Sunak and Starmer need to focus on what really matters to voters this election: living standards.
Here at Citizens Advice, our advisers help more people with more problems than anyone else. Nearly 9 million problems a year. From what we hear from people all day, every day, we know there will be just one issue that defines this election for voters. Living standards.
The problem itself is a pretty simple one. Whether people are choosing between heating and eating, or wondering if they can afford to go on holiday this summer, the sums are the same. Does my income cover my spending? Can I afford to live my life, or does every penny go on surviving?
As the election campaign gets into full swing, we’re hearing a lot from both Labour and the Conservatives about ‘growth’ and the economy. Of course these things are important. But they won’t help pay the rent, or put food on the table — at least not for the next few years. Right now, whether you can make your household budget add up is the only thing that matters.
The sums don’t add up
We’re still helping over 6,000 people with cost-of-living issues every day. That’s everything from trying to pay an energy bill, to covering the rent or getting access to a food bank voucher. These issues exploded in the last few years with spiralling inflation and energy bills, but many of them have roots that go much deeper — from decades of stagnant incomes to the chronic lack of affordable housing.
The bottom line is we’re hearing from people every day who are finding that their income just isn’t enough to cover their bills.
Nathaniel’s story
Nathaniel* is a single parent working part-time while he cares for his son, who has a long-term health condition. Nathaniel’s son has low immunity and needs to be warm, so his main priority is keeping the house warm and the fridge full. To make ends meet, Nathaniel tried to make a claim for Universal Credit to get the Disabled Child element, but he was unsuccessful. He also picked up extra hours at work. Despite this, they’ve accumulated around £300 of energy arrears and are struggling to afford rent, food and energy. Nathaniel is really worried, especially about his son’s health if they can’t afford to heat their home.
We know from talking to people every day that they want to work, to cover their bills, and look after their families. But it’s never been harder for the people we help.
Stacey’s story
Stacey* lives on her own, she works part-time and receives benefits. But her total income still isn’t enough to cover her utility bills and groceries, so she’s in a negative budget. Stacey often goes for days without eating or using energy in her home just to cut down costs. Stacey is now dependent on foodbanks to eat almost every day, and her mental health is getting worse.
Nearly 5 million people like Stacey are trapped in the red, no matter what they do, or how many hours they work. We’ve found that nearly 1 million people in a negative budget are living in a household where someone is working full time.
The reality when people can’t make ends meet is stark. They face cutting back on essentials, building up debts, and even losing their homes. We’ve helped record numbers of people with homelessness this year — over 8,000 per month. That’s a 56% increase compared to before the pandemic and cost of living crisis.
Grace’s story
Grace* and her young daughter live in a privately rented flat. Their landlord recently increased their rent by 33%. Grace works part-time, but she can’t afford the new rent, and has built up 3 months of rent arrears. She can’t afford to move to another flat in the area because rents are so high, so they face being evicted and being made homeless. Grace’s family may have to be rehoused and relocated to another area, where they won’t have a support system.
Change is possible — and urgent
Whichever way you look at it, the promises made by the main political parties so far aren’t enough to help people balance their budgets. It’s a big challenge, but there are things that can be done quickly to start to turn the tide. We want whichever party wins the election to set out a plan to improve living standards by…
1. Bringing incomes back in touch with the real cost of living.
- Benefits have fallen far behind the real cost of living in recent years. There are lots of changes that could help with this, and make our system work better, but we also need to take the pressure off now. One quick fix would be to bring how benefits are uprated closer to the reality of price increases for people on low incomes. Uprating benefits by the Household Cost Indices, rather than CPI inflation, would lift nearly 100,000 people out of a negative budget.
- At Citizens Advice we also see many in work who’re struggling to cover essentials. The next government should keep increasing the minimum wage, to ensure more of the lowest earners can rely on their wages to help them make ends meet.
2. Tackling the runaway cost of essentials, particularly energy and housing.
- The last few years have revealed the limits of our current price protections to prevent people falling into debt when prices rise. We want to see an expansion of the current energy bill support available, so that it’s more targeted and tailored to people with low incomes and high energy needs.
- We also know that many people have cut back on essentials — like broadband and insurance — because they’re struggling to make ends meet. Social tariffs in these markets should be introduced, or improved where they exist, to make sure everyone can afford their essentials.
- The cost of housing — especially private rents — is now one of the biggest drivers of negative budgets. The next government must prioritise giving renters secure and affordable homes, by banning Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, tackling unfair rent hikes, and reforming the Local Housing Allowance to help those on low incomes manage their rents.
Making these changes will begin to pull people back from the brink. We’ve found that around 1 million people could be lifted out of a negative budget if these policies were implemented. That’s a great start.
But there’ll be much more to do in the next few years to transform living standards across the country. So alongside these policy changes, we’re calling on all the main political parties to make fixing living standards one of the key pillars of the new government if they win the election. Rishi Sunak should be adopting it as one of his key priorities, Keir Starmer should be adding it to his missions.
A challenge for the first 100 days
We hear a lot from people who worry that politicians are out of touch with their real lives. They don’t have hope or faith that decisions made in Westminster will help make their lives easier, or stop their families struggling.
Making a firm commitment to improve living standards would show people that decision makers take their problems seriously. It would show that they understand the reality of the challenges facing families and communities, and they’re going to do something about it.
Whichever political party takes office after 4 July will need to show they have made a real impact on living standards by the end of their first term. It won’t be good enough to point to economic forecasts or talk of future growth — people will need to see the difference in their own pockets quickly.
This election will be defined by living standards. As the people’s champion, we’re ready to work with the next government to face the challenge head on.
*Names have been changed to protect anonymity.
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