Christians Against Poverty’s response to the Government’s fiscal statement on 23 September 2022.
Responding to the Government’s statement, CAP Senior Policy Manager, Rachel Gregory, said: “It is disappointing that there is no new immediate help for people’s household bills in today’s fiscal statement.
“The Government restated the support already announced for energy prices and one-off cost of living payments this autumn and winter. CAP welcomed these at the time, but much more is needed as these have not been enough to keep many afloat, especially with prices set to rise further from October.
“Today, the Chancellor announced reforms to taxes which will help working households, including bringing forward a 1p cut to the basic income tax rate but not until April 2023, abolishing the top income tax for people earning over £150,000 and cancelling the national insurance increase from November. On the whole CAP’s clients, who tend to be on the lowest incomes, stand to gain very little from these changes, with the highest gains going to those at the top of the income distribution.
“The Government also did not act alongside this to ensure help from social security is in line with increasing costs. While there were cuts to stamp duty, there was no help for rapidly rising rents.
“It is a deep concern that people in work and receipt of Universal Credit will face stricter conditionality which could leave them vulnerable to sanctions on a scale we haven’t seen for several years. Extreme care needs to be taken in these plans which put people at serious risk of destitution.”
