Agenda item

On behalf of the people of Leeds, this Council recognises the invaluable work of so many local organisations and individuals, and in particular expresses our huge gratitude to our key workers for their phenomenal dedication and sacrifices during this long period of intense pressure.

Council welcomes the development and roll out of vaccinations in the battle to suppress COVID-19, but recognises that significant challenges still remain.

Council recognises one of the biggest challenges is the huge increase in poverty in Leeds caused by 10 years of austerity and the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrated by the fact over 70,000 people in Leeds now claim Universal Credit. 

Council welcomes local work undertaken to mitigate the impact of Covid 19 on our communities but believes the Government’s confusing and inconsistent implementation of restrictions in response to CVOID-19 has contributed to the loss of jobs and rise in Universal Credit claimants. 

Council shares the concerns of organisations in Leeds, including Trade Unions, who are concerned by the Government’s plan to reverse the £20 uplift in Universal Credit, which would see support for unemployed people fall to its lowest level in real terms since 1990-91. Council is particularly concerned by the impact this will have on child poverty, with 35,000 children in Leeds currently living in poverty.

Council welcomes the support of key partners to help address Holiday Hunger in Leeds, including the provision of tens of thousands of food parcels to those in need since the start of the pandemic, although Council believes the provision of such support demonstrates a colossal failure at national Government level to tackle poverty.  

Council requests the Chief Executive write on Council’s behalf to the Secretary of State to call for the Government to make the £20 uplift in Universal Credit permanent as a first step in helping to address poverty, and for the Government to then develop an urgent national strategy with funding to address the poverty emergency blighting our communities.

It was moved by Councillor Coupar, seconded by Councillor Charlwood that on behalf of the people of Leeds, this Council recognises the invaluable work of so many local organisations and individuals, and in particular expresses our huge gratitude to our key workers for their phenomenal dedication and sacrifices during this long period of intense pressure.

Council welcomes the development and roll out of vaccinations in the battle to suppress COVID-19, but recognises that significant challenges still remain.

Council recognises one of the biggest challenges is the huge increase in poverty in Leeds caused by 10 years of austerity and the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrated by the fact over 70,000 people in Leeds now claim Universal Credit. 

Council welcomes local work undertaken to mitigate the impact of Covid 19 on our communities but believes the Government’s confusing and inconsistent implementation of restrictions in response to CVOID-19 has contributed to the loss of jobs and rise in Universal Credit claimants. 

Council shares the concerns of organisations in Leeds, including Trade Unions, who are concerned by the Government’s plan to reverse the £20 uplift in Universal Credit, which would see support for unemployed people fall to its lowest level in real terms since 1990-91. Council is particularly concerned by the impact this will have on child poverty, with 35,000 children in Leeds currently living in poverty.

Council welcomes the support of key partners to help address Holiday Hunger in Leeds, including the provision of tens of thousands of food parcels to those in need since the start of the pandemic, although Council believes the provision of such support demonstrates a colossal failure at national Government level to tackle poverty.  

Council requests the Chief Executive write on Council’s behalf to the Secretary of State to call for the Government to make the £20 uplift in Universal Credit permanent as a first step in helping to address poverty, and for the Government to then develop an urgent national strategy with funding to address the poverty emergency blighting our communities.

An amendment was moved by Councillor B Anderson, seconded by Councillor T Smith

Delete all after “Council welcomes” in the second paragraph, and replace with:

“the government’s early development and roll out of vaccinations in the battle to suppress COVID-19, and commits to doing everything it can to help this programme run efficiently.

“Council notes that the government is continuing to provide a completely unprecedented level of financial support to help protect jobs and support businesses during the pandemic, including through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.

“Council regrets attempts to politicise this national crisis by conflating the financial impact of COVID-19 on families with responsible management of the country’s finances over the last 10 years. Before the pandemic, the UK achieved the lowest levels of unemployment since records began, bolstered by reforms to the welfare system that make work pay. Council welcomes the fact that the government has also consistently supported the lowest-paid families, including by raising the living wage, ending the benefit freeze, increasing Universal Credit and Tax Credits by up to £20 a week, and in total putting another £9.3bn into the welfare system.

“Council welcomes the support of key partners to help address Holiday Hunger in Leeds, and notes the government’s £170m Covid Winter Grant Scheme and its £220m Holiday Activities and Food programme, with disadvantaged children able to get healthy food and take part in activities over summer, Christmas and Easter in 2021.

“Council notes that poverty is regrettably not a new phenomenon. Figures show that 22% of the population are currently defined as living in relative low income households after housing costs in the UK, whilst in 2000/01 it was 23% of the population across Great Britain. Council accepts that many families continue to struggle with poverty and that the current crisis has exacerbated these problems.

“Council notes that the government has committed to continue to assess how best to support low-income families, and will look at the economic and health context as it develops this year. Council also believes the ruling administration in Leeds needs to reassess its own strategy for tackling poverty, to see what more it can do to address this problem in light of the current challenges facing our communities. This should include re-examining some of this administration’s own decisions over the last few years which have had a negative financial impact on families living in poverty, such as increased charges for bulky and inert waste collections.”

Motion would read:

“On behalf of the people of Leeds, this Council recognises the invaluable work of so many local organisations and individuals, and in particular expresses our huge gratitude to our key workers for their phenomenal dedication and sacrifices during this long period of intense pressure.

“Council welcomes the government’s early development and roll out of vaccinations in the battle to suppress COVID-19, and commits to doing everything it can to help this programme run efficiently.

“Council notes that the government is continuing to provide a completely unprecedented level of financial support to help protect jobs and support businesses during the pandemic, including through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.

“Council regrets attempts to politicise this national crisis by conflating the financial impact of COVID-19 on families with responsible management of the country’s finances over the last 10 years. Before the pandemic, the UK achieved the lowest levels of unemployment since records began, bolstered by reforms to the welfare system that make work pay. Council welcomes the fact that the government has also consistently supported the lowest-paid families, including by raising the living wage, ending the benefit freeze, increasing Universal Credit and Tax Credits by up to £20 a week, and in total putting another £9.3bn into the welfare system.

“Council welcomes the support of key partners to help address Holiday Hunger in Leeds, and notes the government’s £170m Covid Winter Grant Scheme and its £220m Holiday Activities and Food programme, with disadvantaged children able to get healthy food and take part in activities over summer, Christmas and Easter in 2021.

“Council notes that poverty is regrettably not a new phenomenon. Figures show that 22% of the population are currently defined as living in relative low income households after housing costs in the UK, whilst in 2000/01 it was 23% of the population across Great Britain. Council accepts that many families continue to struggle with poverty and that the current crisis has exacerbated these problems.

“Council notes that the government has committed to continue to assess how best to support low-income families, and will look at the economic and health context as it develops this year. Council also believes the ruling administration in Leeds needs to reassess its own strategy for tackling poverty, to see what more it can do to address this problem in light of the current challenges facing our communities. This should include re-examining some of this administration’s own decisions over the last few years which have had a negative financial impact on families living in poverty, such as increased charges for bulky and inert waste collections.”

A second amendment was moved by Councillor Finnigan, seconded by Councillor Hutchison;

To move an amendment by removing paragraphs 3,4,5 and 6, and add additional wording at the end the amended motion would read as follows:

On behalf of the people of Leeds, this Council recognises the invaluable work of so many local organisations and individuals, and in particular expresses our huge gratitude to our key workers for their phenomenal dedication and sacrifices during this long period of intense pressure.

Council welcomes the development and roll out of vaccinations in the battle to suppress COVID-19, but recognises that significant challenges still remain.

Council requests the Chief Executive write on Council’s behalf to the Secretary of State to call for the Government to make the £20 uplift in Universal Credit permanent as a first step in helping to address poverty, secondly to address the assistance to helping companies who find themselves not included in the retail, hospitality and leisure grant schemes and not included in the discretionary grant schemes but are still severely affected indirectly by the sectors told to close and thirdly to help company Directors and entrepreneurs who are also severely affected financially.

The Government to then develop an urgent national strategy with funding to address the poverty and financial emergency blighting our communities.

A third amendment was moved by Councillor Golton, seconded by Councillor Downes;

Amend the first paragraph to include the phrase “in response to the Covid pandemic” after ‘individuals’.

Delete the paragraph ’Council.........credit’

Delete the paragraph ‘Council......in poverty’

Amend the following paragraph ‘Council....tackle poverty’ by replacing the words ‘Holiday Hunger’ with “food poverty” and inserting the words “historic” after ‘colossal’ and “local and” before ‘national’.

Delete the words ‘to address poverty’ and replace with “the 70,000 households currently claiming Universal Credit in the city” in the final paragraph.

The amended motion reads:

On behalf of the people of Leeds, this Council recognises the invaluable work of so many local organisations and individuals in response to the Covid pandemic, and in particular expresses our huge gratitude to our key workers for their phenomenal dedication and sacrifices during this long period of intense pressure.

Council welcomes the development and roll out of vaccinations in the battle to suppress COVID?19, but recognises that significant challenges still remain.

Council welcomes local work undertaken to mitigate the impact of Covid 19 on our communities but believes the Government’s confusing and inconsistent implementation of restrictions in response to CVOID-19 has contributed to the loss of jobs and rise in Universal Credit claimants. 

Council welcomes the support of key partners to help address food poverty in Leeds, including the provision of tens of thousands of food parcels to those in need since the start of the pandemic, although Council believes the provision of such support demonstrates a colossal historic failure at local and national government level to tackle poverty.

Council requests the Chief Executive write on Council’s behalf to the Secretary of State to call for the Government to make the £20 uplift in Universal Credit permanent as a first step in helping the 70,000 households currently claiming Universal Credit in the city, and for the Government to then develop an urgent national strategy with funding to address the poverty emergency blighting our communities.

The amendments in the name of Councillor B Anderson, Councillor Finnigan and Councillor Golton were declared lost and upon being put to the vote it was

RESOLVED – That on behalf of the people of Leeds, this Council recognises the invaluable work of so many local organisations and individuals, and in particular expresses our huge gratitude to our key workers for their phenomenal dedication and sacrifices during this long period of intense pressure.

Council welcomes the development and roll out of vaccinations in the battle to suppress COVID-19, but recognises that significant challenges still remain.

Council recognises one of the biggest challenges is the huge increase in poverty in Leeds caused by 10 years of austerity and the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrated by the fact over 70,000 people in Leeds now claim Universal Credit. 

Council welcomes local work undertaken to mitigate the impact of Covid 19 on our communities but believes the Government’s confusing and inconsistent implementation of restrictions in response to CVOID-19 has contributed to the loss of jobs and rise in Universal Credit claimants. 

Council shares the concerns of organisations in Leeds, including Trade Unions, who are concerned by the Government’s plan to reverse the £20 uplift in Universal Credit, which would see support for unemployed people fall to its lowest level in real terms since 1990-91. Council is particularly concerned by the impact this will have on child poverty, with 35,000 children in Leeds currently living in poverty.

Council welcomes the support of key partners to help address Holiday Hunger in Leeds, including the provision of tens of thousands of food parcels to those in need since the start of the pandemic, although Council believes the provision of such support demonstrates a colossal failure at national Government level to tackle poverty.  

Council requests the Chief Executive write on Council’s behalf to the Secretary of State to call for the Government to make the £20 uplift in Universal Credit permanent as a first step in helping to address poverty, and for the Government to then develop an urgent national strategy with funding to address the poverty emergency blighting our communities.