Foodbank stats and stories

[eek]

Well, I was going on what the guy at the foodbank here told me when we were talking about it.

As I said - round here, Booths (!!) will give their perishable food to the food bank, but none of the big supermarkets will.

You live by a Booths

[sal]

Some companies are more willing to give their waste food away - round here, Booths (!!) will give their perishable food to the food bank, but none of the big supermarkets will.

It's almost worth hanging around to see what stuff Booths are giving away

I remember something about companies having to pay the VAT for the donated food as if it was sold, hence many of them prefer to throw it away instead.

[Halo Jones]

Conversely like the ATOS assessment properly done .

If only: my only experience of ATOS, they came to see BGG: for the whole meeting we sat & chatted, the assessor then asked BGG to stand (he was able with his stick to do so). He then went off & in his report wrote that BGG can walk 300m unaided.

He never saw him walk & BGG can’t go 3m without a stick & if we go out it’s in the wheel chair, it took 13 months to sort that out (we won the appeal)

We are fortunate that as we both work the loss of benefits was manageable, but I can see how people end up dying from this
& this will not change if targets are set for how many people to take off the list, as opposed to who needs the help

Shouldn't they be limiting their offspring to the number they can actually afford and if it is zero then so be it - or is it a basic right to reproduce and expect someone else to pick up the tab?

In theory I agree people should live within their means, but what happens when a previously hard working family gets made redundant or has a long term health issue?

[SlipTheJab]

you tried raising a family of 4 on £6.50 an hour?

Friends of mine do and they have my admiration.


That's £260 a week. After rent, energy, water & council tax there is sod all left.

I spend that on our mortgage.

I spend almost 12 times that on ours

[vetran]

If only: my only experience of ATOS, they came to see BGG: for the whole meeting we sat & chatted, the assessor then asked BGG to stand (he was able with his stick to do so). He then went off & in his report wrote that BGG can walk 300m unaided.

He never saw him walk & BGG can’t go 3m without a stick & if we go out it’s in the wheel chair, it took 13 months to sort that out (we won the appeal)

We are fortunate that as we both work the loss of benefits was manageable, but I can see how people end up dying from this
& this will not change if targets are set for how many people to take off the list, as opposed to who needs the help

This is very much what I feared was happening, in which case this should be investigated as was A4E and the people who lied & cheated to meet targets should get some jail time. In principle the idea is sound as we saw sharp climb of people on DLA since the 1970s.

https://fullfact.org/factcheck/disab..._20_years-3240



https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/researc...er/2011-03.pdf

In theory I agree people should live within their means, but what happens when a previously hard working family gets made redundant or has a long term health issue?

indeed one user of a food bank I know personally was in exactly this position Hubby fell ill, was made redundant because of it. she had a young child & health issues herself.

[vetran]

I spend almost 12 times that on ours

a week????

flipping heck.

I reckon about a grand a month for my house is pretty good, its not as big a SAS's castle or DP's exe's house but it does.

[unixman]

Shouldn't they be limiting their offspring to the number they can actually afford and if it is zero then so be it - or is it a basic right to reproduce and expect someone else to pick up the tab?

There is a strong argument for having only the children you can afford, in this day and age. On the other hand, you might be able to afford 5 kids then lose your job.

[VectraMan]

In theory I agree people should live within their means, but what happens when a previously hard working family gets made redundant or has a long term health issue?

When I was out of work a couple of years ago I lived for 6 months on money I had saved before I signed on. Okay so it's not necessarily so easy for everyone, but living within your means ought to include putting away some money so that you're not immediately destitute the day you lose your job or become ill. That would seem to be common sense, and what seems to be lacking in these cases.

And if you're going to have 5 kids, you really ought to be considering what would happen if you lost your job.

[Batcher]

But that's my point. You've just calculated 40 * 6.50 per week. Two adults, two kids. Work a bit harder if two ends don't meet. Why is it always down to the rest of us to bail out people who don't want to work, don't want to get educated to get a proper job, don't want to do overtime, or god forbid cannot be bothered to get a job. I'm sick and tired of working my arse off to look after others.
If we didn't have benefits, food banks and a free NHS then frankly those at the bottom of the chain would have dropped off the ladder by now.

This may be a good time to thank you once again for the money you send up to Scotland for our free prescriptions, care for the elderly, frozen council tax and free bridge tolls.

Both my kids have now gone through 4 years of free Uni tuition too.

Thank you

[vetran]

When I was out of work a couple of years ago I lived for 6 months on money I had saved before I signed on. Okay so it's not necessarily so easy for everyone, but living within your means ought to include putting away some money so that you're not immediately destitute the day you lose your job or become ill. That would seem to be common sense, and what seems to be lacking in these cases.

And if you're going to have 5 kids, you really ought to be considering what would happen if you lost your job.

you really ought to look at this and think before posting

UK incomes: how does your salary compare? | Money | The Guardian

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...l_analysis.pdf

most people scrape by and the last few years people have lost substantial income.

even if they put away a tenth of their NMW earnings that only lasts a month or so.

people like us with > £50K in the bank can last a few years on Lidl beans.