Digital and Financial Exclusion Deepens

My colleague, Marc, recently alerted my to a great offer from Brighton and Hove buses for regular bus users in the City. As a result of the introduction of smart cards, big savings can be made on the cost of fares. A day saver with a smart card is £3.20, from a shop in advance £4.00 and from the bus driver £4.40. A weekly saver is £15 with the smart card and £19 from a shop and the monthly saver is £58 with the smart card and £68 from a shop.

As a regular bus user (I’m one of those relatively rare individuals who not only doesn’t have a car, but I’ve never learned to drive), I certainly will be getting a smart card.

Now, contrary to appearances, this post isn’t a free plug for Roger French or Brighton and Hove Buses. It is a post about digital and financial exclusion. A few years ago the was some research that said that it costs those who are poor more than £1,000 per annum to pay for basic items than people like me who are not poor. It is known as the ‘Poverty Premium’. This is how it works:

If you are digitally and financially rich, you can advantage of shopping around on the Internet for the best gas and electricity deals, get discounts for paying by direct debit, and taking advantage of similar opportunities. Credit through my bank or mortgage company is cheaper for me than someone who has to take their chances with payday loan companies or worst still door step lenders. If I need a new cooker, I have the disposable income to buy one. If you have to use one of the infamous high street outlets, the cooker that would cost me £159 cash, will cost you £406 when charges and high interest rates are taken into account.

And now we have smart cards. I will, once again, benefit, from a daily saver that costs me £3.20 and some clients of BHT £4.40 from the driver.

The challenge for BHT, for Brighton and Hove Buses, for the City Council, is to find ways that we can overcome digital and financial exclusion. At BHT we are making available affordable Internet access for all out clients. Making it meaningful access is also a challenge, and overcoming financial exclusion is a major challenge. We are working closely with the City Council on its financial inclusion strategy, but my fear is that with reforms to welfare benefits and rising unemployment, the financial divide will grow.

We are seeing the advent of Economic Homelessness and the likely return of soup kitchens

Last week there was an article in the Argus regarding the effect of benefit cuts on households in Brighton andHove. It was reported that more than 400 households in the City will be affected by the £26,000 cap on the total amount of benefits that any household might receive.

The figures came to light as a result of a question tabled by the Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas.

For the first time in my lifetime we’re going to see people in the UK becoming homeless, not because of alcohol or drugs, mental health, family breakdown and other causes, but merely because they do not have enough money to meet all their outgoings.

We are beginning to see economic homelessness. There will be children whose parents have to make decisions about putting on the heating, paying the council tax or rent, or feeding their children and themselves.

I had a number of conversations last week with colleagues about how BHT needs to position itself to deal with the new realities that we are facing. Later in the week, while buoyed by the idea that BHT could play a significant role in meeting new needs, I felt a wave of sadness washing over me and I felt like weeping because of the hardship that I know children, their parents and others will experience.

Around the country food banks are coming into existence and doing, if you will forgive the expression, roaring business. I think that food banks will become part of the fabric of society for the poor and other services will be needed, perhaps the return of the old-fashioned soup kitchen.

However, I do believe that we need to ensure that services offered are appropriate for the 21st century. Why should we, in a civilised country such as the United   Kingdom, the 7^th richest country in the world, see people standing in queues waiting for handouts. What we need is to ensure that the food we provide is nutritious, affordable, and reaches those in greatest need.  Our means of distribution must respect the anonymity and dignity of those who have no choice but to receive charitable help.

I find myself appalled and saddened that new levels of poverty are becoming a reality, and that I am considering that BHT might need to open soup kitchens.