Have I got your attention? OK, so £78 billion per year is not “keeping” people in poverty, but it’s not lifting them out of it either. “An estimated £78bn of public spending is linked to dealing with poverty and its consequences (JRF, 2016).” Whilst it’s fantastic that there is funding for services to be provided, none of them are solving the route cause of poverty; rather, it maintains people in the position they are in.
For us to live a well rounded and healthy life, we have basic needs that need to be met in order for us to thrive. It can be explained using a psychological theory called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (my Health & Social Care teacher would be delighted to know that her years of teaching have not been wasted). The Hierarchy is normally displayed in a pyramid format and there are 5 ‘levels’ of need that humans have. Working from the bottom layer of the pyramid upwards, the layers are as follows: Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Love & Belonging, Esteem and finally, Self Actualisation.
Before I explain this pyramid, it needs to be understood that whilst it is called a hierarchy and shaped in a way that would invite the idea of stages or steps; Maslow's Hierarchy is organised in a way that helps explain, but is not conformed to its structure. What I mean by this is, that whilst the stages are referencing the needs we all have, it does not mean that we can only experience these things at our best. There is fluidity with these stages, which will become clearer as we get into the explanation.
Our physiological needs are the basics of what we need to live; air, food, water, shelter, clothing and sleep - they are the bare bones of what a human being is entitled to in order to have a basic semblance of living. Then we move into our Safety Needs - security of the body, employment, resources, social ability, safety of family, safety of health and of property. Our next stage is Love & Belonging - friendship, family, intimacy; basically a sense of connection with other people. We are now on to stage 4 of the pyramid which is our Esteem; this includes our own self-esteem, respect for ourselves, having our own sense of achievement and possessing self-confidence. Whilst we might not feel confident all the time, we can still have respect for ourselves; whilst we might not feel filled with positive self-esteem, we will still have goals that we want to achieve (big or small). Esteem is where most people who have all of their basic needs met, will ‘live’ and then will fluctuate between esteem and self-actualization - hey, I don’t know you reader, you might live in a self-actualised sate all the time, if so - good for you! Do not fret, dear reader, if you are amongst those who feel their esteem levels can be in their boots sometimes - you are in plenty of company; luckily - we can all have experiences of self-actualisation, which is our fifth and final stage of our hierarchy. Self- Actualization looks like acceptance of facts, lack of prejudice, spontaneity, creativity and morality - this is like being the truest version of yourself. "Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What human beings can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature. This need we may call self-actualisation.”(A. Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 1954)
As I said, there is a fluidity with these stages, so you can have good morals and high self-esteem, even if you don’t have safety with employment. You can still be creative even if you don’t have access to a shelter. The premise of the hierarchy is that it is easier for us to experience levels of esteem and self-actualisation on a more regular basis, when there is security with all of the “basic” needs.
Poverty reduces the chances for people to have security in their basic needs and therefore it reduces their chances to have daily experiences with more of the good stuff from the top of the pyramid. “The constant stress it (poverty)causes can overwhelm people, affecting them emotionally and depriving them of the chance to play a full part in society…” (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, We Can Solve Poverty in the UK, 2016) Whilst saying that makes people empathetic, the world keeps on spinning and those who have the privilege of not being impacted by poverty go on about our lives. Although it is our right to do so, it is important to understand that whilst we might not live in poverty, we are all impacted by it. Concerningly, whilst the everyday person understands this notion, those who actually sit in leadership don’t seem to fully grasp this concept. The government spends £78 billion. £78 billion. YEARLY - meaning 6.5 billion pounds a month. Two hundred fourteen million pounds PER DAY. This is all spent on the likes of health, education, benefit support, transport specifically for people who are using these services due to their financial circumstances being less than desirable. £78 billion to bridge the gaps for everyday people, yet not actually doing anything to give them the opportunity to change their circumstances. “...a large proportion of what we spend publicly (about £1 in every £5 spent on public services) is making up for the way that poverty damages people’s lives…” (JRF, 2016)
Imagine what else could be done with that amount of money?
It’s ironic that we are spending £78 billion yearly to support services that aid those in crisis, when research shows that if those in the lower 70% of tax the bracket were paid a yearly universal basic income(UBI) it would effectively eliminate absolute poverty, bringing the percentages of adults in poverty from 16% to 4% and poverty amongst children and the elderly would be basically a thing of the past. I read about the proposal of the UBI payments from a research piece completed by Karl Widerquiest, focused mainly on Great Britain's statistics (so slightly different to what Northern Ireland might be figures wise, but we can make it work). Honestly it is very well written and sounds very intelligent, but I have to insult Karl and put it into layman's terms for my own sense of understanding.
So, what I have gathered from his research is that basically, the idea of the UBI payment would mean that adults earning £32,000 and below would receive a payment of £7,706 per year, which would act almost like a tax cut, whilst those with higher earnings would have a slightly higher tax bracket in order to contribute to this scheme. The UBI would also provide payments to parents/guardians of £3,803 per child, essentially acting as the child benefit payment (currently with Child Benefit system, families can get about £2,300 per child - but if they have any more than 2 children, then there is no provision made for larger families). The median wage for people in Northern Ireland (about 70% of the population) sits at around £32,500 (about £35,000 for mainland GB). The highest 10 % of people are earning upwards of £59,000 per year, according to data collected in 2023. Whilst the other 20% are earning below 60% of the average household median income (about £19,740) which are the people considered to be on or below the poverty line.
Now, people might argue and say that this is an unfair distribution of taxation and those who are in higher paying jobs shouldn’t have to pay for those earning less. “The reality is, almost anyone can experience poverty. Unexpected events such as bereavement, illness, redundancy or relationship breakdown are sometimes all it can take to push us into circumstances that then become difficult to escape.” (JRF, 2016) Whilst I see your point, I raise you the perspective that no one asks to be in poverty. Also, if we go back to the yearly £78 billion spend and take out the £67 billion this scheme would cost to implement, we are actually saving £11 billion - totally girl mathing this for the benefit of all of us. This scheme might not have to be forever either, really it would only need about 5 years before being reassessed. The money invested in the 70% would have led them to now being more comfortable, with some being moved into the top 30% earner bracket due to the financial support received. The original bottom 20% that are now over the poverty line and have a little more breathing room. This is now the main group that needs the funding support, so for the next 5 years say, the same support is given but rather than the 70%, it goes to 35% and so on and so forth. What happens after 15 or 20 years of this scheme running? Poverty becomes almost obsolete, the economy is at its healthiest and the world is looking to Britain as the road map on how to do the same, education is churning out some of the worlds best professionals, we become the shinning star in health care and research, people are living better, longer and suddenly we are the beacon of what a life well lived looks like. We are literally Maslow’s pyramid and we would be living at the top of it - all the time. Not only that, once the scheme has done its job and ended poverty, now the country has a wealth of funds to spend in other areas. The maintenance of our new social system, free healthcare with a system that is not over run, underpaid and cracking at the seams. Public services are all running as they should, hey maybe we could even buy back Royal Mail- whatever it might be, the country could actually be in a place of security for its people. The problem though; which party would lead us well enough to actually allow this? (At this moment, none of them but that’s for another blog…)
We work with 350 students weekly and currently their dreams and aspirations range from those who still have the hope that innocence allows to those who have experienced the realities that their circumstances have altered them to believe. I have primary school students dreaming of being doctors, teachers, astronauts or princesses and I have secondary school students who tell me they are too stupid to do their work, so they will do whatever job will take them. This is one of the many side effects of poverty and there are 78 billion ways for us to change that, the question is; at what cost?
