Work must be properly paid for if hard-up families are to find a way out of poverty, the Archbishop of Westminster said today.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and patron of Caritas Social Action Network, said MPs had a lot to learn from the Church's hands-on approach to tackling poverty in the UK.

He said: "A crucial part of serving society, whether through the calling of politics or through the Church, is to face the reality before us. This is where rhetoric ends, where philosophy gives way to reality, where dogmatism gets its hands dirty. For us this is what being a Church of the poor and for the poor really means. Our self-awareness is sharp; our sense of purpose is clear. Perhaps governments could take a lead from this too."

The Cardinal also spoke about poverty in working households, the impact of zero-hours contracts, the limitations of a minimum wage and the discrepancy between incomes and basic living costs.

Archbishop Nichols was addressing more than 170 MPs and members of the House of Lords, representatives from leading Catholic charities and faith-based agencies for network's annual reception in Parliament.

The network said the date of 5 November this year was particularly "timely".

Effigies of Guy Fawkes, among those behind the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, are still burned on bonfires around the country on November 5. In Lewes, East Sussex this year, home to one of the nation's biggest bonfire parties, an Alex Salmond effigy is to be the centrepiece. Salmond stands down in a couple of weeks as First Minister of Scotland in the wake of the lost independence referendum in Scotland.

One place will not light a bonfire and never does on 5 November is St Peter's school in York. Guy Fawkes was a pupil there and the school does not believe in burning its alumni.