The Big Food Banks thread

[@contradevian]

+1

I may be losing my job soon. If you are single and have no kids you get treated like S**T doesn't matter how long you have worked or how much you have paid in tax.

In that case my advise would be to go the self employed/tax credits route while you can and claim HB if you are eligible. That way create a credible 'self employed' back story to your CV which will be far less damaging than a jobcentre one. That way you won't have to go through being treated like scum every two weeks and sent on a demeaning program looking through newspapers and inventing CV's.

Jobcentres and A4E etc are not there to find jobs, other than for themselves and to appease the Daily Mail swing voter.

[winkie]

You may say people make wrong life decisions or are irresponsible.....but you can't change people or change the circumstances they find themselves in....

To be cruel to be kind.....can't make it right or change it to make it right.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Mumsnet?

That's one of your best posts !!!!

[tomandlu]

Even IF this comment was meant as a sarcastic retort it was in very poor taste!

His (sarcastic) comment was aimed at highlighting the attitudes of others participating in this thread. I suppose it was in poor taste, but it needed saying. You're criticising the wrong person...

[Hectors House]

What an idiotic comment. Right up there with "let them eat cake! "

can't you see that the financiers have hollowed out the country, swapped their debt for our equity? That is the true nature of the problem, not what Morrison's is selling frozen meals for.

You do know he is a foreigner?

[workingpoor]

Poor taste or not some people on this board and amongst are politicians wish the poor would stay out of sight and out of mind.

Not got a problem with the genuine poor or disabled using food banks or getting help from DWP.

This is HousePriceCrash nobody cared a jot about the prudent / priced out when the good times were rolling in fact some people I met were quite boastfull & sneering.

[OnionTerror]

Not got a problem with the genuine poor or disabled using food banks or getting help from DWP.

This is HousePriceCrash nobody cared a jot about the prudent / priced out when the good times were rolling in fact some people I met were quite boastfull & sneering.

Do they deserve to starve though?

[Eddie_George]

PS..I'm not a Christian (not that that matters)...I just thought it was the right thing to do...

Are you David Cameron or Gordon Brown?

[OnionTerror]

Are you David Cameron or Gordon Brown?

I am...

[winkie]

I am...

[(Blizzard)]

I am saying that there is no reason to go to the food bank as you are entitled to get some kind of benefit (at least JSA), which is enough so you do not starve

My understanding is that many people have been made ineligible for benefits, due to the overzealous application of rules which mean you can be punished by having benefits withdrawn for entirely trivial 'offences'. I seem to remember one example being someone who's benefits were cut when they missed an appointment at the job centre to go for a job interview, or something like that.

Since this has nothing to do with any new rules, its a way of cutting benefits that goes unnoticed.

If true, its not remotely surprising that some people would be forced to rely on charity through no fault of their own.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge might like to comment on this?

Edited October 16, 2013 by (Blizzard)

[Damik]

Do they deserve to starve though?

again you need only £28 pw to do not starve. even with JSA you get more. there is no need for anybody to go to the foodbank

only place you can starve to death in UK is an NHS hospital ....

[gf3]

In that case my advise would be to go the self employed/tax credits route while you can and claim HB if you are eligible. That way create a credible 'self employed' back story to your CV which will be far less damaging than a jobcentre one. That way you won't have to go through being treated like scum every two weeks and sent on a demeaning program looking through newspapers and inventing CV's.

Jobcentres and A4E etc are not there to find jobs, other than for themselves and to appease the Daily Mail swing voter.

From what I have read UC will stop all that. You must earn minimum wage. unless you know different?

[ccc]

People in the UK 'starving'

What a load of pish.

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

+1

I may be losing my job soon. If you are single and have no kids you get treated like S**T doesn't matter how long you have worked or how much you have paid in tax.

Don't start.

You have a house and a zirp mortgage and potentially no job. Lots of us have jobs and no house. We're all losers now.

[stormymonday_2011]

Yep...I volunteer for a non-Trussell Trust foodbank, and I can think of 2-3 more-or-less immediately around me that are not run by them...

PS..I'm not a Christian (not that that matters)...I just thought it was the right thing to do...

The food bank where I live is organised by the local Christian churches

From what I see it is a pretty direct form of charity based on people and businesses giving goods in kind not cash and it is run entirely by volunteers.

You would think it would be the sort of self funded, volunteer run and community based effort that the Tories would be lauding as a Big Society success

Instead their MPs past and present seem to be lining up to slag off those trying to help people in need.

I have to say I find it a pretty disgusting spectacle coming from a group of people who seem to have no conscience about diddling the taxpayer when making their own expenses claims and who are more than happy to enjoy the benefit of eating and drinking in the subsidised bars and restaurants provided in the House of Commons

Maybe they do not like it because it is outside their control and there is no way they can monetise the giving so it can be diverted it into their own pockets

Edited October 16, 2013 by stormymonday_2011

[alexw]

again you need only £28 pw to do not starve. even with JSA you get more. there is no need for anybody to go to the foodbank

only place you can starve to death in UK is an NHS hospital ....

As has been stated multiple times on this thread people do not always get JSA when they need it.

Benefit payments can be delayed and do take time to process. If you are already living on the very edge then it's doubtful you can go ~3 weeks without money with which to buy food.

There is also the JSA sanctions regime to consider. ~5% of those claiming JSA were being sanctioned up to Oct 2012.

http://www.npi.org.uk/blog/social-security-and-welfare-reform/record-levels-jsa-sanctions-regime-gets-really-tough/

Since then that number will almost certainly have increased given the rhetoic coming from DWP & IDS. For example we know for a fact that there is a league table for which jobcenter can sanction the most, and a 5% sanctions target that they are supposed to meet or surpass.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/21/jobcentre-set-targets-benefit-sanctions

[workingpoor]

My understanding is that many people have been made ineligible for benefits, due to the overzealous application of rules which mean you can be punished by having benefits withdrawn for entirely trivial 'offences'. I seem to remember one example being someone who's benefits were cut when they missed an appointment at the job centre to go for a job interview, or something like that.

Since this has nothing to do with any new rules, its a way of cutting benefits that goes unnoticed.

If true, its not remotely surprising that some people would be forced to rely on charity through no fault of their own.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge might like to comment on this?

I don't believe it would be possible in the UK for a family sanctioned by the job centre to turn up at the job centre and declare themselves penniless with no food to be turned away and not given any hardship allowance. It would probably be slightly less than full jobseekers but I very much doubt they'd be turned away with nothing.

[onlyme2]

The office for bent national statistics fudged the figurs again this year - by changing the weights to the very items that people have the most trouble escaping - reducing the weights to food and energy, the very ones going up the most. Today's 0.7% wages growth is the other side of the coin. Combined with the benefits shake-up (and drawn out mis-handling of it in many cases) we are seeing what many have been predicting - a rapid reduction in living standards, the lowest being hit first. Food bank usage is going to rocket the longer current policies are in place - that of debasement via money printing and the hidden tax of inflation and absurdly, a drive to push living costs up further.

Then there will be another meltdown, this time with nothing left to prop the edifice up. I say that as a recent home purchaser - nothing has been fixed and if anything the situation is worse for the medium and long term outlook and compeitiveness than 2007/8.

[alexw]

The food bank where I live is organised by the local Christian churches

From what I see it is a pretty direct form of charity based on people and businesses giving goods in kind not cash and it is run entirely by volunteers.

You would think it would be the sort of self funded, volunteer run and community based effort that the Tories would be lauding as a Big Society success

Instead their MPs past and present seem to be lining up to slag off those trying to help people in need.

I have to say I find it a pretty disgusting spectacle coming from a group of people who seem to have no conscience about diddling the taxpayer when making their own expenses claims and who are more than happy to enjoy the benefit of eating and drinking in the subsidised bars and restaurants provided in the House of Commons

Maybe they do not like it because it is outside their control and there is no way they can monetise the giving so it can be diverted it into their own pockets

They don't like it because it suggests that the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society are getting stamped on by the tory led government. And they really really don't like that given that the "nasty party" label still sticks to them, inevitably affecting their election prospects.

This is why we see all sorts of nonsense coming from them and their supporters about how it's "free food" which people are turning up for, so they can, for example, spend it on booze and sky TV instead.

That it could of course be because -

Inflation in the basic necessities is at 5% while pay inflation is 0.7%

2.25 million JSA claimants have been sanctioned since the coalition came to power

At least 1 million are on zero hours contracts so get so no sick pay and likely do not have the economic resources to self-fund such periods

Benefit claims can take 3-4 weeks to process putting those already on the edge over it

or various other reasons that implicates their stewardship

is basically ignored.

[workingpoor]

Playing devils advocate: A (hypothetically in this instance) person is now using a foodbank & SMI (having fallen on hard times due to recession) to get by whilst still hanging onto a house they purchased with a self certified loan contributing to pricing others out of the market then subsequently MEW'd and spent the equity on new cars and garden decking. Shouldn't said hypothetical person be liquidating the asset clearing debt and cutting cloth according to current coat? i.e not being helped left right & centre to cling onto asset gains.

[workingpoor]

Playing devils advocate: A (hypothetically in this instance) person is now using a foodbank & SMI (having fallen on hard times due to recession) to get by whilst still hanging onto a house they purchased with a self certified loan contributing to pricing others out of the market then subsequently MEW'd and spent the equity on new cars and garden decking. Shouldn't said hypothetical person be liquidating the asset clearing debt and cutting cloth according to current coat? i.e not being helped left right & centre to cling onto asset gains.

This is HousePriceCrash are we not all hoping for a price crash? The over leveraged WILL be financially impoverished in this crash we long for I thought that was took for granted here.

[ccc]

Playing devils advocate: A (hypothetically in this instance) person is now using a foodbank & SMI (having fallen on hard times due to recession) to get by whilst still hanging onto a house they purchased with a self certified loan contributing to pricing others out of the market then subsequently MEW'd and spent the equity on new cars and garden decking. Shouldn't said hypothetical person be liquidating the asset clearing debt and cutting cloth according to current coat? i.e not being helped left right & centre to cling onto asset gains.

You mean like selling off rings, expensive phones, cars they don't actually need and big tv's ?

Well yes they probably should be. But if a wee interview with one personnel that's a little embarrassing means they get free food ? Why would they . . .

Ps The above does not apply to all in this situation. I imagine it applies to a hell of a lot of them though.

[Damik]

As has been stated multiple times on this thread people do not always get JSA when they need it.

Benefit payments can be delayed and do take time to process. If you are already living on the very edge then it's doubtful you can go ~3 weeks without money with which to buy food.

There is also the JSA sanctions regime to consider. ~5% of those claiming JSA were being sanctioned up to Oct 2012.

http://www.npi.org.u...s-really-tough/

Since then that number will almost certainly have increased given the rhetoic coming from DWP & IDS. For example we know for a fact that there is a league table for which jobcenter can sanction the most, and a 5% sanctions target that they are supposed to meet or surpass.

http://www.theguardi...nefit-sanctions

you are wrong again:

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/sanctions-and-hardship

Hardship payments Along with the new rules about sanctions there are also new rules that make sure that people do not suffer as a result of loss of benefit. Anyone who loses benefit due to a sanction will be able to apply for a hardship payment. For example if you could not afford rent or food or you needed to buy medical or hygiene supplies, then the hardship payment would provide you with a basic financial safety net.

You will have to pay back these hardship payments.

[workingpoor]

you are wrong again:

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/sanctions-and-hardship

Hardship payments Along with the new rules about sanctions there are also new rules that make sure that people do not suffer as a result of loss of benefit. Anyone who loses benefit due to a sanction will be able to apply for a hardship payment. For example if you could not afford rent or food or you needed to buy medical or hygiene supplies, then the hardship payment would provide you with a basic financial safety net.

You will have to pay back these hardship payments.

Excellent I was hoping someone would post that info.

Ultimately here at HousePriceCrash we are hoping for a reduction in the cost of buying a house, that comes with collateral damage in the shape of some over leveraged borrowers losing out financially someone has to lose at the moment we are priced out "losers" all the "home owning winners" do not care about our plight they are anxiously awaiting a renewed bubble so they can start MEW'ing again.