Half a million Britains now rely on foodbanks to survive

[al**bear]

'Church Action on Poverty' & Oxfam, have released a report telling Us, that 500k British citizens now RELY on foodbanks to survive and loads of these people are in employment.

They also point out, it is not all due to cut backs but Food and energy mass inflation, that directly harms the poorest in Society.

http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/foodfuelfinance/walkingthebreadline/report

The Tory reaction ?

The increase is due to more People knowing about the foodbanks, 'head in the sand' politics

[Anonymous]

one thing for sure about the tory's, they have an answer for everything, but know nothing.

[welsh.goddess]

It's actually quite a worrisome report.

[blackburn_stevie]

Is the headline correct or should it maybe be ..... 

Half a million Britains now choose to use foodbanks to keep cash back for fags, beer and Sky TV

[welsh.goddess]

The truth is probably somewhere between.

Yes, the Tory's are right, as people are more aware of them more people will obviously use them.  But out of the poeple now using them, how many were near starving?  Quite a few.

Yes, there are some people whose priorities are wrong regarding budgeting, but there are many many people that are struggling, not all are taking the mick. The case studies show that.

In my own experience, I know of a few instances where people are being supported via friends/family feeding them.

In one case, yes a single mother, but single because her OH left for someone else.

She was a stay at home mum, that has been trying to better herself.  She found funding for a child care course, which she has nearly completed. It involves her having to do a miknimum of 10 hours voluntary work per week, to gain the experience needed for the course.

Benefits have said she has to actively seek work, and if she gets a job, she has to give up the course.

With the addition of housing benefit changes - she has to find extra money, and with 2 growing kids always needing new clothes  - she is genuinely struggling.

But she won't use a food bacnk because she's to proud.

SHe'd rather do without

[bankhaunter]

Benefits have said she has to actively seek work, and if she gets a job, she has to give up the course.

Unfortunately that is all too common, it is actually quite difficult to go on courses to improve your chances of getting a job without losing benefit.

Is the headline correct or should it maybe be ..... 

Half a million Britains now choose to use foodbanks to keep cash back for fags, beer and Sky TV

Keep throwing the mud, some of it will stick.

Have you bothered to find out what claimants have to do in order to get free food and what it is they actually get?

[spawnjohnuk]

well said bank, and the tories make me feel sick,that in itself tells me this whole gov set up is wrong,they are supposed to voice help for the people not come out with rubbish like ''its what they want'' or ''I can do it on 53'' 

scandalous and lost war 😞 

[al**bear]

Heres the kind of people who have to visit foodbanks

====================

Degrading back-to-work welfare assessments that are stripping former soldiers of their benefits have been denounced by leading veterans’ charities.

Thousands of ex-servicemen are being pushed to the breadline after being judged fit for work by the government-appointed company Atos. Severely wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, who were once entitled to incapacity benefits, are being told they no longer qualify under new assessments carried out by Atos on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/benefits-crackdown-humiliates-disabled-army-war-veterans-8633610.html

As I have said before , loads of people are sent by the Governments own depts, who instead of sorting out problems with payments, just send People to foodbanks sometimes for months

[al**bear]

Steve

You cannot just walk in to a foodbank and collect stuff

you must qualify for help

[Anonymous]

just when will people realise that this government and their lackeys just don't care. we are now in the 21st century and we have to resort to food banks.................shame on all you all.

[dark_castle1]

The way this country is going I can see us going back to Workhouses and such like. 

[blackburn_stevie]

Steve

 You cannot just walk in to a foodbank and collect stuff

 you must qualify for help

Al ... Then I humbly apologise.

I was under the impression that people could just walk up to one of these food bank places and be given a box or parcel of tins of food that had been donated by other folk. I guess I watch to many American TV shows.

[Anonymous]

shhh rescued corgi, don't give those tory rabble any ideas

[baybizz]

                           
It's even worse in Euroland:

Europe's food crisis: Red Cross gives out more poverty parcels  than after WWII as eurozone economic crisis bites... In high-density cities in Austria and Germany groups collect goods nearing expiry from supermarkets and then sell them for a token fee. In Belgium and France, there are shops where people can buy food and clothing for heavily reduced prices...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292256/Red-Cross-giving-free-food-end-WWII-economic-crisis-bites.html
                    
                     
  Brussels fears 'poverty trap' for half of Europe as North-South gap widens... Unemployment in the eurozone jumps to a record high as the region slides deeper into recession, with alarming rises across the Mediterranean that threaten extreme social distress... "the deep economic crisis grinds on with a 'terrifying' human cost"...  very hard for the ECB to run a monetary policy for the whole eurozone bloc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9789086/Brussels-fears-poverty-trap-for-half-of-Europe-as-North-South-gap-widens.html
     

Europe’s poverty boom...

Poverty is not only shaking EU countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal, but also the eurozone’s biggest economies....

France’s Socialist prime minister promised that Paris would spend some two and a half billion euros in a five-year poverty reduction plan. This is aimed at the more than 8 million people who live on less than 60% of the average income in France...

http://www.euronews.com/2012/12/12/europe-s-poverty-boom/

                        
Of course if we were not being bled dry by the EU we would have more money to feed the UK poor:

Being a member of the European Union has been a one-way street for Britain. Contributions from Britain to the EU budget have outstripped the benefits received in every single year of membership...

In total since 1979, Britain has paid in about €260 billion (£228 billion). It has received back  in benefits just €163 billion (£143 billion). The difference of €97 billion (£85 billion at today’s exchange rate) has been Britain’s subsidy to the European project...

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2052433/Chart-How-does-Britain-pay-EU-does-back.html

[al**bear]

shhh rescued corgi, don't give those tory rabble any ideas

'Workfare' anyone ?

[joe_bloggs*]

Asda has removed permanent collection points for food banks from stores across the UK, in a move that has caused alarm among charities and the supermarket chain’s customers.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/17/asda-removes-food-bank-donation-points-from-uk-stores

Shame on them,showing customers your true face isn't always a good idea and i,m sure some people will vote with their feet

[******lynda******]

Asda is daft, then.

foodbanks have been a good thing. People who can afford it put in goods for people who can't. Both benefit...one from the feel good factor and doing something for the community and the other gets food they can't afford. The supermarket wins with extra sales. Win win win.

[jd.linklater]

What a peculiar action for Asda to take. There doesn't seem to be any logical reason for this other than one mention towards the end of the article about shoplifting. Asda say that people who make donations are concerned about where the food is actually going and who is receiving it. Have they polled their customers on this? Have any of their customers actually questioned where the food is going? It can't be a cost cutting exercise, it doesn't cost a lot just to provide a bin and I would think it would be volunteers collecting the stuff. All rather strange, and at a time when the need  for foodbanks has never been higher.

[upthecreekyetagain]

This is a link to the full report referred to by the Church Poverty Action Group

http://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/oxfam/bitstream/10546/335731/1/rr-emergency-use-only-food-ba...

One interesting quote from that report is:-

"Evidence from our in-depth interviews, supported by the additional administrative data, indicates that
acute financial crisis – a specific, identifiable event which had left the household without any income at
all or with a dramatically reduced income – was the dominant reason people gave for using food banks
(Section 2.2). Instances of food bank users falling into the third category alone – food bank use solely as
a result on ongoing, chronic low income, without being attributed to a particular identifiable event – were
less common."

If this is accurate then it suggests to me that it's not lack of money in the benefit and support systems but a problem with administration, lack of flexibility and empathy within the system that is the main culprit.

[al**bear]

As we are constanly getting told, everything will be great when Iain Duncan Smiths pet disaster Universal Credit rolls out to everyone.

Need help on UC, that ok you will be able to call and get help and info, on a new 0845 DWP number

Cost 46p a minute, yes the Poor will be charged this to get help on their benefits

This means you could pay £4.00 just waiting to get through, if other Government lines are anything to go by (on a good day), and thats before you even get to talk to someone, they find out what department you need , btw you'll then likely have to wait on that Dept answering.