The Food Poverty Scandal That Shames Britain: Nearly 1M People Rely On Handouts To Eat – And Benefit Reforms May Be To Blame

[spyguy]

just a snippet from the accounts of the Foodbank charity

http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends22/0001110522_AC_20120331_E_C.pdf

staff costs are around half a mil - yet the foodbanks are staffed by 'volunteers'

Charity begins at home - normally the homes of the directors.

Pretty chunk staffing costs.

I'm currently local and know someone who worked at the trust for a bit.

The CEO/head honcho makes a big fuss about being paid x amount of the average worker.

The foodbank collection is mainly volunteer (church) run. WHy they stand outside of Waitrose rather thna lidl

They employ a large number of god-squad doing the running around.

I would guess there's a lot of money spent with other religous groups i.e. some christian PR group is probably taking a big chunk of non-foodbank costs.

You might whinge about 'job for the boys' but thats nothing compared to 'jobs for the faithful'.

Hint for interviewees - put one of those fish things on your car.

[spyguy]

From the accounts: '15K was paid to Chris Mould Ltd'

Why? Is he an employee or not??

http://www.trusselltrust.org/meet-the-team

2 McAuleys on the team.

2 people called Partridge.

[1929crash]

About the forgery question. Why would anyone bother? You get pretty basic stuff. If you can't get a referral from a social worker or a doctor that suggests you can afford to buy the stuff anyway. And it's usually just basic - like rice, uht milk and so on.

The idea that people would forge medical certificates and Social Service letters just to get stuff you wouldn't eat unless you were hungry is laughable. If you are that resourceful you will probably be able to get higher quality food by other means.

Edited April 21, 2014 by 1929crash

[SarahBell]

just a snippet from the accounts of the Foodbank charity

http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends22/0001110522_AC_20120331_E_C.pdf

staff costs are around half a mil - yet the foodbanks are staffed by 'volunteers'

And what is a house of opportunity? p31

[SarahBell]

From the accounts: '15K was paid to Chris Mould Ltd'

Why? Is he an employee or not??

http://www.trusselltrust.org/meet-the-team

2 McAuleys on the team.

2 people called Partridge.

Last page of the PDF.

Mould rents a shop to the charity - she is wife of a trustee. It is below market rent.

All the bulgaria stuff is interesting.

How regulated is their equivalent over there?

[tomandlu]

Hi, can you point me towards any post that claims that these vouchers are being forged?

I asked a serious question, how effective is the voucher regime?

Unless you think forgery is taking place, then the answer would appear to be "as effective as it needs to be." Also, you can't ask a question like that and then pretend that it implies nothing beyond mild curiosity... that's neither big nor clever - it's just silly.

[winkie]

Food banks are an embarassment for the country.....like the guy on the radio said, he would rather give a parcel to four DM reporters that pleaded poverty to get their tickets than see that one genuine recipient or family go hungry....sure there will be a few that take advantage, so be it...there are people like that in all sections of society, and walks of life, sometimes even more so the ones that hold possitions of authority, leadership and responsibility.....there is no black and white.

[spyguy]

About the forgery question. Why would anyone bother? You get pretty basic stuff. If you can't get a referral from a social worker or a doctor that suggests you can afford to buy the stuff anyway. And it's usually just basic - like rice, uht milk and so on.

The idea that people would forge medical certificates and Social Service letters just to get stuff you wouldn't eat unless you were hungry is laughable. If you are that resourceful you will probably be able to get higher quality food by other means.

Because its free.

We're hardly talking forging currency.

Just get sight of a form and the signature, scan it into a computer, fiddle with the names + dates and - bingo! - £40 quis worth of food for the cost of 1 printed piece of paper.

[spyguy]

Last page of the PDF.

Mould rents a shop to the charity - she is wife of a trustee. It is below market rent.

All the bulgaria stuff is interesting.

How regulated is their equivalent over there?

Hmm,

Its a small industrial unit. If its below market value, its not that far below.

No, that 5K is separate from Note 13 15k paid to Chris Mould Ltd.

A quick look at companies house:

Company No. 06322375

Company Type: Private Limited Company

Nature of Business (SIC):

70229 - Management consultancy activities other than financial management

And from here:

http://biasedbbc.org/blog/2013/10/17/the-foodbank-is-born/

'Over the last two years (2011-12) Mould and his wife have received over £150,000 in wages, salaries, emoluments, consultancy fees and rent payments from Trussell Trust.

The rent payments go to Mould’s wife who bills the Trust for office space she leases to it in Salisbury.

Mould has also set up a private company, Chris Mould Limited, through which Trussell Trust has paid him more than £30,000 over the last two years, for “management consultancy” services.

A further sum of £1700 was paid last year to “Chris Mould Support”, “for the support of Chris Mould in support of his role as trustee”

Nearly two thirds (over £600,000) of Trussell’s income is currently being spent on staff wages, etc.

Since the Trussell frontline workers are all unpaid volunteers, that sounds like an awful lot of money on the wages bill.'

[Frank Hovis]

Food banks are an embarassment for the country.....like the guy on the radio said, he would rather give a parcel to four DM reporters that pleaded poverty to get their tickets than see that one genuine recipient or family go hungry....sure there will be a few that take advantage, so be it...there are people like that in all sections of society, and walks of life, sometimes even more so the ones that hold possitions of authority, leadership and responsibility.....there is no black and white.

I worked with a devout Christian (also a good laugh, the two are not incompatible) who spent an evening every weekend as part of a team making soup and sandwiches by Trafalgar Sq and handing them out to the queue of homeless.

He said you always got the odd tourist waiting in line for a freebie. He said they didn't disapprove, it was open to everyone, but found it surprising somebody would want to do that.

[Mrs Bear]

I worked with a devout Christian (also a good laugh, the two are not incompatible) who spent an evening every weekend as part of a team making soup and sandwiches by Trafalgar Sq and handing them out to the queue of homeless.

He said you always got the odd tourist waiting in line for a freebie. He said they didn't disapprove, it was open to everyone, but found it surprising somebody would want to do that.

Anything to do with St Martin In The Fields? I know they do an awful lot for the homeless, plus things like emergency cash grants for people left temporarily high and dry by the benefits system. They usually have a Christmas appeal on R4.

[winkie]

I worked with a devout Christian (also a good laugh, the two are not incompatible) who spent an evening every weekend as part of a team making soup and sandwiches by Trafalgar Sq and handing them out to the queue of homeless.

He said you always got the odd tourist waiting in line for a freebie. He said they didn't disapprove, it was open to everyone, but found it surprising somebody would want to do that.

[Goat]

Unless you think forgery is taking place, then the answer would appear to be "as effective as it needs to be." Also, you can't ask a question like that and then pretend that it implies nothing beyond mild curiosity... that's neither big nor clever - it's just silly.

I asked it as a genuine question, are there effective controls in place?

My guess is that the vouchers get handed out to anyone who asks for them without any checking of facts, who's going to bother to spend their time and start an argument as well just to save someone else £40?

Forgery, dunno. My guess is the vouchers are so easy to get hold of that nobody bothers, maybe a few do it to save themselves a trip to the benefits office, I doubt the vouchers are hard to forge and nobody's going to check them anyway.

Ultimately if you're offering people free money (which in the end this is) then people are going to game the system.

[winkie]

I asked it as a genuine question, are there effective controls in place?

My guess is that the vouchers get handed out to anyone who asks for them without any checking of facts, who's going to bother to spend their time and start an argument as well just to save someone else £40?

Forgery, dunno. My guess is the vouchers are so easy to get hold of that nobody bothers, maybe a few do it to save themselves a trip to the benefits office, I doubt the vouchers are hard to forge and nobody's going to check them anyway.

Ultimately if you're offering people free money (which in the end this is) then people are going to game the system.

Instead of presuming or guessing, why don't you try it out for yourself and get back with the hard evidence?

[Frank Hovis]

Anything to do with St Martin In The Fields? I know they do an awful lot for the homeless, plus things like emergency cash grants for people left temporarily high and dry by the benefits system. They usually have a Christmas appeal on R4.

I think so but he didn't talk about it much as it wasn't a big deal to him, he saw there was a need so helped out. When there were company Friday nights he'd have a couple of beers but then have to shoot to help with the sandwiches.

[Goat]

Instead of presuming or guessing, why don't you try it out for yourself and get back with the hard evidence?

Or I could ask the question to see if anyone already knows the answer.

Let's think about this, days of my time trying to do field research or a couple of lines of text on an internet forum. I wonder which would be easier.

[winkie]

Or I could ask the question to see if anyone already knows the answer.

Let's think about this, days of my time trying to do field research or a couple of lines of text on an internet forum. I wonder which would be easier.

Well if someone is prepared to book an appointment with the cab or queue up in a job centre etc to get a voucher for some tinned beans, soup and biscuits they probably need it more than most.

[spyguy]

Surely the scandal is the amount we spend on welfare and the actual welfare we get?

The welfare system is too slow and unresponsive to changes, and too slow to deal with people living on it.

spy's welfare reforms would be based around a contributory system, paying out 30% of average wage for last 5 years (or minimum wage) for 6 months - no questions bar p45, no means test. Dropping to 10 for next year. Hard stop after 2 years, falling to work fare scheme.

[1929crash]

Surely the scandal is the amount we spend on welfare and the actual welfare we get?

The welfare system is too slow and unresponsive to changes, and too slow to deal with people living on it.

spy's welfare reforms would be based around a contributory system, paying out 30% of average wage for last 5 years (or minimum wage) for 6 months - no questions bar p45, no means test. Dropping to 10 for next year. Hard stop after 2 years, falling to work fare scheme.

The one element in the system you describe - which I do not disagree with in principle - was unemployment benefit, paid as a right dependent on NI contributions, but it was abolished back in the 1990s.

In fact the bulk of the Beveridge proposals in 1942 were based on the contributory principle.

[bambam]

Well if someone is prepared to book an appointment with the cab or queue up in a job centre etc to get a voucher for some tinned beans, soup and biscuits they probably need it more than most.

Well they probably have more free time.

Anyway, it just shows what I thought all along, that food bank expansion tells you NOTHING about need. Free lunch popular with public, news just in?

[1929crash]

Well they probably have more free time.

Anyway, it just shows what I thought all along, that food bank expansion tells you NOTHING about need. Free lunch popular with public, news just in?

It is strange that usage has gone from virtually nothing in 2007 to what it is today.

Is it that in this short space of time people have become more feckless or that economic conditions have deteriorated?

[bambam]

It is strange that usage has gone from virtually nothing in 2007 to what it is today.

Is it that in this short space of time people have become more feckless or that economic conditions have deteriorated?

Uh, no it isn't strange at all. There were only two in 2004, for 99% of the country there was no access to a food bank, you couldn't have used one even if you need to.

They are mostly run out of churches, and there there is a large pool of willing labour/support. Churches love the idea.

Now that food banks carpet the country and everyone knows about them, CAB can refer there, etc., so usage is massively up.

Obviously there is an austerity rhetoric in the media, and the expansion of food banks serves that BBC/Guardian message, so they publicise them. More publicity = more use.

My guess is the underlying need hasn't changed.

Edited April 21, 2014 by bambam

[1929crash]

Uh, no it isn't strange at all. There were only two in 2004, for 99% of the country there was no access to a food bank, you couldn't have used one even if you need to.

They are mostly run out of churches, and there there is a large pool of willing labour/support. Churches love the idea.

Now that food banks carpet the country and everyone knows about them, CAB can refer there, etc., so usage is massively up.

Obviously there is an austerity rhetoric in the media, and the expansion of food banks serves that BBC/Guardian message, so they publicise them. More publicity = more use.

My guess is the underlying need hasn't changed.

An austerity rhetoric in the media? Oh, I see, I have imagined the fall in my income since 2010.

It's interesting to see how many social and economic policy decisions are based on guesses. It's a good job that bridge builders and other engineers rely on something a little more substantial.

[dances with sheeple]

Mods? Anybody? why can`t I reply directly to posts?

Edited April 21, 2014 by dances with sheeple

[spyguy]

Mods? Anybody? why can`t I reply directly to posts?

With the new site, I press the Quote button and I get the respond box.