UK benefits fall short of minimum living cost by £140 a month, charities say

theguardian.com:

The UK’s leading poverty charities have called for a change in the law to fix the UK’s “failing” welfare system after research revealed that basic benefits given to low-income households are at least £140 a month below the real cost of food, energy and everyday basics.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the food bank network the Trussell Trust said inadequate benefits were the main driver of the explosion in destitution and food bank use in recent months, and urged the government to formally bring universal credit rates into line with minimum living costs.

The JRF chief executive, Paul Kissack, said the “so-called” welfare safety net had floated completely free from the economic reality of people’s lives. “With millions of low-income households going without essentials like food and heating, and food bank use at record levels, it is plain the system is failing,” he said.

The two charities have calculated the weekly cost of a basic existence to be £120 for a single adult and £200 for a couple, based on a basket of goods and services including food, energy, travel, mobile phone and internet use, as well as smaller items such as toothpaste and washing-up liquid.

By comparison, even after April’s 10.1% benefits uprating, the universal credit standard allowance – the portion of the monthly benefit payment meant to cover basic living costs – will be £85 a week for a single adult aged over 25 (£35 less than the charities’ estimates) and £134 a week for a couple (a £66 gap).

The charities have been increasingly alarmed by the unprecedented scale and depth of poverty witnessed in food banks, warm rooms and advice agencies this winter. Millions of low-income households have been left unable to afford even bare essentials as the