Cuts or no cuts, the church must seize the opportunity to help Britain's poor

Chancellor George Osbourne this week scrapped child benefit for higher earners and called it fair and necessary.

Typically everyone quoted on the subject says it is – or it isn’t – depending which side of the income line they fall, it seems.

It is an historic change because it will be the first time the government has means-tested families for this benefit since “family allowance” was brought in to help families in the post-war era of housing shortages and food rationing.

Sadly, the basic needs of those times are the same for the people we look after at Christians Against Poverty.

Replace housing shortages with home repossessions and food rationing with empty cupboards and, yes, even in consumerist 2010, life for some doesn’t look so very different.

It is perhaps worse because those who “have not” are compounded by a feeling of failure rather than the all-in-it-together spirit of the forties.

One of our recent clients was panic-stricken as September approached because she had nothing with which to buy uniforms for her children.

When she was visited by the local CAP representative, there really was nothing in the kitchen to feed the family.

Thankfully child benefit remains for people in these situations and for the vast majority of the clients we help.

Child benefit currently amounts to an extra £1,752.40 a year for a family with two children and 1.2 million households will see that disappear saving the country £1billion.

The average income for CAP clients is just £11,700 and the idea of having a salary of £44,000 is a distant dream – an uncomfortable thought those who are better off could do with remembering.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says people need a gross income of £14,400 to live to an acceptable standard in this country but our experience shows that for a variety of reasons, there are many below that line.

In the last ten years, inflation has risen by 23 per cent but key essentials cost 38 per cent more.

While this kind of poverty exists, alongside the social norms of “you deserve more, buy now and pay later” the church has a lot to do.

Energy bills may double of the next decade, say reports today, and VAT rises will hit the very poorest hardest in the New Year. Meanwhile, very few people know why they should budget, let alone how.

Christians Against Poverty is delighted to see a record number of churches signing up to learn how to deliver a course in their communities called CAP Money.

It is a money management course, done in just three sessions, and shows people how to set a household budget and how to stick to it and be content.

Two weeks ago, 75 different churches attended a training course to learn how to deliver CAP Money. They join 600 more churches in the UK now offering this as part of their outreach in the community – seriously good news for the country.

Commentators are united in saying there are plenty of changes ahead as the Government tries to chip away at the deficit so anything that Christians can do to prepare people has to be good.


Marianne Clough is National PR Manager for Christians Against Poverty.

• If you would like to run CAP Money in your community, the next training session is in Leeds/Bradford on November 27.
• For more information see www.capmoney.org/wanttorun/