Those of us who believe in giving a helping hand to the most vulnerable in society seem forever on the back foot these days. Benefits and welfare have now become dirty words; much of this comes from the media with the dominant narrative of scroungers and layabouts trying to pick the pockets of hard-working taxpayers. However, what we have is a fabulous and necessary safety net and we should sing its praises more often. But if you hit that net too hard it can still break.

Many people do not realise just how easy it is to find yourself needing the support of a benevolent state. If you are on a low income it does not take much to land yourself in trouble; big trouble, and it is not even necessarily through any error on the claimant’s part. In many cases they have done everything right ­– followed the rules, worked hard and lived blameless lives but then something has gone horribly wrong.

This is the biggest failing in the current system; the whole lot is geared around the assumption that everyone is a long-term fraudulent claimant from the off and that they are just after something for nothing. We inflict on them intrusive examinations of every kind and then make them wait weeks, sometimes months, for the meagre handouts from the benefits table. Sadly, this costs the rest of us much more in the long run.

If you are working hard on low wages it is possible to keep your head above water; difficult, but possible. You need to pay rent to keep a roof over your head; you may even have a mortgage on your own home. What those wages do not buy you, though, is security. A cushion if something goes wrong. The main breadwinner dies or leaves; the boiler fails at the same time as the cooker. The car needs replacing, the one you use to get to work. For those on low wages these are very big problems that can rapidly lead into a downward spiral of financial crisis.

Government could remove some of this pain by providing a front-loaded crisis payment. A rapid access lump sum, say £2,000 over four months that can be requested and given out in 48 hours with few questions asked. It does not even have to be given; those who are able to can pay it back in small instalments at a very low interest rate.

Until 2013, community care grants and crisis loans were available through the social fund but much of that was abolished by the coalition government. Even so, they were far from ideal with virtually no help available to people with mortgages. Housing benefit only goes to those who rent; and it does not help with securing a deposit and the first month’s rent in advance. Three missed mortgage payments puts you into serious trouble; a payday loan and a shattered credit rating incurred just trying to pay your bills and do the right thing. And then with no chance of paying it off a lifetime of benefit dependency follows. The closer you are to retirement age, the more devastating the blow.

Some will argue such payments can be abused; and yes there need to be checks made and repayment of unnecessary claims, but fraud is fraud and usually the money just needs delivering fast. After all, most people do not want to claim; they claim because they have no choice.

For many, owning their own home is the difference between a secure independent retirement and a precarious cash-strapped one. For others the need for a home, any home, is critical. In a society where we have encouraged home ownership, and where rents soar out of control, it is only fair that we should help those who have staked so much on their homes to keep them through short-term cash flow crises or when the unimaginable happens. Such a payment may look a lot but if it saves a home and a lifelong benefit dependency it saves us all.

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Christabel Edwards is a Labour party activist. She tweets @Christabel321

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Image: tax brackets.org