‘Putting our values into action: Labour should make social security work for everyone who needs it’

Whatever your political persuasion, politics at its best is about values. I came into politics to do everything I could to ensure that every single family has access to opportunities and every child has the best start in life.

Under the Tories, too many people were left abandoned without the support they needed to get back into work after illness or disability. This Labour government is right to focus our efforts on changing that, tackling the drivers of poverty and investing in high quality support so everyone who can work does work. And we’re right to make work pay – with an Employment Rights Act that delivers the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights and protections in a generation, cracking down on ‘fire and rehire’ and exploitative zero hours contracts.

Life can change in an instant for any of us. If you become ill, need to care for a loved one , are between jobs or working every hour you can on the minimum wage to support your family, our social security system should be there so you can live with dignity.

READ MORE: ‘Hope starts young. How Labour should use the power of play to tell its story of opportunity’

We’ve made huge progress in the past eighteen months. I’m incredibly proud that the two-child cap on universal credit has been scrapped. I hope that we will already begin to see the results of this from April this year. This policy goes to the heart of what we need – a society where everyone can thrive. And we need to help children thrive by supporting their parents.

As a former borough leader, I introduced free school meals for all primary school children. It was a great equaliser and social leveller. Children were more focused and made better progress. Families who were just about managing saved money. And there was no stigma, everyone sat together. These meals provided an opportunity for children to sit down to eat and have meaningful conversations with adults, as well as a nutritionally balanced meal. Free school meals for all primary school children were subsequently rolled out across London and it’s great that more secondary school children will benefit under this Government too.

I am also incredibly proud of the Government’s Best Start Holiday Activities and Food Clubs. This is a £600 million investment over three years. It means nutritious meals and exciting activities for half a million children across the country every year, helping them to achieve and thrive. It also means consistency for parents, so that they don’t face a cliff edge on childcare when term time ends. And it means money back in the pockets of parents who would otherwise have to fork out during the holidays just so they can work to put food on the table. Children who attend Holiday Activities and Food Clubs are more likely to take part in sport and exercise, and children feel more confident and social with their peers after attending a club.

Despite all of these achievements, over half of people receiving Universal Credit experienced hunger last year and 87% of people referred to food banks were in receipt of means-tested benefits.

Of course, we’ve all heard myths about benefits. We pay out so much compared to any other country, right? The reality is that the UK is not a particularly high welfare spender by international standards and actually ranks lower than most of our European neighbours on welfare spending as a percentage of GDP.

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook.

Last year, Labour delivered the first ever above inflation rise to Universal Credit’s standard allowance, but flaws still remain in the design and delivery of our social security system.

Surely the amount people receive should be tied to what things cost? That’s not just how we set the minimum wage, it’s how pay is reviewed for NHS workers, the police, the armed forces – and for MPs and judges too.

Yet that has never been the case for Universal Credit and right now annual “uprating” decisions, affecting the lives of some 8 million people, depend on the political mood of the day. That’s why under the Conservatives, the basic rate of benefits fell 9% in real terms since 2010, leaving so many people needing food banks to survive.

There is a better way – and we have done it before. In 1997, the UK created the National Minimum Wage and Low Pay Commission – an independent body tasked with advising the government based on evidence, not politics.

At the time, some said it couldn’t be done. Others warned it would be too complicated, too expensive or too controversial. It brought together experts, employers, trade unions and economists. It set pay using evidence – not headlines. It became one of the most successful anti-poverty reforms in modern UK history. It worked.

We need the same kind of independent, evidence-led approach for Universal Credit.

An independent process would look at what essentials actually cost, advise the government on the basic rate of Universal Credit, protect people from political cycles and short-term budgeting and build stability into a system that millions of us rely on.

Share your thoughts. Contribute on this story or tell your own by writing to our Editor. The best letters every week will be published on the site. Find out how to get your letter published.

If we could do it for pay in 1997, we can do it for Universal Credit now.

We have come so far in the last eighteen months. Let’s keep pushing. In 1945 Labour built the NHS and the Welfare State. In 1997, after 18 years of the Tories, we created the National Minimum Wage. Now it’s time to take the welfare state safely out of the whims of politics – let’s make sure Universal Credit actually works for everyone who needs it. That is how we put our values into action.

• • SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
  • SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
  • DONATE: If you value our work, please chip in a few pounds a week and become one of our supporters, helping sustain and expand our coverage.
  • PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
  • ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].