New online tool can help public ask general election candidates about poverty.
CAP’s campaign galvanises people to use a new online tool to ask their election candidates about poverty.
Following over two years of high costs which have highlighted the devastating plight of people unable to survive on chronically low incomes, debt help charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has launched a new online tool at capuk.org/ppc which allows people to easily question their Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) about what they are doing to tackle poverty.
CAP’s Director of External Affairs, Gareth McNab, whose team set up the new tool said: “Thousands of emails have already been sent to candidates through this new online tool, calling on them to focus more on addressing poverty in their local and national campaigns.
“Poverty in the UK is a matter of public urgency. National polling that CAP commissioned with YouGov last year showed that almost 90 percent of adults in the UK want to see poverty tackled*. Data from our online tool has given us further insight: of the more than 4,700 emails submitted to candidates so far, 56% want to know what their candidates are doing to tackle poverty locally.
“People see poverty as a matter of public urgency. It is stealing the dignity and hope of thousands in their local communities, leaving them cold, hungry and isolated. Half our clients don’t have enough income to cover the basics in life even after receiving our help, and almost 60% of our new clients are living below the poverty line.**
“Charities, churches, and community groups know poverty’s devastating impact through working closely with people experiencing it. It’s vital any candidate standing in this general election appreciates this is now an emergency situation.
“To tackle this problem it requires greater will from politicians to understand it and work closer with organisations like Christians Against Poverty to solve it. After the general election we will be offering new MPs the chance to come to their local CAP debt centre and learn more about the challenges being faced
Anyone can use CAP’s online tool at capuk.org/ppc which takes just a couple of minutes to fill out and send.
Notes to editors
* CAP commissioned a YouGov Poll of a nationally representative sample of 2,098 people in February 2023. 84% of respondents lived in England, 5% in Wales, 8% in Scotland, 3% in Northern Ireland. Population figures have been calculated using ONS mid-year UK adult population estimates for 2020 of 52,890,044.All calculations related to population have been carried out by Christians Against Poverty, using YouGov and ONS data. The poll showed that 88% of the adult population across the UK think it’s important more is done to tackle poverty
** Poverty line is calculated as 60% of the UK median household income (after housing costs). DWP, Households Below Average Income, 2022/23
Regional / local data regarding constituencies where candidates have been asked about poverty can be visualised at capuk.org/ppcmap
