GOVERNMENT’S FINAL BUDGET MUST LEAVE POSITIVE LEGACY ON POVERTY
On the eve of Budget 2025, the Community Platform, a network of 31 national community and voluntary organisations, has called on the Government to leave a positive legacy on addressing poverty, social exclusion and inequality, and to deliver sustainable changes to build a stronger, fairer, and more resilient society, in which everyone can live with dignity.
The Community Platform, a network of 31 national organisations working to address poverty, social exclusion and inequality, has published Four Tests which it will use to assess Budget 2025. The Four Tests are:
Test 1: Will Budget 2025 redistribute income towards the poorest 20%?
Test 2: Will Budget 2025 strengthen access to quality employment?
Test 3: Will Budget 2025 restore and strengthen public services that are of particular importance to people on low income?
Test 4: Will the impact of Budget 2025 be assessed to ensure that all provisions reduce poverty and inequality?
The Community Platform’s Four Tests for Budget 2025 draws on its members’ submissions to Budget 2025 to outline detailed measures and proposals the Government should implement in order to achieve each of these Four Tests.
Tim Hanley, speaking on behalf of the Community Platform, said: “Budget 2025 will be the last budget of the current Government, and its final chance to leave a positive legacy for people experiencing poverty, social exclusion and inequality. Despite suggestions that the worst of the cost-of-living crisis is behind us, many people continue to see no real improvements, and they risk falling even further behind. Poverty rates remain disproportionately high across all measures for many of the most marginalised groups, who were already in poverty and struggling to make ends meet before the cost-of-living crisis.”
Mr Hanley continued: “The Government must use Budget 2025 to deliver sustainable changes that contribute to building a stronger, fairer, and more equal society, in which everyone can live with dignity. Now is the time to take substantive and meaningful steps towards addressing the long-term inequalities in our society, the eradication of poverty, the provision of universal, accessible and affordable public services and decent jobs, and the creation of inclusive, resilient, sustainable and empowered communities.”
