Therese Coffey suggests people struggling to afford food should ‘work more hours’

Published

2 years ago

February 23, 2023

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The environment secretary has suggested people struggling to afford rising food bills should consider working longer hours.

Asked how the government is ensuring food security after food banks in York began running out, Therese Coffey said people could increase their income by getting into work, “potentially” working more hours, or getting “upskilled”.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who posed the question in parliament, was heard saying “that’s appalling” as the cabinet minister replied to her concerns.

Cost of living latest: Major high street name ‘shutting all its stores’

Ms Coffey said there is “no doubt inflation is really tough at the moment” and outlined schemes in place for vulnerable people – such as the household support fund and local welfare grant.

She added: “Of course we do know that one of the best ways to boost their incomes is not only to get into work if they’re not in work already, but potentially to work some more hours, to get upskilled, to get a higher income.”

Ms Maskell called her comments “shocking” and accused her of blaming struggling people for food poverty.

Speaking after the exchange in the Commons, she told the PA news agency: “With food prices going up 16.8% over the last year, the secretary of state said that people needed to work more hours to pay for their food.

“It is shocking that the environment secretary shifted blame for food poverty onto people because they are on low wages and are poor, expecting them to work even more hours to put food on the table.

“People are going hungry, often limiting themselves to one small meal a day or missing food altogether. It is time her government supported families in need, not making them work harder for a crust.”

During environment, food and rural affairs questions, York Central MP Ms Maskell earlier accused the government of building its food poverty infrastructure “with dependency on voluntary donations and retail waste donations”.

She said that “due to demand, food banks in York are running out, eking out food supplies”.

Ms Coffey insisted that while prices on shelves are rising in the UK “we still have a situation where generally across Europe we have one of the lowest proportion of our incomes being spent on food. Supermarkets have been very competitive”.

Official figures show food in the UK is continuing to increase in price faster than anything else, with inflation remaining at a 45-year-high.

However, there are early indications the speed at which prices are rising may have peaked, with inflation now at 16.7% – down on December’s record highs of 16.8%.

Inflation began to increase in late 2021 when supply chain problems linked to COVID lockdowns and the associated worker shortages meant demand for goods could not be met.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine then exacerbated the problem.

Conservative MPs have previously come under criticism for comments about food poverty.

The new deputy chairman of the Conservative party, Lee Anderson, has repeatedly hit out at food bank usage, saying people relying on them don’t know how to cook or budget properly.

Last year, former cabinet minister George Eustice said consumers facing the biggest rise in shop prices in more than a decade should buy “value brands”.

Business

Homebase deal leaves 2,000 jobs at risk

Published

9 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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The jobs of more than half of the workforce at the DIY chain Homebase are at risk after the retailer’s owners called in administrators following a failed attempt at a sale.

Sky News reported earlier on Wednesday that around 1,500 people were set to keep their roles as 75 of the 130 stores were set to be snapped up by the saviour of Wilko in a so-called pre-pack deal.

The Range, also a general merchandise specialist, was confirmed as the buyer later in the day.

Teneo, which is handling the process, is understood to have been working to find a buyer for as many of the chain’s sites as possible.

Teneo said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon that up to 70 stores were confirmed to be included in the deal – saving up to 1,600 jobs out of 3,600.

It leaves 2,000 jobs at risk.

Forty-nine other stores will continue to trade while alternative offers are explored.

Sources told Sky’s City editor Mark Kleinman that there had been many expressions of interest in the remaining stores, despite the gloom being felt across the retail sector over the higher tax take demanded in the budget.

The sector has warned of higher inflation and job losses arising from the measures, which include increased employer national insurance contributions and minimum wage levels.

The pre-pack deal – which typically allows a buyer to cherry-pick the assets it wants – brings to an end a six-year ownership of Homebase by Hilco, the retail restructuring specialist.

Teneo had initially been attempting to find a buyer for the whole Homebase business.

The partial sale comprises all those stores in the Republic of Ireland and the Homebase brand and its e-commerce business.

The Range is part of CDS Superstores, which is controlled by the businessman Chris Dawson – nicknamed “the Del Boy billionaire” because of the distinctive number plate on his Rolls-Royce Wraith.

Last year, it paid £7m to buy the brand and intellectual property assets of Wilko, which had collapsed into administration.

Since then, Mr Dawson has opened a string of new Wilko outlets.

Business

P&O spent £47m sacking and replacing 786 mainly British seafarers in 2022

Published

15 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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P&O spent £47m sacking and replacing 786 mainly British seafarers in 2022

P&O Ferries spent more than £47m summarily sacking hundreds of seafarers in 2022, helping it cut losses by more than £125m and putting it on a path to profitability, according to accounts due to be published in the coming days.

The dismissal of 786 mainly British seafarers, and their replacement with largely non-European agency staff earning as little as £4.87 an hour, was hugely controversial, drawing criticism from across the political spectrum and threats of a consumer boycott.

The controversy was rekindled last month when Sky News revealed that DP World, P&O‘s Dubai-based parent, considered withdrawing a £1bn investment at its London Gateway port following criticism of P&O by the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh.

P&O has always maintained the restructuring was necessary to allow it to compete with its rivals on cross-Channel routes, and prevent a total collapse of the company with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs.

In financial statements for P&O Holdings, filed 11 months late and seen by Sky News, the company says the restructuring cost £47.4m including legal fees and consultants, allowing it to cut the overall wage and salary bill by £21.3m.

In a note accompanying the accounts submitted to Companies House, P&O’s directors describe the restructuring as part of a “transformational journey” that will help it return to recording a profit before tax this year.

“The business has been on a transformational journey as it has recovered from the challenges of the global pandemic, Brexit and the impact of disruption caused by the change in the crewing model,” the directors say.

“The group believes that the transformational actions that commenced in 2022 and continue through into 2024 will equip the business to grow profitably when demand rises in the coming years.”

Brexit and COVID financial distress

The accounts reveal the financial distress in which P&O found itself in 2022.

Having recorded losses of £375m the previous year as it struggled to recover from the pandemic-era decline in passenger numbers and post-Brexit complications, it was in breach of its covenants to external lenders underwriting the construction of new hybrid cross-Channel ferries.

Despite the restructuring costs, revenue increased by £83.3m to £918m in the financial year, but the company still recorded a loss of £249m and was reliant on loans totalling £365m from parent company DP World to remain a going concern.

An additional £70m was made available this year, with 4.5% interest rolled up and not requiring any repayment until 2028 at the earliest.

The financial statements also reveal that P&O was forced to sell one of the new cross-Channel ferries to a French subsidiary to pay off an external financing loan of £76.9m, and then lease the vessel back from its ultimate owner.

In a statement, P&O Ferries said: “Our 2022 financial accounts show the challenges faced by the business at that time, and why the business needed to transform into a competitive operator with a sustainable long-term future.

“P&O Ferries has taken steps to adjust to new market conditions, matching our capacity to demand, and adopting a more flexible operating model that enables us to better serve our customers.”

Business

Why P&O Ferries’ pariah status may never change

Published

15 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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Why P&O Ferries' pariah status may never change

P&O Ferries’ summary sacking of hundreds of seafarers in March 2022 was and remains perhaps the most ruthless act of “restructuring” in British corporate history.

From the furthest left of the trades union movement to the right of the Conservative government, P&O and its lightning-rod chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite were condemned for shamelessly putting profit before people, without the courtesy of notice and due consultation.

Two years on, the company remains unapologetic and a pariah to some, including the transport secretary. That may never change. But long-overdue accounts for 2022 do illuminate why the company acted as it did.

In 2022, buffeted by Brexit and with passenger numbers devastated by COVID, P&O was holed below the water line, leaking cash and sinking fast.

Losses in 2021 had swelled to £375m, with payroll costs for 3,018 employees – 859 of them seafarers – of more than £132m.

It was also in breach of its covenants on more than £70m of loans from an external lender underwriting the cost of new hybrid cross-Channel ferries.

Only rolling and increasing loans from parent company DP World were preventing P&O from going under.

As well as earning at least the UK minimum wage, those seafarers were bound by work patterns negotiated with unions, including the RMT, that P&O says lacked flexibility and left some crossings unprofitable.

By contrast one of their competitors on the Dover-Calais route, Irish Ferries, was exploiting international maritime law to pay agency seafarers far less.

Mr Hebblethwaite’s response – and DP World insists it was his call – was breathtaking. The unionised workforce was fired by video call, escorted from vessels and, after a four-week shutdown, replaced by workers largely flown in from beyond Europe for rosters involving months at sea.

That move saved more than £21m from the payroll and helped a turnaround the company says will see a return to pre-tax profit this year.

Ask P&O executives in Dover or those from its parent company in Dubai, and they will tell you the ends justified the means, and point out that passenger numbers are increasing.

New laws that came too late for sacked workers

And these accounts have been filed just as legislation takes effect that would have removed any advantage from the sackings.

Since May, French law has required the minimum wage to be paid in French waters, and from December, UK law will require the same, making the Channel a haven of relatively high pay in a maritime industry overwhelmingly fuelled by cheap labour sourced from Asia.

It is an irony unlikely to be lost on seafarers who paid with their jobs.