The two remaining Tory leaders face a call to give more than double the level of government support to low-income families to avert a winter cost of living “catastrophe”.
Seventy charities and civil society organizations have signed an open letter to: Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak warning that benefiting families will face a £1,600 deficit in the coming months, despite having received £1,200 in the government’s latest bailout package.
In the letter, coordinated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), they warn that high energy bills mean many low-income households are already faced with the choice between skipping meals or not heating their homes properly, and that the situation is only set to get worse.
“Many of our organizations work directly with these families and become overwhelmed, too often unable to provide much-needed support,” the letter said.
“This situation must not continue.
“As future leaders of this country, we urge you to act now to show the compassion and leadership needed to address this issue immediately.
“We ask both of you to pledge that under your premiership anyone who needs it will be well supported when they are going through a hard time.
“This means making sure that Social Security at least always provides people with enough to afford the basic necessities of life.”
JRF chief executive Paul Kissack, chief executive at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said:People already sell their assets, take on risky debt and build up arrears that they may never be able to repay.
“And things are about to get much worse.
“Planning a substantial support package should start right away.
“Without it, vulnerable people will face catastrophe on a massive scale when winter sets in.
“The consequences of idly watching are unimaginable.”
Dan Paskins of Save The Children, who is also behind the letter, said: “As energy bills skyrocket in the fall, families who are already struggling will struggle even more.
“Parents face impossible choices whether to prioritize feeding their children or heating their homes.
“The government should at least double the emergency package announced in May to ensure families are protected from a catastrophic winter.”
Other signatories to the letter include the Trussell Trust, the Children’s Society, Age UK, Shelter, Oxfam GB and the TUC.
Mr Sunak, who as chancellor pushed through the latest £15bn bailout package in May, has already said that if he becomes prime minister on September 5, he will lend extra support to the most vulnerable, although he is not yet a firm figure on it.
Ms Truss, who has previously said she is against further “handouts”, has maintained that she has not ruled out additional direct payments, although her priority is tax cuts that she believes are needed to kick-start economic growth.
Meanwhile, pressure on candidates to do more is expected to increase as Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer set out on Monday its plans to tackle the cost of living crisis.
They are expected to include an energy price cap freeze at the current rate of £1,971 for the average household, amid warnings that it will likely rise to £3,500 in October and rise to more than £4,000 in the new year as pressure on global oil and gas prices.
Earlier, one of Ms Truss’s most prominent supporters suggested she could deduct a planned £400 cut on energy bills – which was part of the latest support package – from high earners.
Treasury Chief Secretary Simon Clarke said the payment – which should go to all households – was “not really an authentic conservative solution to this problem”.
He told The Sunday Telegraph: “I find it rather odd that high earners get £400 off their bills.
“It’s not an ideal outcome, to put it mildly, that people who don’t need it are getting pretty large sums of money from the state. That’s not a targeted package to be honest, is it?”