We cannot shy away from uncomfortable truths. Many people in Brent are suffering from poverty. It is not simply just about supporting families and the community. Beveridge pioneered the welfare state to counteract what he called the “five giant evils” – squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease. Today, the lack of access to justice is increasingly becoming another great evil.
However, the Brent Community Law Centre is helping to redress this issue. They have just successfully assisted seven Brent families with their welfare benefit claims totalling a staggering figure of £38,000. Getting access to and achieving such outcomes, which increase money in people’s pockets, requires lawyers with not just expertise and skills, but with passion to help the community.
Put simply, poverty limits families, trapping them into circumstances that all too often prevent them from reaching their full potentials and subject them to higher levels of ill health; and in particular, mental health issues.
Many of the answers can be found in accessing justice. This is also not a quick fix to tackling poverty; rather it is a social-prescription. It requires rethinking relationships and responsibilities between various stakeholders if we are to tackle poverty.
The number of Londoners living in poverty, after housing costs are taken into account, is around 2.3 million. The poverty rate in London remains significantly higher than the rest of England. The high cost of housing in London is the main factor explaining London’s higher poverty rate. High housing costs and reductions in Local Housing Allowance (housing benefit for the private rented sector), the benefit cap, and the bedroom tax mean significant reduction in income for many low-income families in London both working and not working.
Welfare changes too have fuelled the increase in the number of people experiencing deeper poverty, despite a decline in overall poverty. Both the proportion of people whose household income is 50% or less (rather than 60%) of median income and the proportion of people whose income is below the level the public believes is necessary to participate fully in society (the Minimum Income Standard) have increased over the past five years.
Further welfare changes, such as reduced work allowances under Universal Credit, and limiting support to two children, will spiral more Londoners into deeper poverty.
It is frightening to think that 60% of Londoners in poverty live in a working family. Rising employment has meant the number of people in a working family in poverty has increased by 50% over the last 10 years to 1.3 million. The statistics go on and speak for themselves.
Therefore, without the work and dedication of the Brent Community Law Centre, many people in Brent would be locked out of the opportunity to reach a decent standard of living and fulfilling their potentials. Providing legal and advocacy services since 1972, this independent community-based organisation plays a pivotal role in the local community by breaking down barriers that prevent access to justice, which is crucial to a healthy democracy.
