“Guarantee Our Essentials” Lobby Day

On Wednesday 18th June, Chipping Barnet Foodbank took a delegation of 8 staff, volunteers, and community partners to Parliament to take part in the “Guarantee Our Essentials” Lobby Day led by Trussell and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, supported by other anti-poverty organisations, including Independent Food Aid Network, Feeding Britain, Caritas Westminster, and many others.

Comedian Nish Kumar warmed up an audience of over 700 people who attended from food banks from all over the UK to point out that the basic rate of Universal Credit which is £92 for a single adult is simply not enough and that an Essentials Guarantee needs to be imposed to allow for dignified living. The reality of trying to live on UC was reinforced by a Q&A session with Trussell’s team of Lived Experienced Partners who really got the audience ready to lobby together.

After a couple of workshops, the team from Chipping Barnet made their way to Parliament where a long conversation took place with Dan Tomlinson’s Senior Communication Officer and Executive Assistant. The discussion not only covered the need for UC to guarantee the essentials at a national level, but we also highlighted local opportunities to help alleviate poverty in our borough, not least the council’s very liberal use of bailiffs to collect council tax debt. We left a letter for Dan inviting him to come to CBFB to discuss matters further before we were given an amazing tour of Parliament by his team which was a welcome bonus on a hot, long day!

We are delighted to announce that Dan has responded to our letter and the conversations, about very real issues that impact on our residents, will be continued at a face-to-face at a meeting back in the constituency.