Main Causes Of Referral To Trussell Trust Foodbanks, 2013-14
April 16, 2014
This bar chart, which I’m publishing with many thanks to the Trussell Trust, says it all about the reasons people are needing to turn to food banks.
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Same Difference 
We have become so ignorant in this so called well educated society that it beggars belief. Priority, priority, priority has gone out of the window. It used to be, and still is, in some households, that food was stockpiled, so to speak, a tin or two each week bought to be put to one side in case of a rainy day. Now people not only do not know how to budget but live as though there were no tomorrow. But tomorrow comes. Good housekeeping is not taught, along with the value of morals and ethics and the ability to take total responsibility for one’s own affairs. We have a society of no blame culture, always people pointing the blame away from themselves. Yes it is a problem, a fiendish matter of being made unemployed, mainly by the government, and then have to sign on to obtain monies that is rightly your own, and to have a system that naturaly is not capable, because of all the immigrants put first, of dealing with people. But there should be enough food in the house to help over this period, plus relations.
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To some extent I agree. Priority has gone out the window and people are not prepared for certain events.
However. and and it’s a big however, society has changed, periods of potential starvation were thought to be over with the creation of a welfare state. We were told for years our taxes were to provide a safety net for the poor and unfortuntate. We pay these taxes because we understand that we ourselves may fall on hard times and therefore need some of this help.
The days of jobs for life, or even consistent employment have gone, some people are no longer in work long enough or indeed paid enough to “put by” for a rainy day, so live day to day or week to week.
I am not sure whether you have a family or not, but unless you are on severe rations a great deal of food is required to feed a family of 4 for a week, especially with growing children.
Bread, milk, veg, fruit, all required for health do not keep and unless you have an industrial size freezer cannot be stockpiled.
It is not a question of people having enough to tide them over for a few days anymore, sanctions for example minimum 3 weeks, benefit delays minimum 3 weeks,Rent and council tax can take up to 3 months to be sorted and in the meantime CT liability orders are given adding to debt.
The poorest in society are screwed at every turn, from bus fares to rent to heat and light everything is going up and yes the poorest in society use these services the most.
My gas and electric went up 6% last year adding around £270 to my annual bill, my benefits 1% adding £54 to my ANNUAL benefits.
It is indeed a disgusting society when someone can be subsidised to buy a £600,000 home yet someone on £70 odd pound a week is charged £14 for having a spare bedroom.
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Also, no matter how much food you have stockpiled – I as a single man have a few weeks’ worth at least (40p a kilo rice and pasta, freezer stuff, cans – stocked up on the latter after that scary C4 Blackout programme) and my family would luckily ensure I never went hungry – it wouldn’t do much good if you were evicted – and not everyone has family to turn to (and often only those in “priority need” are housed by their council).
If you’re a lodger like I am, then legally you can be locked out without a court order with very little notice long before you run out of food.
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I think your comment is unfair and condescending, and serves to brush aside the serious issue of people not being able to live day to day by trying to brand them as irresponsible or dependant. It’s standard Mailspeak, but it’s also completely divorced from reality and disgusting in its contempt for people who are genuinely suffering.
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It is sad to think that in this country today, if you are sick, disabled, or on benefits for reasons beyond your own control, you are bullied by the JCP/DWP into conforming to a system that is designed to punish you for being there, and not designed to actually help you.
I was recently told that because my partner works for 10-12 hours a week I am entitled to zero benefits, only she can claim. When she was claiming she was told that because she had found a part time job for 10-12 hours per week, she had to sign off. This means we are in danger of being evicted some time in the future as her money will not cover our rent and Council Tax.
I am disabled under the Legislation of this country, but the JCP/DWP do not recognise that Law, they want me to accept jobs I am legally not allowed to do, or cannot physically do.
At the same JCP today, I was told by a friend who works there that there is indeed sanctioning targets being enforced, and they, JCP staff, don’t like it, contrary to what the government are saying.
It is also sad to think that every government in the last 20-30 years has in some way or another found ways to increase their wages, and perks of the jobs, all the while either taxing everyone else or screwing the figures of unemployment numbers to suit their agenda and make them look good. Even today, they partied at the reports of a fall in the unemployment numbers. Why the fall? Easy to explain, if you attend a course, receive zero benefit, are sanctioned, etc, you are not counted on the figures. Its all a lie, to make them look good.
The truth about unemployment numbers is more than likely to be somewhere between 4 or 5 times the actual officially released numbers, once you take into consideration the numbers they don’t want you to know.
Being unemployed today is the same as being a leper in medieval times. You are a pariah, unclean, and deserve to be treated with disdain and contempt by everyone. We are none of these things. We are human beings. We have the same hopes, fears, needs and desires as our friends, families and those politicians who are killing the sick, disabled, benefit claimants with their policies. Don’t believe me? Look online, some conservative figures are as low as a few thousand, some as high as 10-11 thousand, in the last year or two have died as a result of the DWP/JCP and its current methods.
DONT BELIEVE THE MASS MEDIA WHICH IS GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED, OR HAS LINKS TO THE GOVERNMENT AND THEREFORE WONT TELL YOU WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING OUTSIDE. USE YOUR BRIANS, USE YOUR FEET, USE YOU VOICE AND USE YOUR VOTES IN 2015 AND GET THESE MURDERERS OUT OF POWER.
Sorry rant over!!
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