Following today’s announcement of the energy price cap increase to £3,549 in October, The Equality Trust is urging the Government to act fast to put in the support needed to ensure that we do not see widespread suffering this winter. As energy companies reap record profits and CEO pay surges by 39%, yet workers are urged to take real-terms pay cuts, it is clear that this is not a cost of living crisis but a cost of inequality crisis.
Jo Wittams, Co-Executive Director said
“The most vulnerable households are, yet again, struggling in real time to battle the UK’s endemic cost of inequality crisis. With inflation forecast to rise to 18% and the energy price cap hitting £3,549 this autumn, low and middle income households will be in destitution if they’re not provided with the support they need now. The previous package of support is simply not enough as we face a profits-price spiral – with predictions of a price cap over £6000 by April 2023.
Low income households have been struggling for decades, whilst billionaire wealth has increased by over 1000% – a symptom of our broken economy which lurches from crisis to crisis. Targeting support to the most vulnerable through an immediate, permanent increase to Universal Credit, sustained reforms to make our tax system fairer and rethinking the ownership structure of utility companies must now be on the table.
High and entrenched levels of inequality make life worse for everyone in society, as we all suffer higher levels of poor mental and physical health, drug and alcohol addiction, violent crime and imprisonment, lower levels of educational attainment, trust and social mobility – successive governments have failed to take action and we are all now paying the price.”
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1- For interviews or further comment please email jo.wittams@equalitytrust.org.uk
2- The Equality Trust is the national charity that campaigns to improve quality of life in the UK by reducing economic and social inequality. The UK is one of the most unequal countries in the developed world and evidence shows that in countries with higher levels of inequality, we see higher rates of mental and physical ill health, higher rates of imprisonment and violent crime, worse educational outcomes and lower levels of trust. Inequality is not inevitable.