What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

More than 1.5million Brits are living in destitution, a shock report warns today (THU).

The Government was last night (WED) urged to take to take immediate action to tackle the crisis by reforming the social security system.

Of the 1,550,000 suffering in “shameful” squalor, 365,000 are children, the dossier said.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found that the destitute often went without food, heating or lighting in their home and sometimes slept rough.

The charity said social security policies often led to destitution “by design”, leaving people without support when they most needed it.

Low benefit levels, delays in receiving benefits, harsh debt recovery practices and high housing costs were blamed for tipping people into destitution.

(Image: AFP)

JRF chief executive Campbell Robb said: “Many of us rely on public services such as social security when hit with unexpected circumstances like job loss, relationship breakdown or ill-health. Yet actions by Government, local authorities and utility companies are leading to ‘destitution by design’, forcing people into a corner when they are penniless and have nowhere to turn. This is shameful.

“Social security should be an anchor holding people steady against powerful currents such as rising costs, insecure housing and jobs, and low pay, but people are instead becoming destitute with no clear way out.

“To be destitute doesn’t just mean getting by on very little, it’s losing the ability to keep a roof over your head, eat often enough, or afford warm clothes when it’s cold. You can’t keep yourself clean or put the lights on.

“This shouldn’t happen to anybody, let alone over one and a half million people in the UK.

“The reduction in benefit sanction rates has meant that some welcome headway has been made, but there is a real risk that once Universal Credit is embedded across the country, more people could again be at risk unless we make changes.”

(Image: PA)

JRF called for reforms including changes to the use of Universal Credit sanctions.

Levels of destitution fell by 25% between 2015 and 2017, mainly because of a reduction in benefit sanctions, said the report.

Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, of Heriot-Watt University, which carried out the study, said: “The apparent higher levels of sanctions in Universal Credit are a sharp warning that destitution could increase again as the new benefit expands in the coming years.”

People were defined as destitute if they lacked essentials such as shelter and food or had an income of less than £10 a day for a single person, excluding housing costs.

Nick Forbes, senior vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “Councils target services to help those in need of support and prevent them reaching crisis point but this is becoming increasingly challenging against a backdrop of welfare reforms and an overall funding gap that will exceed £5 billion by 2020.

“The Government needs to restore funding to councils for welfare assistance schemes so they can provide the local safety net to help those struggling to cope with welfare reforms, including the rollout of Universal Credit.”