REACTION: Chancellor's Conservative Party Conference speech

Responding to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Conservative Party Conference speech, Dr Silvia Galandini, Oxfam’s domestic poverty lead said:

“Our social security safety net already has too many holes; additional sanctions will do little to reduce the issues many people face when trying to access work and even less to lift people out of poverty and tackle inequality.

"If the Chancellor genuinely wants to get more people into work, he should focus on making the system fairer and more flexible to allow millions of people with caring responsibilities to juggle unpaid care and paid work. Many unpaid carers for disabled, ill and older people are forced to give up work and are only paid an allowance of less than £80 a week. Unpaid care – the majority of which is done by women - holds up our economy and society; the UK government must do more to recognise this and provide proper financial support.”

Ends