Get emergency foodGuarantee our Essentials
We are campaigning for the government to ‘Guarantee Our Essentials’ for Universal Credit – a social security payment.
The current rate of Universal Credit is too low, around £30 per week short of what is required to cover life’s essential costs and it is bringing a large number of people to food banks across the UK. We are asking the government to put a measure in place so that Universal Credit always matches the cost of living so that we can start bringing an end to the need for food banks!
The current rate of Universal Credit is not currently measured against essential costs such as food prices, water and energy bills, council tax and so on. Support has eroded over decades and the basic rate (‘standard allowance’) of Universal Credit is now at around its lowest ever level as a proportion of average earnings. Now, nationally, 5/6 low-income households on universal credit are going without the essentials.
At Wirral Foodbank, 87% of service users are claiming some sort of social security payment. A statistic that is shared amongst many foodbanks. When we have spoken to people who use the food bank about what has brought them here, Universal Credit is often the answer as it is simply not enough to live off.
We are joining hundreds from food banks and anti-poverty charities to campaign for this well needed change. In June 2025, we attended a mass Lobby Day at Westminster, organised by Trussell, the UK’s largest food bank network. Delegates from across the UK met their MPs at Westminster hall about this campaign and with 700+ of us there, we are sure that we made an impression. From Wirral Foodbank, our campaigning team, consisting of people with lived experience of using the foo bank attended the Lobby Day to talk to MPs about how the low rate of universal credit is bringing people to the food bank, sharing their own experiences and arguments in support of the campaign. We also brought representatives from Citizens Advice Wirral and St Vincent de Paul society who work with us to support people who are using the food bank.
This campaign has been running for over two years now and we will continue to campaign for this change in policy as we believe this will have the widest impact on people using the food bank. The increase in Universal Credit will also save the economy billions in the long term through increased spending, reduced need for physical and mental health services, social care and more. It is also likely to help job seekers find employment as they can afford wifi and transport as well as feeling less anxious around debts and putting a meal on the table.
Action
We are currently calling for the government to commission an independent proccess about how we measure Universal Credit.
The current process for setting Universal Credit rates isn’t linked to any calculation of what essentials like food or heating actually cost. Instead, each year the uprating process is optional, leaving 8 million people’s lives at the whim of whichever political party is in government.
An independent advisory process for Universal Credit that’s based on real costs and includes the voices of people with lived experience, would help to address the failings in the social security system.
Write to your MP about this campaign and asked them to call for an independent review of Universal Credit!
Speak to your friends, family and colleagues about this campaign to help gain general public support for matching Universal Credit with the actual cost of living.