Cost of Living Crisis: The Policy Context

By Tara Harris, Policy and Public Affairs Officer

The cost-of-living crisis will affect us all, but women and girls with multiple unmet needs - already at the sharpest end of inequality - will be disproportionately impacted.

As a result of the trauma and disadvantages they have faced, women and girls with multiple unmet needs are likely to be reliant on a range of public services and specialist support.

Whilst there has been some financial assistance from government, targeted, long-lasting support is needed to help women and girls, and the services supporting them, survive this period.

Research from the Women’s Budget Group (WBG) shows that women are disproportionately affected by rising living costs. Increased reductions in public spending and rising prices are likely to impact Black, Asian and minoritised women and girls even further, as indicated by previous research from the Runnymede Trust and WBG.

Analysis produced by Citizen’s Advice (CA) shows an increase in women seeking support to meet basic needs. In September 2022 CA helped 2,577 more women than men to access food banks. In the same period, 23,988 women reported concern about fuel costs compared with 12,594 men.

Despite these clear gendered differences, the Government has so far provided limited financial support for the most vulnerable, including women, during the cost-of-living crisis.

Earlier this year the fuel relief policy came into effect, which capped energy for the average household at £2,500 for two years – a measure which will only support those with existing high levels of fuel consumption, and is now to be reviewed in April 2023.

At the same time, a £500m increase in the Government’s Household Support Fund until March 2023 – to help towards payments for food, energy, and water bills - was also announced. This is unlikely to go far enough, however, and may not even support those in need. A recent report from Changing Lives found that of those they worked with who applied to the Household Support Fund, only half were successful in their application.

Further one-off payments have also been announced, including £400 for all households to help with energy bills, £650 for those on means tested benefits, and an additional £150 for those with a disability. Whilst welcome, payments made in the summer or autumn are unlikely to stretch far enough to help this winter, with millions of households having to decide between heating and eating as the weather turns colder.

Lack of sustained and accessible government financial support will be a considerable blow for women struggling with the combined rise in energy, food, housing and fuel costs, alongside a rise in inflation. Research has shown that the cost-of-living crisis is already seeing increased instances of economic abuse.

This crisis is set to the backdrop of ten years of austerity, and follows two years of Covid - during which Agenda research found almost a third of services reported an increase in poverty, destitution and basic needs among the women and girls they supported through the pandemic.

Women at increased risk of domestic abuse, homelessness and poverty will be more heavily reliant on public services and the voluntary sector during this difficult time -. 80% of Changing Lives’ services have seen an increase in the amount of people no longer able to make ends meet.

Given the gendered ways in which women and girls with multiple unmet needs are impacted by this crisis, Agenda is calling for a targeted government approach that recognises the distinct ways in which their lives are affected.  Whilst one-off payments are a welcome necessity, the Government must provide ring-fenced long-term financial support to truly assist both those most in need as well as the vital organisations on which they rely.

For more on the ways in which women with multiple unmet needs are supported by services, and the impact of the current climate on them, please see our Transforming Services for Women’s Futures project.

Over the next two instalments in this cost-of-living blog series, we’ll be hearing first-hand from services in our Alliance, and women and girls who use them, about the effect the cost-of-living crisis is having on them.