The Autumn Budget: Our Big Issues

Philip Hammond will walk out of No 11 brandishing his red briefcase later today to deliver the Autumn Budget. Here are the five things that we, The Big Issue and our social investment arm, Big Issue Invest, believe the Chancellor of the Exchequer should consider including to prevent the root causes of poverty long-term:

1. Establish an Prevention unit in Westminster, that works across parties and across the nations to identify and implement ways to break the cycles of poverty
2. Invest in good-quality social housing and private rented sector housing, funded by borrowing at today’s all-time low interest rates, and support the bill to ensure rental payments to count in the credit scoring process
3. Tackle tax loopholes and inequalities to ensure that companies operating in the UK pay their fair share of tax and that the greatest tax take does not come from those who can least afford it
4. Expand tax incentives for social and community investment to encourage more people to make positive choices with their money
5. Establish an interest-free loan fund for people switching to Universal Credit or seeing a sudden loss of benefits that can be paid back in small instalments to avoid crisis and homelessness