Get emergency foodGuarantee Our Essentials
Universal Credit should cover the cost of life's essentials.
Most people who need a food bank parcel are in receipt of Universal Credit. But Universal Credit isn't set at a level that covers life's essentials.
We're calling for a new way of setting Universal Credit - and asking you to help us spread the word!
We need an independent process
As part of our Guarantee our Essentials campaign, we're calling for a new way of setting Universal Credit that reflects the costs of essentials: what we're calling an 'Independent Process'.
Life can change in an instant – illness, job loss, a family breakdown, caring for someone – and any one of us may need support to get through it.
Universal Credit is supposed to be the main way our social security system is there for us if we need it. But right now it’s not providing enough to cover the cost of life’s essentials, such as food, household bills and travel costs. Around five in six low-income households receiving Universal Credit are going without the things we all need.
The basic rate of Universal Credit should at least cover these core costs to help make sure no-one is pushed to need a food bank. But it is not currently set according to any independent assessment of the price of essentials and, from April, it will be just £98 a week for a single adult. Many people receive even less, as they face deductions from their support which are automatically taken at unaffordable rates, for example to pay off debts to the government.
Over half of people referred to food banks are facing these kinds of reductions at the very moment when they most need help. How can it be right that the very system which was created to support us when we face challenging times is pushing people deeper into hardship?
That’s why we’re campaigning for the UK government to embed an ‘Essentials Guarantee’ into Universal Credit so everyone can afford life’s essentials.
Our campaign is working
Our campaigns have helped win meaningful change to our social security system, including:
What's next?
We're calling for an independent process, grounded in evidence and advice from experts - including people who know what it's like to live on a low income - to advise the UK government on how much Universal Credit needs to be, at a minimum, to afford life's essentials.
Right now, the basic rate of Universal Credit is set by short-term political decisions, not by what essentials actually cost. That's no way to run a system that millions of us rely on.
There's a better way - and we've done it before.
In 1997, the UK created the National Minimum Wage and Low Pay Commission - an independent body tasked with advising government based on evidence, not politics. It brought together experts, employers, trade unions and economists. It set pay using evidence, not headlines. It became one of the most successful anti-poverty reforms in modern UK history. It worked.
We need the same kind of independent, evidence-led approach for Universal Credit to ensure everyone can afford life's essentials.
Read more about the independent process on Joseph Rowntree Foundation webpage.
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