A campaign calling for debt cancellation for people who have been swept into unavoidable debt in recent months launched on 4 October by a group of four denominations representing two-thirds of a million Christians and ecumenical charity, Church Action on Poverty.

The United Reformed Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Church Action on Poverty, the Church of Scotland, and the Methodist Church urge the government to create a Jubilee Fund to provide grants to pay off and cancel unavoidable debt accrued by the poorest households during the lockdown period, giving them a more stable platform from which to face the difficult winter ahead.

A petition signed by 300,000 people was delivered to Nestle’s UK KitKat factory in York on 1 October.

The event was in protest at Nestle’s move to stop using Fairtrade cocoa and sugar in KitKats.

The delivery, organised by Joanna Pollard of Fairtrade Yorkshire, coincided with the start of the annual cocoa harvest in the Ivory Coast and was applauded by the Revd Dr Kevin Snyman, Coordinator for Commitment for Life, the United Reformed Church’s (URC) global justice programme.

Launching a dedicated webpage that explores the legacies of slavery, Karen Campbell, Secretary for the United Reformed Church’s (URC) Global and Intercultural Ministries (GIM) team, explains why Black History Month 2020 is of particular importance.

October 2020 is the UK's 33rd occurrence of Black History Month - and is considered by some to be the most important since its inception.