'Fenland people are getting desperate,' says Wisbech reader

Brian Smudge Smith (last week’s Letters) makes some very good points about hard-pressed working people using the relaxation of Covid rules to book well-earned holidays abroad.

In 2022, employers are trying to extract every pound of profit from their workers. So it’s not surprising that people in well-paid employment have one, two, or more holidays a year.

However, I suggest Mr Smith visits March or Wisbech foodbank and talks to the hard-working volunteers about how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting those at the bottom.

Three-quarters of people who use foodbanks are either in work or short-term unemployed. They may have lost their job and are waiting for the first universal credit claim, which can take five to eight weeks.

The pandemic has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of Britons claiming universal credit, up from three million in March 2020 to 5.8 million today (having fallen back from last year’s peak of six million).

In Fenland, 13.5% of the working age population are on universal credit, which is roughly the same as for the country as a whole.

The numbers of people on universal credit went up by about two times in the first couple of weeks of the pandemic and they have stayed high, so the background here is real need.

Foodbanks noticed a spike in demand last autumn when the Government withdrew the £20-a-week universal credit uplift, a move described as the largest ever overnight cut in benefits.

Recently, Morgan Wild, head of policy at Citizens Advice, told MPs that demand for crisis support, including referrals for food banks, are at a record high, and that is before higher energy bill tariffs kick in.

The cost-of-living crisis is a reality for thousands in Fenland, and people are desperate.

John Smithee

Wisbech