During the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool last week, Stephen spoke on a panel about poverty premiums. The panel was sponsored by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to explain what poverty premiums are and how a Labour Government could eliminate them.
Poverty premiums are the extra cost that people in poverty pay for essential products and services. For example, most people in poorer households pay for their electricity using a pre-payment meter, which costs more than paying via direct debit. The CSJ estimates that poorer households lose £478 per year on average due to poverty premiums.
Stephen spoke about the causes of poverty premiums - which include digital and financial exclusion - and proposed ways to address poverty premiums, such as better advertisement of social tariffs for broadband and utilities. The panel also included political editor of the Daily Express David Maddox, Matthew Greenwood of the CSJ, Tamara Dewhirst from Virgin Money, and Helen Milner OBE from the Good Things Foundation.
