BASW vows to continue the fight against poverty

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 16 November 2022

Campaigning against poverty will be a key focus for BASW in the New Year, the association’s chair Julia Ross said.

It will also be calling for a freeze on housing evictions and removal of the child universal credit cap.

Ross said: “Poverty doesn’t just happen. It’s deliberate. If you’re earning £60,000 then you benefit by over £2,000 in tax savings. But going down a sliding scale, if your income is £20,000 then you benefit by £200.

“The political leanings of this new government are towards more tax cuts and more reductions in public services which will have a very dramatic effect on the people we work with. We will always defend our services and the people who use our services.”

Dominic Watters, who has lived experience of poverty and has written extensively on the issue, set out his objectives fort the #FoodIsCare campaign for 2023.

The campaign will seek to establish food insecurity as ‘the living experience of food poverty’ by placing food insecurity directly in the domain of social care and social work.

Dominic aims for the campaign to be included in BASW’s Professional Capabilities Framework and has presented it at the Department for Education.

He is launching a petition for a judicial review and said: “Our objective for 2023 is a change in the law, because at present, wellbeing and welfare as defined in the Care Act and the Children's Act doesn't include achieving food security as part of that definition.”

Dominic has designed food insecurity training and will produce a Food Insecurity UK report in 2023 including grassroots voices.