Social Justice

170% rise in numbers turning to foodbanks in last 12 months.  Numbers given emergency food 100,000 higher than anticipated.  UK Foodbank charity The Trussell Trust says this must be a wake-up call to the nation   Read More...

Since early in 2010, that the cornerstone of the coalition government’s deficit reduction plan was radical and savage cuts to welfare spending. After announcing initial plans to reduce the benefits bill by £18 billion per year by 2014-15, they have ramped up the anti-welfare rhetoric further this year with the announcement that a further £10 billion is to be cut with a new round of reforms from 2017. What is absent from the government’s announcements on welfare ‘reform’ so far, however, is an analysis of just who it is that stands to lose and how exactly that loss will affect them. To some extent, the sheer complexity of the welfare system has assisted the government in hiding the cumulative impact of the changes.
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Those on low incomes, after all the vicious talk dismissing them as cheats and idlers, will be hit by an avalanche of cuts
Not many know what is about to happen on Monday: neither those about to be knocked down nor those sailing too high above them to notice. But historians will see it as the day that defines the Cameron government.  An avalanche of benefit cuts will hit the same households over and over, with no official assessment of how far this £18bn reduction will send those who are already poor into beggary. (Polly Toynbee, The Guardian, Thursday 28 March)

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National Conference for the Year of Faith organised by Justice & Peace, SCIAF, Catholic Parliamentary office, and Edinburgh Archdiocesan J&P office
Friday 12th (7.30 – 10pm) and Saturday 13th April (9.30-4.30pm), in St Augustine’s High School Edinburgh. This is an important conference which aims to encourage us all to reflect:
• On the current economic crisis and how it affects us and wider society, especially the poor, the marginalised and the most vulnerable. • What an ethical economic system might look like and what Catholic Social Teaching can offer in its development. • What we individually, and as parish and local communities, can practically do to work for change, for a fairer and more just economic system, locally and globally.   Read More...

New research published by the High Pay Centre think-tank reveals that even a modest level of wealth redistribution could make a substantial difference to the standard of living for low-earners, and would not be greatly missed by those at the top. For example, 10% redistributed from those earning £150k+ (about 0.9% of the population) to the bottom 25% would equate to an average 55p per hour pay rise. (Ekklesia)   Read More...

Applying the bedroom tax to tenants placed in homeless temporary accommodation will have a devastating impact, says Shelter Scotland. Alongside the Chartered Institute of housing in Scotland (CIH Scotland) and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, the charity has issued a joint letter to Lord Freud, Welfare Reform Minister, urging the Westminster Government to exempt local authority owned temporary accommodation from the under occupation penalties or the so-called 'bedroom tax'. (Ekklesia)

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20 February 2013 is the UN World Day of Social Justice. Its origins, purpose and remit is described as follows: "Social Justice generally means that people should have equal rights and opportunities... There has been a need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion and unemployment all over the world."  (Ekklesia)   Read More...

As Action Week draws to a close, we reflect on how the blame for our economic crisis is being laid on those who are feeling its worst effects. The government and politicians, including the Prime Minister, make the false distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor, the striver and the skiver. Some in the media focus almost entirely on negative stories of those experiencing poverty. The stories of the people who have been made redundant, who have been left with no means of support because of cuts to vital services,  and made homeless because of cuts to housing benefits, are too often marginalised and ignored.
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Every day, people who are struggling to make ends meet are demonised and blamed for their poverty. Politicians and the media use abusive language and images. Scroungers. Skivers. Chavs. Underclass. This language is used to fuel mistrust by contrasting supposed ‘strivers’ with ‘skivers’. It is used to justify cuts to our safety net, which will drive hundreds of thousands of people further into poverty. It dehumanises and degrades people who are already struggling to survive. It adds to the growing gap between rich and poor, by denying a Fair Say to millions of people. If you oppress the poor, you offend the one who made them. (Proverbs 14:31)   Read More...

Hundreds of thousands of disabled and sick people will be wrongly found fit for work and lose vital financial support if government proposals timetabled for 28 January go through, a new analysis finds.  The Employment and Support Allowance (Amendment) Regulations 2012, were tabled at the end of last year but have not been discussed by Parliament. They will reduce entitlement to ESA, meaning that Work Capability Assessments will find even more genuinely sick and disabled people fit for work, says the briefing, which has been complied by a team of professional disabled people.   Read More...

Ben Baumberg, Kate Bell and Declan Gaffney for the website SENSCOT tackle some of the most common welfare myths. Welfare reform is almost inevitably contentious. Answering the question of who should receive how much financial support relies on often competing conceptions of fairness, with rival views about who needs, and who deserves, our help, not to mention the most just and efficient way of providing it. These issues are worth debating – but the current debate is being conducted on shoddy terms. Myths and stereotypes abound.   Read More...

Ben Baumberg, Kate Bell and Declan Gaffney from the website SENSCOT tackle some of the most common welfare myths. Welfare reform is almost inevitably contentious. Answering the question of who should receive how much financial support relies on often competing conceptions of fairness, with rival views about who needs, and who deserves, our help, not to mention the most just and efficient way of providing it. These issues are worth debating – but the current debate is being conducted on shoddy terms. Myths and stereotypes abound.

  

http://www.senscot.net/view_art.php?viewid=13021   Read More...

A new YouGov survey from the housing and homelessness charity Shelter has revealed the emotional strain faced by millions of families as they struggle to meet their housing costs. The findings follow on from Shelter's research earlier this month, which showed 7.8 million people are constantly struggling to keep up with their rent or mortgage, an increase of 44 per cent from the same time last year. (Ekklesia)   Read More...

Why should banks be allowed to create money and lend it to the State, taking interest payments from taxpayers, when the State can create its own interest-free money, ask Bernadette Meaden, reporting on an intriguing suggestion from campaign group Positive Money. (Ekklesia)   Read More...

Government claims that disabled people have been protected in the government's Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill are untrue, say critics of the measure. Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charity Scope, commented last night: 'This bill doesn't protect disabled people. In fact, it cuts support for the many disabled people who are looking for work.' 'Since the 'emergency Budget' of 2010, £500 million has been taken from the pockets of disabled people, said Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn. (Ekklesia)
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CAN YOU CAST THE FIRST STONE?  From tenants shipped out of their local authority and to the periphery of cities because their housing benefit does not cover their rent any more, to disabled people threatened to have their benefit cut if they do not engage in work; from vulnerable women and children denied succour as a result of cuts in local services to the unemployed and people on benefits – vulnerable people are increasingly being cast in a negative light by the press, even by politicians.

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After years of campaigning, Parliament finally started to act to protect people on low-incomes by supporting legal controls on the price of credit. But your voice is urgently needed to ensure these changes come into force as quickly as possible. The new Financial Conduct Authority will have the power to cap credit costs when it takes over regulation of the market in 2014. But in the mean time the Office of Fair Trading remain responsible and they should take action promptly to protect borrowers from the extortionate charges made by legal loan sharks. Act now to stop legal loan sharks ripping people off!   Read More...

At least one million disabled people are not 'protected' by the autumn budget statement, despite government claims, says Disability Rights UK. "If you listened to the Autumn Statement and thought you heard 'disability benefits are protected' you may wish to know that Employment Support Allowance (ESA) is not protected and will be subject to a 1% increase for the next three years," the coalition points out. (Ekklesia)    Read More...

The government's further slashing of the welfare system is being justified through a systematic campaign to allege or imply that a huge number of people receiving support are workless, feckless, dishonest and trapped, says Simon Barrow. This message has been reinforced by the Whitehall emphasis on "strivers not skivers" and a huge tabloid-led media assault based on talking-up, exaggerating and distorting stories of "scroungers". But what is the reality behind these stereotypes and who is really being made to pay for austerity? (Ekklesia)

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Almost 10 years to the day from Debt on our Doorstep’s lobby of parliament, the Government yesterday announced it has finally agreed to introduce a cap on extortionate cost of payday loans   Read More...

Things are moving fast in Europe. 11 countries have now written to the European Commission requesting to implement an FTT under the ‘Enhanced Cooperation Procedure’ (ECP). This passes the nine-country threshold needed to initiate the ECP, meaning this group of progressive countries can now move towards implementation. Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia will introduce a broad-based FTT covering shares, bonds and derivatives next year which will raise an estimated €37 billion annually.
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Integrating Life and Faith Course 2013. Each of the four modules of ILF takes place over two days (Saturday and Sunday) from 9.30 am – 4.30 pm.   Would you welcome an opportunity to deepen your appreciation of God’s presence in your everyday life? Then Integrating Life and Faith may be right for you.

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Tax dodging has been in the news again. The scale of tax avoidance by international names such as Facebook, Starbucks and Amazon has been exposed. Some MPs are now calling for a Parliamentary Inquiry into these practices. If we act now, we can get more MPs to join them. This is the next step after the highly successful Tax Bus tour, where 5,000 people visited the bus, calling on Cameron to push this issue on the world stage through the 'Tick for Tax Justice'. Email your MP now, telling them to demand a tax dodging inquiry!   Read More...

An interesting radio broadcast on the place of Catholic Social Teaching in modern politics can be found on the BBC iPlayer. It is useful in giving a secular perspective on the place of CST, particularly on the political left, but including conservative views and the place of CST in business.  Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly with the BBC these days, the context is restricted to England. A far better programme would have resulted from including Scottish applications of CST.
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One in five workers in the UK – some 4.82 million people – are paid less than the ‘Living Wage’, new research from accountancy firm KPMG shows today.  In a difficult climate of rising prices and increasing costs of living, the impact is falling hardest on these low paid workers with over four in ten saying that their finances are worse now than they were just one month ago.   Read More...

25th November to the 10th of December
For the 16 days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence the Scottish Women’s Aid faith communities’ campaign, in collaboration with the Edinburgh Inter Faith Association, will be launching an online exhibition. The 16 Days Campaign provides an opportunity to reflect on what we can do to hold our governments to account and challenge the structures that allow gender-based violence to continue.
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This year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty will be marked by an event in George Square in Glasgow  between 12pm and 1pm.  The annual event brings together choirs, rappers, poets and musicians to share stories and song. Soup will be available for all that attend.

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YOUNG people in Scotland are bearing the brunt of sweeping welfare cuts, so much so many are in danger of becoming abandoned by the system.  Charities this week have said UK Chancellor George Osborne’s plans to cut housing benefit to under 25s would result in increased homelessness and unemployment amongst young people.  It also came as a new report from the Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunity Committee concluded that young homeless people
in Scotland are being failed by support services, leaving them vulnerable and isolated from mainstream society. (Robert Armour Third Force News)
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With public interest in ethical finance at an all-time high, churches and faith groups are being urged to use this autumn’s National Ethical Investment Week (NEIW) to spread the word about green and ethical savings, investments and other financial products. Now in its fifth year, NEIW’s 2012 Churches’ Action Guide offers practical information to help raise awareness and worship materials.   Read More...

11 European countries did something incredible. They pledged their support for a Robin Hood Tax. Now, they can work together in taking the next step in making the tax happen – via ‘enhanced co-operation’ in the European Union. Those 11 countries – Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain - should be very proud.
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The Tax Justice Bus Tour of Britain and Ireland to bring people together in a bid to end the injustice of tax dodging at home and abroad. Everywhere it goes, it's starting conversations with MPs, councillors, comedians, campaigners, church leaders and anyone else who wants to get on board. The message to them all is simple: it's time for tax justice, at home and overseas.
The're asking everyone to add their own ticks to a petition for tax justice, which will be handed to David Cameron in October.  Add your own tick online, even if you can't catch the Bus yourself.   Read More...

Part of the Edinburgh World Justice Festival and organised by the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh Justice & Peace office and The Lauriston Jesuit Centre. A cabaret style evening with poets, singers and storytellers sharing their songs, stories and poems inspired by justice and injustice! Come along to be entertained, inspired and reinvigorated for the work of justice and peace! £5 ticket price includes admission and a glass of wine. Thurs 11 Oct, 7:30pm, Lauriston Hall, 28 Lauriston Street Edinburgh.   

The Poverty Truth Commission have been asked to be a part of the Scottish Government's Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill Reference Group. The Poverty Truth Commission has been a two year project bringing together some of Scotland's civic leaders with people at the sharp end of poverty. They have worked together to discover the truths about poverty, and explore real solutions to it.   Read More...

Scottish Churches Housing Action, Seminar followed by their AGM, 28 Sept, 2102. Edinburgh City Chambers
The Westminster Coalition says benefits reforms are creating a fairer system that will help claimants into work and protect the most vulnerable – while saving taxpayers’ money. Scottish Churches Housing Action says they will make people homeless, setting back the last 10 years’ progress in Scotland.    Read More...

One in five 31-44 year olds who do not have children are delaying starting a family because of the lack of affordable housing. More than one in four (26 per cent) of those who decided to wait say they have been doing so for five years or more. The figures, revealed in a YouGov survey commissioned by the housing and homelessness charity Shelter, represent a 63 per cent increase since 2009. (Ekklesia)
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Outrage as bank revealed to be major speculator while millions face starvation. Barclays has made as much as half a billion pounds in two years from speculating on food staples such as wheat and soya, prompting allegations that banks are profiting handsomely from the global food crisis. Barclays is the UK bank with the greatest involvement in food commodity trading and is one of the three biggest global players, along with the US banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, research from the World Development Movement points out.  Tom Bawden, Indpendent, 1/9/12.
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Seven weeks, 50 towns and cities across Britain and Ireland, one goal: Tax justice for the poorest communities locally and globally
This autumn, Christian Aid and Church Action on Poverty are joining forces to take the campaign for Tax Justice on the road, with a seven-week Tax Justice Bus Tour. Find out when the bus will be visiting Scotland   Read More...

Atos, the company that conducts Work Capability Assessments (WCA) for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), is sponsoring the Paralympics. The irony of this is almost beyond words.
A company causing fear and distress to countless disabled people is attempting to improve its image by associating itself with the achievements of other disabled people, says Bernadette Meaden. (Ekklesia)
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Following the excellent news that the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill will be introduced in the UK, Make Fruit Fair would like to ask for you help with their final push to 'Stop Supermarkets abusing their buyer power' at EU level. The international reach of many retail chains means that wider EU measures are needed to ensure fair practices for workers, small producers and consumers.  Please promote thr petition for European regulation of supermarket buyer power.   Read More...

The national minimum wage is now worth less than it was in 2004 and a higher rate should be introduced for workers aged 25 and over, according to a new report. The Resolution Foundation, an independent think-tank, found that the recently announced increase from £6.08 to £6.19 this October will leave the minimum wage 6 per cent below its 2009 peak in real terms because it has been rising by less than inflation. Andrew Grice, Indpendent, 17/04/12   Read More...

300 campaigners, policy makers and activists attended the 3rd Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty held on 15th and 16th of March 2012. Delegates heard from a range of speakers and participated in a number of evidence sessions aimed at finding new ways to tackle poverty. Videos and interviews from the event are available   

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The first Annual Report of the Child Poverty Strategy was laid in the Scottish Parliament on 22 March. The report highlights some of the key measures taken by the Scottish Government since the publication of the Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland in March 2011, and references some of the activity that will be taken forward across the 3 year span of the strategy.
 
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The Poverty Truth Commission has been a two-year project bringing together some of Scotland’s civic leaders with people at the sharp end of poverty. They have worked together to discover the truths about poverty, and to explore real solutions to it. Our motto, taken from post-apartheid South Africa, is: "nothing about us without us is for us". We believe that  poverty will never be truly addressed until those who experience it firsthand are at the heart of the process. The Poverty Truth Commission has been a groundbreaking experiment in social policy thinking, based on the premise that people living at the harsh end of poverty should have a defining voice in seeking genuine solutions in public life and in governance.

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You still have time to make sure your MP understands how important it is that we take action for Fair Taxes. If enough MPs speak out, there is a real chance that next week's Budget could put in place a 'General Anti-Avoidance Rule' (GAAR). This would prevent wealthy individuals and companies from using contrived financial structures to shield themselves from their tax bills. The poorest pay more of their income in tax than the richest. An effective General Anti-Avoidance Rule will not solve that injustice, but it is an essential first step. 369 have emailed their MPs so far about this. Please join them - take two minutes to email your MP
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In the UK there is a multi-billion pound industry whose aim is to find clever ways for its wealthy customers to avoid paying tax. The industry is legal, thriving, and denies UK tax-payers at least £25 billion each year. That is more than the amount the Government is trying to cut from the benefits bill - which means that tax avoidance amounts to robbing people in poverty. This is why we are campaigning for Fair Taxes.  Please take two minutes to email your MP now and ask them to support calls for a 'General Anti-Avoidance Rule'.
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The government has lost a record eighth vote in the House of Lords over its plans to severely cut and restructure the British welfare system. An amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill, overturning a move to cut payments to specific council tenants with one spare bedroom, was carried by ten votes. The bill is now due to go back before the House of Commons, with the government defiant but a huge swathe of political popular and public opinion - including charities and others making up Mr Cameron's 'Big Society' - wishing to see significant changes. Source Ekklesia

 

 

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The House of Commons debated the Welfare Reform Bill for the last time on 1 February 2012 following a record seventh defeat for the government in the House of Lords.  The coalition has a 70-seat majority at Westminster and the Prime Minister and his colleagues are determined to ignore the massive weight of opinion against them from parliamentarians of all parties, charities, churches, medical professionals, people living with disability and poverty, children's advocates, academics, researchers, community organisations, faith groups, public figures and many thousands of constituents who have been lobbying their MPs. (Ekklesia)   Read More...

A recent statement of the Bishops of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE)  discusses options for the management of the EU rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. A European Community of Solidarity and Responsibility is a significant document  for consideration at a time when Europeans face difficult choices.   Read More...

In his 2012 message to the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, Pope Benedict said said that environmental protection and the connection between fighting poverty and fighting climate change are important areas for the promotion of integral human development   Read More...

Buoyed by a stunning victory in the House of Lords, disabled rights activists and their supporters are pledging to step up the campaign for welfare justice. Now Labour MP John McDonnell has tabled a Parliamentary Question asking for a statement from the Government in response to the 'Responsible Reform' report (also known as the Spartacus report) produced by disabled people themselves. This exposes what critics calls the 'sham' official consultation on Disability Living Allowance (DLA).   Read More...

Study refutes claim that foreign nationals are depriving British-born workers of jobs. There is no link between rising immigration and rising unemployment, independent economists have found - contradicting persistent claims from anti-immigration activists and politicians that an influx of foreign nationals into the UK in recent years has led to more British-born workers on the dole.
Ben Chu, Independent, 10/10/12   Read More...

Our world is filled with barriers between people. Barriers that prevent us from understanding one another. They are created by unfair benefits rules and inadequate wages. By the stigma attached to being poor or homeless. And by the growing gap between the richest and poorest people in our society. Churches and community projects can break these barriers. They can challenge prejudice, enable excluded people to live full lives, and build a fairer world. Work with us in Poverty & Homelessness Action Week 2012 to break the barriers that trap people in poverty and homelessness.
Let’s have a cup of tea day! for Scottish Churches Housing Action...during Action Week   Read More...