19th Sep 2025
Article

The Cost of Hardship in Cambridge: short film published

CommunityEssentials Guarantee

Campaigners have released a short film aimed at Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner, revealing the real cost of hardship in Cambridge.

Cambridge City Foodbank and the Guarantee Our Essentials group of Survivors have been campaigning for an Essentials Guarantee. An Essentials Guarantee would ensure that the basic rate of social security payment was always enough to cover life's essentials. Last year Cambridge City Foodbank gave out nearly 18,000 emergency food parcels. 

This video tells the story of the people behind the statistic, the true cost of hardship, and the community coming together to build a future where no one needs a food bank to survive.

It's our message to Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner, who we're calling on to back an Essentials Guarantee. It shows the reality of life without the essentials, right here in Cambridge. It's made by working alongside the Group of Survivors, who are people campaigning for an Essentials Guarantee and who are living, and surviving, on Universal Credit.

Dear Daniel, 

This is the cost of hardship in Cambridge.

Hunger is not inevitable. We can, and must, take action so that no one is forced to turn to a food bank to survive. 

Take action now

#OurEssentials

Add your name to the petition calling on Daniel Zeichner to back an Essentials Guarantee.

Film screening

On 11th September, campaigners and partners gathered to view this short film together, celebrate the work of the campaign so far, and to plan next steps. 

Group of people sat in a large hall facing a screen. A woman gestures towards the image on screen as if explaning it.
Campaigners preview the film
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