Plan A has failed. It is time for Plan F

Background

Austerity has had a devastating impact on the poorest households and on women. By 2020 the living standards of the 10% lowest income households will fall by an average of 21%, more than five times as much as the cut to living standards of the top 10%. Women are hit harder than men and households headed by women such as lone parents and single female pensioners are hit hardest, both being about 20% worse-off on average in 2020.

In place of austerity the UK Women’s Budget Group, together with the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, propose PLAN F, a long term feminist economic plan to invest in creating a caring and sustainable economy that prioritises care for people and for the planet.

This would mean:

• Reverse cuts to public services and social security that have had particularly adverse impacts on women
• Invest in social infrastructure- care, health, education and training services, social security and housing, complemented by investment in renewable energy and environmentally friendly public transport.
• Reform plans for Universal Credit
• Improve the terms and conditions of work for the paid work force who staff the social infrastructure the majority of whom are women
• Strengthen worker’s rights throughout the economy. Raise the minimum wage to a level that ensures a decent living.
• Ensure access to affordable care
• Improve support for people – currently mainly women – who provide unpaid care in families and communities and encourage men to contribute more to unpaid care.
• Create a social security system that aims at fairer sharing of caring and the costs of caring
• Increase investment in social housing and in insulating homes. An affordable home for all is central to a caring economy.

Download the full Plan F briefing.