Skip to content
Search
AI Powered
Latest Stories

Benefits to plunge to 50-year-low as expert warns of 'civil unrest'

expert warns of ‘civil unrest’
Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images

Benefits in the UK will plunge to their lowest value in 50 years, stated anti-poverty campaigners today (11), as Britons grapple with the worst cost of living crisis since 1972 amid rising food and fuel costs and warnings of civil unrest.

Despite everyday prices rising as much as 8 percent and gas and electricity bills almost doubling to £2,000 a year, the state pension and most other state benefits will rise by 3.1 percent today.


Charities, Labour and others have called on the chancellor Rishi Sunak to do more to help those on middle and low incomes get through the crisis.

So far ministers have resisted calls to restore the £20-a-week uplift to universal credit that was introduced during the pandemic.

Ministers announced in November that the state pension, universal credit and a host of other benefits would rise by 3.1 percent, implying basic state pension rising by £4.25 to £141.85 per week, while the full new state pension will rise by £5.55 to £185.15. The figure was calculated according to the consumer price index (CPI) for the year up to September 2021 though prices of most essentials have rocketed in the following months amid supply chain crisis and crunch in basic food supply owing to Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Meanwhile, the money-saving expert Martin Lewis has said that the UK could experience “civil unrest” later this year if the government fails to take decisive action.

“We need to keep people fed. We need to keep them warm. If we get this wrong right now, then we get to the point where we start to risk civil unrest,” Lewis said in an interview with Sunday Telegraph.

“When breadwinners cannot provide, anger brews and civil unrest brews – and I do not think we are very far off.

“I get all these messages from people tearing their hair out. They don’t know how to make things add up.”

A further rise for the energy cap is expected in October. It is thought that inflation could reach 8.4 percent this year, according to an economic outlook report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, while Lewis said he thinks real inflation could even go as high as 12 percent.

More for you

C-store body warns of 'inflation-busting increase in wage costs'
Woman Holding British Pound
Getty Images/iStockphoto

C-store body warns of 'inflation-busting increase in wage costs'

Convenience store body Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) today (30) has warned the Chancellor about the negative effects of the new National Living Wage (NLW) increase, a day after the Chancellor announced a pay rise for over 3 million workers next year, with NLW rates rising by 6.7 perc cent.

From April 2025, the NLW will increase from £11.44 to £12.21 while 18-20 National Minimum Wage will rise by £1.40 per hour to £10 - the largest increase on record, marking the first step towards a single adult rate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bacup Wine and Convenience shop, 34 Burnley Road, Bacup.

Bacup Wine and Convenience shop, 34 Burnley Road, Bacup.

Robbie MacDonald via LDRS

Shop’s licence bid rejected over illegal vapes and ‘no regard’ for children’s safety

A Rossendale shop has had a licence bid rejected after repeatedly selling vapes to children and having illegal products on its premises.

Management at the Ibra Superstore at 34 Burnley Road, Bacup, have shown ‘no regard’ for children’s protection and safety, and have insufficient controls for licensing, Rossendale councillors have ruled.

Keep ReadingShow less
SPAR retailer hits target to secure £100,000 free stock from James Hall

SPAR retailer hits target to secure £100,000 free stock from James Hall

SPAR North of England retailer Dara Singh Randhawa’s family store has been awarded £100,000 of free stock after hitting all his targets since moving to the symbol.

Dara and his family, who have their SPAR store in Patrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, joined SPAR through its association with James Hall & Co. Ltd in August 2023 having taken the decision to maximise the store’s potential.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pound Sterling bank notes
iStock

National Living Wage to increase to £12.21 in April 2025

The government has on Wednesday announced its acceptance of the Low Pay Commission’s (LPC) recommendations on the rates of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), including the National Living Wage (NLW).

The rates which will apply from 1 April 2025 are as follows:

Keep ReadingShow less
Food inflation eases as retailers treat customers to spooky season deals

iStock image

Food inflation eases as retailers treat customers to spooky season deals

October saw shop prices fall marginally further into deflation for the third consecutive month with food inflation eased, particularly for meat, fish and tea along with chocolate and sweets as retailers treated customers to spooky season deals, shows industry data released today (29).

According to British Retail Consortium (BRC), shop price deflation was at 0.8 per cent in October, down from deflation of 0.6 per cent in the previous month. This is below the 3-month average rate of -0.6 per cent. Shop price annual growth was at its lowest rate since August 2021.

Keep ReadingShow less