General election 2024: Our Blueprint for Change calls on next government to end poverty for good

Talk about impact. Just over two weeks after Big Issue published our Blueprint for Change – our call on ALL political leaders to commit to ending poverty for good – prime minister Rishi Sunak announced a snap summer general election.

You’re welcome.

It’s worth reiterating what the Big Issue Group Blueprint for Change is all about.

We know this is going to be the general election of change. More than 100 MPs, mostly Conservative, have said they will not stand again. In addition, all polls point to a massive new influx of Labour MPs. It is a unique hinge moment in British political history, and all of us within the Big Issue community can make our voices heard as we call on the next government to put ending poverty at the heart of their policy agenda.

Big Issue is founded on an ideal of speaking for those without a voice, and of providing a platform for those frequently marginalised and ignored.

In addition, we have grown to become a body that works to create innovative solutions through enterprise, to unlock social and economic opportunity for the millions of people in the UK living in poverty. Here at the Big Issue Group, we know that poverty is a complex and multi-faceted problem that requires a multi-pronged approach. That is why the next government must adopt an investment mindset to end poverty. Investing in people hammered by poverty will give them the tools and money needed to change their lives long-term.

The Blueprint for Change is a call for whoever comes out on top at the general election on 4 July to make decisions that would help around one in five people in the UK living in poverty right now. There are 14 million people struggling to meet their most basic needs, including four million children. The last 30 years has seen the biggest increase in child poverty since records began.

Whether it’s Sunak or bookies’ favourite Keir Starmer as PM after the general election – or politicians from traditionally smaller parties such as Liberal Democrats’ Ed Davey, Green co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay or SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn – looking to rid the scourge of poverty from the UK, this is what is needed.

“The time has gone for a light-touch approach from any incoming government. Clear and real change is essential. Failure to act now will be catastrophic,” said Big Issue founder Lord John Bird.

Each of Big Issue’s asks comes under one of the five poverty prevention pillars we believe will help dismantle poverty and change lives through enterprise – housing, health and wellbeing, learning and employment, financial and digital inclusion, and environment and community.

We compiled them based on our decades of knowledge and experience working with people affected by poverty.

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Big Issue is demanding an end to extreme poverty. Will you ask your MP to join us?

Here’s a run down of everything we’re asking political leaders to commit to at the general election and beyond.

1. Housing

In the first 12 months of the next Westminster government’s premiership, we ask for the following policies to be prioritised: 

• Build more social and affordable housing and commit to providing high-quality public services such as GPs, schools, and mental health support as part of the community. 
• End Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions.
• Increase universal credit to £120 a week for a single adult and £200 for a couple to create an ‘essentials guarantee’. 
• Reform the energy price cap to make it fit for purpose for low-income households and pensioners. 

Over the course of the next government’s first full term, we are asking them to: 

• Keep local housing allowance permanently unfrozen, to rise in line with inflated local housing markets year on year. 
• Implement an ambitious target to end street homelessness by 2030. Greater London Authority has pledged to do this by 2030. So why not extend this across the country? 
• Redefine ‘Affordable Housing’. At present, it is 80% of market rate, a metric that is clearly no longer fit for purpose 

2. Health and wellbeing 

In the first 12 months: 

• Provide universal free school meals to ALL school-age children, including outside of term time. 
• Accelerate spending and availability of mental health care. Properly invest in mental health care funding, especially for those under 30, decreasing wait times and ensuring equitable access to free services. 

Over the government’s full term: 

• Increase provision of free sight, hearing and prescriptions for all. There are provisions for elements of these in the devolved nations. England is lagging in help for its citizens.
• Invest in the NHS and social care workforce, with focus on recruitment and retention.  

3. Community and environment 

In the first 12 months: 

• Commit to just transition investment, reskilling workers to be green energy creation ready and to avoid mass industry job losses. 
• Commit to keeping libraries open as a national programme and acknowledge the benefits of libraries as key hubs for communities and those frequently most isolated and vulnerable in communities. 
• Reinstate Sure Start as previously envisioned. The one-stop shop for families of infants in deprived areas hugely helped health and life opportunities for millions. 

Over the government’s full term: 

• Devolve greater powers to local authorities to empower locally focused, community-based decision making. 
• Invest into local social services and increased promotion and support of foster care and support for care leavers who are frequently left adrift at 16. 

4. Learning and employment

In the first 12 months: 

• Reform the increasingly punitive benefits system and replace it with a system that helps those most in need while also offering mentorship, confidence building and realistic routes to move people back into sustainable employment. 
• Increase job security – reform zero-hour contracts, and provide employment rights from day one in a job. 
• Reform the Back to Work Scheme to focus on mentorship and confidence building, rather than unnecessary and harsh punishments. 

In the government’s full term: 

• Raise the minimum wage for workers of all ages, including apprentices. 
• Deliver free wraparound childcare.
• Reform Statutory Sick Pay in line with the National Living Wage.
• Deliver young entrepreneurialism support programmes for disadvantaged groups.
• Introduce free bus travel in England for those 23 and under. Cost of travel is a frequent barrier to work for many young people. This will address that AND it’s better for the environment. As an increased number of bus services leave the private sector this becomes easier to implement. This scheme already functions and delivers in Scotland. 

5. Financial and digital inclusion 

In the first 12 months: 

• Outlaw high interest credit and make loans and credit sources affordable, equitable and fair 
• Focus on gambling-related harm as a public health problem, particularly online gambling. 

In the government’s full term: 

• Implement a national financial literacy strategy covering financial literacy education and skills from early years to the elderly to improve financial inclusion. 
• Deliver high quality, affordable broadband access for everyone across the UK. 
• Implement a digital inclusion strategy led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the industry for older generation. 

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? We want to hear from you. Get in touch and tell us more.