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Councils fund food banks to plug holes in welfare state
Guardian carries a report that says many local authorities are preparing to invest in charity-run food banks to cope with an expected deluge in demand for crisis help from low income families hit by welfare cuts, raising the spectre of depression-era US “breadlines”. Cuts next year to the social fund, which provides emergency aid to vulnerable people, mean that from April 2013 many councils will no longer provide cash help to applicants. Instead they will offer “in kind” support such as referring clients to food banks and issuing electronic food vouchers.
The move, which is being considered by both Labour and Conservative councils as well as the Welsh government, will for the first time build voluntarily donated food distribution into mainstream welfare provision, and will be regarded by critics as a dramatic substitution of the state’s obligations in favour of ad hoc voluntary assistance.
For the whole article, see Breadline Britain: councils fund food banks to plug holes in welfare state
Thousands of people in Scotland are being forced to rely on charities for food handouts, according to new evidence from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS).The report shows that the numbers of Scottish CAB clients who have made a charitable application has doubled over the last 2 years to 2,200.
The report also finds that:
* Charities who provide emergency food parcels have themselves reported significant increases in clients. e.g. the Trussell Trust alone gave out food parcels to over 128,000 people (UK-wide) in 2011/12 – that’s more than double the number in the previous year.
* Most of those who need these services are low-income families who are experiencing some sort of crisis point, whether it is unemployment or losing benefit entitlement.
* Evidence suggests that the impact of the welfare changes will make the situation even worse over the next few years.
See the whole report here Scottish families forced to rely on charity handouts: report paints picture of ‘dickensian’ Scotland
Newsnight had a report on foodbanks on Tuesday night.
There’s a very good accompanying article, looking at the mixture of benefit problems, debt and door step lending being a root cause of this development. You can also watch Paul Mason’s report from Coventry.
The Trussell Trust reckons 43% of all those referred to the food bank are there because of benefit stoppage or the refusal of a crisis loan. Usually that is because they have fallen foul of the conditions that require people on benefits to demonstrate they are looking for work, and have been, as the system puts it, “sanctioned”.
“It is reasonable to expect people to apply for a certain number of jobs per week,” says Gavin Kibble, who runs the Coventry food bank. “But if you fail that particular test and you have a sanction, the sanction could be there for weeks.”
“Now the logic flaw in that is exactly where do you expect people to go and find money during that period if Jobseeker’s [Allowance] is supposed to be the point of last resort in terms of income? Effectively we become a backstop to the welfare state system.”
Just need to bring back the Board of Guardians, have an intensive building programme of Work Programme Houses (to boost the econmomy - G4S can manage them), install the treadmills (fitness gymns), and bring back the rock breaking (road building materials), get some supplies of old rope to be unpicked (money for old rope - sorry, recyclying) and we will be able to sort these recalcitrants out in no time.