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AIBU?

AIBU to think that if you earn £22k+ you shouldnt need to use foodbanks?

242 replies

beardymcbeardy · 22/05/2017 22:57

Or am I in denial, or just lucky? I earn less than that and admittedly I have to be frugal, live a fairly boring lifestyle (no fancy holidays and shitty old car) but I've never had to rely on a foodbank. I can't get my head around earning £22k and still needing to use a foodbank.

OP posts:
NapQueen · 22/05/2017 23:00

Dunno where the random salary youve pulled has come from but Id imagine a family where one earns 22k and the other 100k and the 100k one gets sacked/made redundant then the bills still need paying and there may not be money left for food.

Dh and I are on joint 35k and dont need to use foodbanks thankfully but if our wage was cut to 22k we probably would!

Dawndonnaagain · 22/05/2017 23:00

Rent, bills, childcare, fares.

lovelylavender1 · 22/05/2017 23:01

Debt or unexpected bills can hit people hard.

TheSparrowhawk · 22/05/2017 23:01

Depends on where you live. In London, 22k is verging on nothing - a 1-bed flat could easily set you back £15k a year in rent, not to mention transport and all other costs.

In a place like Nottingham £22k would be absolutely fine.

Gileswithachainsaw · 22/05/2017 23:01

I can easily imagine it. Suddenly job loss resulting in massive pay drop and tied I to several contracts you can't get out of that were previously affordable etc

Etymology23 · 22/05/2017 23:02

Presumably it will depend where you live and if you have a family?

£22k with a measly 3% into your pension gives you £1468 per month.

So should be manageable if you have no dependents, but could be tight and would be tricky with dependents.

Vanillamanilla1 · 22/05/2017 23:02

How would someone earning 22k be referred to a foodbank ?
I don't get it ..

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 22/05/2017 23:03

Presumably you don't earn a third less and have to support yourself and others without the addition of housing or other benefit?

Dawndonnaagain · 22/05/2017 23:04

A two bed flat on the outskirts of London. Single parent, one child, working. Not easy.

VeuveVera · 22/05/2017 23:05

In an ideal world it would be enough.
But if you have no savings and run out of money at the end of the month,then maybe

Pigface1 · 22/05/2017 23:05

Depends where you live and what your circumstances are. Obviously in London that wouldn't cover the rent on a wheely bin. In Glasgow I'd be surprised if it wasn't fine... I lived comfortably - actually, really well - in Edinburgh on £18k for years. I rented a gorgeous flat by myself in the centre of town and everything.

Instasista · 22/05/2017 23:05

But what if you're in debt? It's expensive

megletthesecond · 22/05/2017 23:05

Rent, job loss of partner, illness.

Teabagtits · 22/05/2017 23:06

Are we talking about a particularly politically vocal nurse? Perhaps one who posted lavish champagne lifestyle photos on social media and allegedly sends her daughter to private school?

Either way I don't think anyone on £22k should be using a foodbank. Quite a few foodbanks have referral rules that would preclude someone on such a wage.

FellOutOfBed2wice · 22/05/2017 23:07

We couldn't live on £22k- family of four in London, or certainly couldn't have before we brought our house earlier this year. When we were renting our flat was £1300 a month, so that's £15600 before you so much as pay a bill. Now we've got a mortgage which is only £7800 a year, so that would be more doable but as renters £22k would have got us nowhere. We would definitely have been using food banks as our £533 a month left over wouldn't have been buying us much.

manueltowers · 22/05/2017 23:08

Childcare, living in an expensive area, illness and only getting SSP, debt, unexpected bills.

It's not hard to imagine, surely? Hmm

MovingtoParadise · 22/05/2017 23:08

I knew someone who earned £48k who had to be referred to a food bank. A fraudulent transaction on his bank account, his wages inaccessible in only the second month of working.

Shit can happen to anyone.

Instasista · 22/05/2017 23:09

Well you wouldn't fellout as you can't just decide to use foodbanks as a lifestyle choice- you get referred and get food provided for a very short period- 3-5 days. Ypu don't live off a food bank

DancingLedge · 22/05/2017 23:09

Food bank myth, right there.

You can't just rock up, because you've failed to budget.
Only open to those with a referral. Most commonly, because benefit delay means they have NOTHING to fall back on, totally at rock bottom.

beardymcbeardy · 22/05/2017 23:11

Its the nurse in the headlines in Scotland. From what i can tell the minimum wage for a nurse is £22k so using that as a minimum that she earns as a nurse. According the papers she works 3 jobs, one of them is for BUPA, but the since Im obviously not privy to her wages, going on the baseline for nhs nurses.

Arent foodbanks for people on the breadline? As in they have no money because their benefits have been fucked up, or their dla stopped etc. Not for people who are mismanaging their finances.

NapQueen, if a household income suddenly dropped from £122k to £22k then i'd suggest that the household needs to cut their cloth accordingly. Not living a £122k lifestyle on £22k budget and expecting the state to pay for food.

OP posts:
lovelylavender1 · 22/05/2017 23:12

I think she is a student nurse.

NapQueen · 22/05/2017 23:13

And how could they cut their cloth in the short term? 100k person sacked. No wage. The mortgage still needs paying and the childcare bill. Ok these things can ober time be altered but not in the immediate future.

It takes time to sell a house.

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beardymcbeardy · 22/05/2017 23:14

Ive dont think she is a student nurse. I got the impression she'd been a nurse for eight years as she had said "’We've had eight years and no pay rise".

OP posts:
beardymcbeardy · 22/05/2017 23:18

You dont pay the mortgage and accept the black mark on your credit report, ask for a holiday period, or mm favourite use CC, or put up for sale and move into something that you can afford. If a household on £122k doesnt have any savings for a rainy day, then imo they have seriously been mismanaging their finances.

OP posts:
JoJoSM2 · 22/05/2017 23:19

It does take some serious recklessness and irresponsibility to end up in a food bank at that wage. People should have rainy day savings to tide them over not sponge off the food bank.

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