UK Poverty & the Real Living Wage

This was the title of a day hosted by the Leeds J&P Commission.

In the morning there was a presentation by Sara Bryson, Assistant Director(north) for Citizens UK. She spoke passionately and eloquently about the disgrace of there being 4 million children living in poverty in one of the richest countries in the world.

In the afternoon, there was a panel discussion with local speakers. The panel included SPARK supporter Iesha Heads. Iesha spoke of her own concerns about people living  in poverty and echoed the thoughts of another panel member, Luke, who manages the debt team and the SVP(St Vincent de Paul) centre on York Road in Leeds. He spoke how they were being overwhelmed by requests for help and that the situation was becoming unsustainable. The SVP and similar organisations were set up to help those who fall through the social welfare safety net – not to replace it. It is time for more serious changes to be made to social policies – and one of these is the Real Living Wage.

The Real Living Wage (see https://www.livingwage.org.uk/ ) is not a panacea for poverty but it would help many to live a life where they were not just surviving from day to day, enabling them to live a little more of their god-given dignity.