A YORK-BASED charity is calling for the redesign of the social security system to ensure that nobody in the UK is left without the bare essentials needed to eat, stay warm and dry, and keep clean.

A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found that more than one and a half million people were in destitution at some point in 2017, including 365,000 children.

Levels of destitution have declined by around 25 per cent between 2015 and 2017, and a reduction in benefit sanctions appears to be the most significant factor behind this, JRF said.

For those left destitute, JRF has identified that social security policies and practice can in many cases directly lead to destitution ‘by design’ - from gaps, flaws and choices within the social security system - meaning that people are being left without support when they most need it.

People were defined as destitute in this study, conducted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, if they or their children have lacked two or more of the following six essentials over the past month because they cannot afford them, or their income is so low, less than £10 per day for a single person (excluding housing costs), that they have been unable to purchase them for themselves:

• Shelter (have slept rough for one or more nights)

• Food (have had fewer than two meals a day for two or more days)

• Heating their home (have been unable to do this for five or more days)

• Lighting their home (have been unable to do this for five or more days)

• Appropriate clothing and footwear

• Basic toiletries

Campbell Robb, chief executive of the JRF, said: “To be destitute doesn’t just mean getting by on very little, it’s losing the ability to keep a roof over your head, eat often enough, or afford warm clothes when it’s cold.

"You can’t keep yourself clean or put the lights on.

“We all want to live in a society where we protect each other from harm, and we need to put things right to protect people from this degrading experience.

"We can start by redesigning our social security system so that it provides the basic protection people need.”

JRF is calling on the UK Government to:

• End the freeze on working-age benefits so they at least keep up with the cost of essentials.

• Change the use of sanctions within Universal Credit so that people are not left destitute by design.

• Review the total amount of debt that can be clawed back from people receiving benefits, so they can keep their heads above water.