The three-year project, led by Coventry University’s Dr Chris Shannahan, will analyse the impact of the age of austerity on church action on poverty in the UK and provide policy-makers with a clearer sense of the role that faith groups play in tackling poverty and inequality in the UK.
Teams will develop a series of case studies focusing on different aspects of poverty and Christian approaches to social action – from children’s breakfast clubs; lunch events for isolated elderly people; and foodbank use -to campaigns for a living wage, changes to Universal Credit and new approaches to social housing, homelessness and rough sleeping.
More than 30 percent of children in the UK are now living in poverty according to the latest figures, and the number of food parcels being given out by the Trussell Trust rose from 28,000 in 2008, to more than 1.3million in 2017. The charity, which runs support services across the country, has also pointed to a 52 per cent rise in foodbank use in areas where the government’s Universal Credit system has been introduced.
The Life on the Breadline team will lead a National Poverty Consultation this week (November 8 and 9) to engage with experts and government leaders about the problems austerity age poverty and mark the launch of the project.
The event in Manchester will bring together representatives from Christian church groups, volunteers, and poverty support networks across the country. It will launch the three-year project by which will conclude as Coventry celebrates its year as City of Culture in 2021.
Lead researcher, Dr Chris Shannahan from Coventry University, said:
“Poverty in the age of austerity represents a clear and present danger to the social fabric of British society. In the past ten years we have an exponential rise in the use of food banks and in the level of child poverty, which had declined in the previous decade.
“The Life on the Breadline initiative is the first theological project focusing on austerity in the UK and will develop new resources that will help Christian action on poverty to bring about social change as well as caring for the victims of austerity.
“Churches and faith groups have connections and relationships with marginalised communities that the government and councils just don’t have and as a result, they have become more and more visible in tackling poverty.
“Increasingly church leaders and Christian NGOs are challenging government policy, as well as caring for people living in poverty. The challenge facing the church is the extent to which it moves from caring for people living in poverty to campaigning for economic and political change.
“As well as having an academic impact we want to offer practical help at two levels, via church and volunteer groups and with government policy.”
