According to Shelter, a homelessness charity, there are 271,000 people recorded as homeless in England of which 123,000 children. To navigate this month’s Debt Talk podcast with Ripon Ray on: ‘ Debt, housing costs and homelessness ', expert panellists who specialise in the benefits system, policy and debt. Deven Ghelani, Founder and Director of Policy in Practice, spoke about the true meaning of homelessness in the UK, and how the current benefit system that was initially ‘designed ‘to simplify things, as it stands, appears not fit for purpose because the current system does not pay sufficient financial assistance to support vulnerable communities who are homeless or vulnerable to homelessness. Although he was involved in designing universal credit during its initial policy development, there are wider issues that require discussion, such as the number of homes available and the cost of renting and owning a home. Amy Taylor, Debt Adviser and Chair of the Greater Manchester Mon...

Unity News By   Lucy Wood   May 3, 2019 64   views Clacton Unite Community branch held an event to help people with Universal Credit on Tuesday 30 th  April. Special guest, Community Money Matters blogger, debt and money specialist, Ripon Ray spoke about what Universal Credit was and sought to inform people of how it works and what claimants’ rights are. Ripon presented an informative speech, but it was obvious that the people attending were anxious to have their voices heard about the issues they were facing, it became a much more conversational meeting. Topics discussed were the introduction of welfare reform and the reasoning for this. Ripon highlighted the Economic crash caused by the banks in 2008 and the introduction of austerity policies in 2010 by the Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition government. The five-week wait was discussed and how this left people in destitution, requiring food banks and loans...

I recently advised Shazna Rahman*, a Bangladeshi Muslim woman in Newham. She came to seek debt advice from me at Toynbee Hall, a charity in Tower Hamlets that helps communities in poverty. She was wearing full black burkah . This is a piece of clothing covering her body completely. It was not the manifestation of her faith that struck me most, but the reality of her difficult and hard life. Her children were taken away from her by Social Services because she was unfit to look after herself and her children due to a highly traumatised divorce that resulted in a mental breakdown. She moved from Tower Hamlets to Newham into private accommodation. She claimed housing benefit to pay for her rent.  After a few years, she became homeless when her private landlord wanted to rent the property out to a professional couple who would pay more. Newham council put her in temporary accommodation because she was deemed in priority need due to her mental health. ...

Who would have thought that in the 21st century we would be having a conversation about whether to get a voucher for a foodbank or not because we are too poor to buy food. According to the Trussell Trust, which runs a network of over 400 foodbanks, 1 in 20 people in Britain have gone without meals because they are unable to afford food, 14% of Britain has cut down on the amount of fresh food they buy in order to save money and 1 in 50 people have used food banks. Although the data does show the state of the nation via a vis the use of food banks, the real challenge faced by those so impoverished has been caused by many factors. Some have argued the problem has been caused by ‘austerity’. Austerity’ as per Merriam-Webster is as:   ‘Enforced or extreme economy especially on a national scale’ The definition maybe seen as resembling the state of Britain under the current conservative administration whereby there has been a substantial adjustment in public expendi...