fuel use, and penalise poor and small households.
The companies say standing charges reflect the cost of maintaining a gas or electricity connection, while the variable (per kWh) charge reflects the cost to them of purchasing power supplies. But the price of maintaining connections has not increased at all. It is the cost of buying wholesale gas and electricity that has gone up sharply, so there is no justification for raising standing charges.
Ofgem says that the way firms structure their prices is up to them, provided they stay within the overall price cap. This ignores the important energy efficiency and social equity arguments against standing charges. It is time for the regulator to look again at this blatant rip-off of poorer customers.
Peter Carter
Former deputy director general, Office of Electricity Regulation
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