💸The UK is currently in the midst of a severe cost of living crisis - a situation in which necessities like groceries and energy bills are rising in price faster than wages, squeezing people’s finances: bigissue.com/news/politics/…@jrf_uk
🔨💷Shortages of goods and staff, high demand for oil and gas and pandemic-related financial support schemes ending have all pushed up prices, while tax rises due in April will squeeze finances further. Here’s where you’ll see the biggest differences 👉
1.🌡️ Energy costs are set to rocket this year, with an end to the price cap in April pushing bills from an average of £1,277 per year to as much as £2,000 and an extra 1m households with kids pushed into fuel poverty bigissue.com/news/politics/…@CPAGUK@NEA_UKCharity@EndFuelPoverty
2.🏘️ Housing costs are rising fast, with recent data showing that rents rose by an average of 8.6% in the year up to September 2021. Thousands will also face council tax hikes of 2.99 per cent in April as energy costs bite: bigissue.com/news/politics/…@genrentuk@PricedOutUK
3.🛍️You may have noticed your weekly shop creeping up in price too, thanks to the price of the average grocery basket rising by around 6% in a year. The average person is now paying £25 more per month on shopping than last year: bigissue.com/news/politics/…
4.🚂 Travel costs will - yet again - rise in 2022. From March, rail fares will be rising by 3.8 per cent, heaping even greater pressure on the public’s finances bigissue.com/news/politics/…@CBTransport
5.💳And if all these price increases weren’t enough, from April national insurance will be hiked by 1.25 per cent, taking around £251 more per year from someone with a salary of £30,000. Opponents say it’ll hit young people hardest: bigissue.com/news/politics/…
❌So how much worse-off will you be this year? Everything depends on personal circumstances, of course, but the @resfoundation has estimated the average household will be £1,200 worse-off in 2022: bigissue.com/news/politics/…
👉If you’re already struggling with finances, there’s plenty of help available to you - from government schemes to food banks and council assistance. @CitizensAdvice has a comprehensive guide you can use at this link to help: citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/help-…
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📰 In the wake of tragic stabbings in Southport, the UK has seen an alarming rise in racist violence. Communities are coming together to combat this hate.
Want to help? Here are 5 ways you can make a difference. 👇
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🏠 1. Host a Refugee:
Once an asylum seeker is granted refugee status, they are given limited time to find somewhere to live. ⌛️
Organisations like @RefugeesAtHome and @_hopeathome_ connect refugees with hosts, preventing homelessness. Find out more. 👇 bigissue.com/uncategorised/…
✊ 2. Attend Anti-Racism Marches:
Stand Up to Racism (@AntiRacismDay) is running protests on 10 August to say refugees are welcome here. Find out when and where these will be via .
⚠️ If you think you may not be safe at these events, do not attend. standuptoracism.org.uk
From Suella Braverman's sacking to David Cameron's comeback - here's our recap.
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➡️🚪Suella Braverman was gone by 9am, sacked by Rishi Sunak as home secretary after inflammatory comments over pro-Palestine protesters.
2/11
It's just the latest in a series of scandals to engulf the former home secretary - from lying in a legal textbook to describing homelessness as a “lifestyle choice."
Today is #WorldHomelessDay2022. It’s the perfect time to think about how to solve a problem that shouldn’t exist. We already know how to end homelessness. And it can be done. Here’s how:
Housing First is a model that has already had a big impact on street homelessness in Finland 🇫🇮 It’s a simple solution: give people who are homeless a home and the support they need to keep it
Housing First is growing across the UK. But not quickly enough for some. @Crisis_uk chief executive Matt Downie said take up in England has been “far too slow” earlier this year
Anti-homeless architecture can take many forms and be tough to spot but it is a hidden fixture of cities and towns across the world 🌍 bigissue.com/news/housing/a…
Also known as defensive architecture, hostile design or exclusionary design, it is used to tackle social problems “in ways that appear to be benign but has potentially more aggressive impacts,” says expert @qurbanist
The most common type is the humble bench.
They can be designed with uneven surfaces and bars across them that look like arm rests but could really be there to stop people lying down. This has become almost the standard design
Two-time Portrait of Britain winner @MarcDavenant has spent six years travelling around Britain with his camera to capture the reality of homelessness from the people who live with it every day bigissue.com/news/housing/t…
@MarcDavenant On his travels, the photographer met Big Issue vendors like Will Herbert, long-time rough sleepers and people living in filthy, unsafe housing
@MarcDavenant Marc took portraits of people like John, who had spent 25 years on the street.
John told him: "I’ve been attacked in hostels too many times, and threatened with knives. It’s safer on the street in Newcastle"