Lonely this Christmas

A campaign set up to commemorate Labour MP Jo Cox has called for a new welfare system to help tackle the “social epidemic” of loneliness.

In a timely reminder that not everyone will be spend their Christmas surrounded by friends and family, the Jo Cox Loneliness Commission will publish its inquiry into the issue this Friday.

Speaking at the Policy Exchange think tank yesterday (December 11), commission chair and Labour MP Rachel Reeves explained that “loneliness has escalated from personal misfortune into a social epidemic.

“The crisis of loneliness exposes the limits of our welfare state. It is a deep challenge to our models of social reform – top down, target driven, payment by results, bureaucratic, Whitehall lever pulling – they won’t work,” Reeves said.

Stretched to the limit

“Our welfare system is stretched to the limit and too many people have been pushed to their’s after years of austerity. As well as more money, we need a new kind of welfare system that acts as a convenor, bringing people together to help them help themselves.”

No one single policy will defeat the epidemic of loneliness, warned Reeves, who said the issue, which is especially prevalent amongst the elderly, can affect anyone.

“Social change needs millions of small changes,” she said.

“We need to create new institutions, services and organisations that connect people with one another – and we need to think how we can use new technologies to expand connectivity not social isolation, and enrich rather than impoverish society.”

Head of Unite Community Liane Groves welcomed Reeves’ call for an overhaul of the welfare system, saying Unite Community activists nationwide regularly help people who are socially isolated and will continue doing so over the Christmas period.

Epidemic

“Loneliness is indeed an epidemic – as Unite Community volunteers can attest. Every day they meet people who have been driven into isolation and misery because of the Tories’ attacks on welfare and public services. While loneliness can affect anyone from any background, Rachel Reeves’ call for a new more supportive welfare system is particularly pertinent,” Groves believes.

“Of course it is vital to recognise that politicians, businesses, charities, trade unions and individuals can all help tackle loneliness. Encouraging lonely people to seek help, providing support for increasingly atomised and remote workforces, emphasising the negative health implications of loneliness or simply offering a cup of tea and a friendly ear, are just some of the ways that can be done.”

“However, the government can get a head start by reversing its brutal benefit sanctions regime and welfare cuts, which are casting already vulnerable people out of society and leaving them even more isolated.”

Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered last year by a right wing extremist, who has since been jailed for the crime.

During her speech Reeves paid tribute to the courageous and highly-respected Batley and Spen MP, saying, “It now falls on all of our shoulders to take forward Jo’s work and the causes she championed.”