Category Archives: ukcuts
The benefit sanctions regime has “gone too far”, leading “to destitution, hardship and hunger
Half a million people in Britain rely on food banks
Huge cuts to welfare reform have left more than half a million people in Britain reliant on foodbanks to feed themselves or their family, a shocking report by a group of charities has revealed.
Church Action Poverty and Oxfam, with the backing of the Trussell Trust, are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the relationship between benefit delay, error or sanctions, welfare reform changes and the growth of Britain’s ‘hidden hungry.’
“The shocking reality is that hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are turning to food aid. Cuts to social safety-nets have gone too far, leading to destitution, hardship and hunger on a large scale. It is unacceptable that this is happening in the seventh wealthiest nation on the planet,” said Mark Goldring, Oxfam’s CEO.
Malnutrition among older people: A lack of food and thought
There are an estimated 3 million people in the UK suffering from malnutrition but, despite the public health implications, the issue receives very little attention. So how can awareness be raised?
Denis Campbell
The Guardian, Wednesday 29 May 2013
Domestic carers who only visit an old person’s home once a week may not realise the person they look after is not eating enough. Photograph: BSIP/Universal Images Group Editorial
For some people the word “malnutrition” inevitably conjures up mental images of starving children in Africa. But it is also an issue much closer to home, here in the United Kingdom. About 3 million people in the UK are estimated to either suffer from malnourishment or be at risk of becoming underfed. The resulting problems are believed to cost the public sector several billion pounds, for example from avoidable hospital admissions and extra GP visits for treatments of the range of illnesses malnutrition can cause. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has identified better nutritional care as the sixth-largest potential source of savings in the NHS.
Pressures on unpaid carers as care cap system excludes all but a few.
Care cap becoming ‘irrelevant’ as ‘crisis-mode’ system excludes all but a few, report finds
The number of elderly people receiving help with their care has dropped by a fifth in just four years as cash-strapped councils have begun “rationing” support only to those at “crisis-point”, a report by a leading think-tank shows.
By John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor 12:01AM BST 21 May 2013
A total of 231,000 fewer elderly people are receiving help with their care than four years ago despite a surge in the numbers reaching old age.
The report welcomes the reforms being implement in the wake of the landmark Dilnot Commission to prevent people being forced to sell their homes.
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