QSA backs Challenge Poverty Week
Quaker Social Action's Made of Money and Down to Earth programmes back Challenge Poverty Week
Quaker Social Action (QSA) ran a drop-in ‘Festival of Cookies’ last week, to target digital exclusion for Challenge Poverty Week England and Wales. A digital ‘cookie’ is a small piece of data used by websites to identify your computer or phone.
Carrie Comfort, manager of QSA’s Made of Money programme, told the Friend that the three-hour sessions at Island House in London’s Docklands shared ‘bite-sized’ facts and tips about these cookies. The sessions included ‘tasting lots of different real-life biscuits too’ and ‘a vote for our “essential cookie”’, she said. ‘Dealing with cookies is an essential part of going online but it can make people feel confused. This can make it harder for people both to go online, and to make decisions clearly once they are online. But research from 2016 shows an average family of four can save up to £744 a year by taking advantage of online offers and savings, so for Made of Money, which supports people on lower incomes with financial wellbeing and skills, we want to support people to have better experiences online. Engaging without confusion and with confidence helps us do this more safely.’
The Good Things Foundation estimates that, without further intervention, 5.8 million people may remain digitally excluded by 2032.
Emily Barker, research and learning officer for 4in10 London’s Child Poverty Network, said the week was ‘an opportunity for all those who care about tackling poverty in the capital to come together to increase the visibility of the reality of poverty in London, [and] encourage positive debate’.
Campaigners for QSA’s Down to Earth funeral work are also partnering with Caledonia Funeral Aid and Poverty Alliance to call on the Scottish Government to increase the flat rate of the Funeral Support Payment to £2,484. According to the campaigners, the current flat payment only pays around fifty per cent of the average funeral directors’ fee for a simple ‘Attended Funeral’. Lindesay Mace, QSA’s Down to Earth co-manager, told the Friend that the proposed uplift ‘aligns with the Competition and Markets Authority’s estimate of the average funeral director costs for a simple “Attended Funeral” in 2023 (including funeral director, coffin, care of the deceased person and transport). This would enable more people to meet core funeral director costs, reduce funeral debt and the impacts on people’s standard of living and their mental and physical health.’
London Challenge Poverty Week is coordinated by 4in10, which has been hosted by QSA since January this year. The ‘Festival of Cookies’ was run jointly for Get Online Week and Challenge Poverty Week.
