Falling through the Net
The very poor in Britain live at the margin. Almost any crisis, from a house burning down to something as everyday as a child needing new shoes, can push them over the edge. All they can turn to in an emergency is the Government's social fund. Recent changes mean this is more likely to be a loan rather than a grant and, when the budget runs out, people are simply turned away.
Polly Toynbee reports on a system which is meant to stop the poor falling through the net, but which the High Court recently ruled had been operating illegally. She meets some of the recipients of the social fund and those who have been turned away, and asks whether, if the poor have a right to the bare necessities of life, the State is failing in its duty.
Producer Rosalind Erskine Editor Mark Thompson