To be really upset to read on MN

[shootingstarz]

That parents are going without food because they can?t afford to feed their kids.

MyDogShitsShoes, yes I was trying to help. Sorry, I know how irritating it is when you've tried/looked into everything and someone else says, have you tried... why don't you ... etc. It's just sometimes when someone is new to benefits they don't realise what they can get and might not get full advice from the people in the benefits office.

sunshine so very true.

Morris - you've been told on this thread, that people can't afford to eat. Why do you presume those posters are being untruthful when they say that they aren't gambling or smoking or drinking alcohol. (God Forbid! - Poor People, Know Your Place)

Is this what we have come to as a society? Really? No further on than when Dickens was writing his novels...

Although even back then there was some BELIEF that poverty existed.

oh and for those concerned, i dont smoke, i dont drink, i dont gamble, i dont play bingo, i dont buy magazines, i dont go to haridressers or beauty salons, i dont buy clothes or nick nacks for my house, i dont buy gas for the hob or oil for the heating, i dont buy make up, i dont even have a tv so definitely no sky or flatscreen LCD, i dont have 4 rolls royces sitting outside my council house nor do i have 143 foreign holidays a year.

Am going back to active convos before I spontaneously combust.

My company used to give luncheon vouchers, which were accepted in supermarkets for anything except fags and booze.

I lived on them for the last week of every month for a long time.

If similar vouchers were given to everybody in receipt of gvt support (students, oaps, anybody getting child benefit etc) then there would be no stigma attached.

I'd happily take my CB in the form of food vouchers, food is the one consumer purchase we all have to make. Vouchers are great because you can't spend them on anything else, and they provide a safety net after the cash is gone.

thekidsrule,

i dont agree with food vouchers,for many reasons

far better to teach budgeting,cooking etc at school and home,that would help some of the problem but would take years to filter through

It doesn?t matter how good you are at budgeting £20 a week is not going to buy much food to feed even one person a week.

Sorry if I was snappy then totem
Your advice is totally sound btw.

Whatmeworry, I expect when it comes to benefits you maybe distinguish on the grounds of 'deserving' and 'undeserving' (ie those who gamble, smoke, don't know how to budget, get into debt, buy take aways and have plasma screen TVs).

I don't subscribe to the above view, but I'm going to use it to illustrate my point..

I am a social worker and have worked with scores of families where parents skip meals and many, many of these have fallen into the 'deserving' category, women fleeing domestic violence for example, it can take weeks if not months for benefits to come through - but then I find that by the time the benefits come through they're paying off the debts from when they literally had nothing. I've bust a gut to give these parents cash under Section 17 of the Children Act but unfortunately council budgets are being cut so its getting harder and harder to get these payments authorised.

There but for the grace of god..

If people really can't feed themselves I want to know where all my tax money is going

I think this is a fair point.

I want my taxes to be spent on making sure that people who do not earn as much money can afford to feed themselves (and generally live to an acceptable standard). If my taxes are being spent on nuclear submarines or olympic bunting while people are going hungry then I am a bit pissed off at this poor distribution of funds.

(MyDog I think you misunderstood - no-one is accusing the recipients of benefits misspending "my tax money", we are saying that the government should be giving more to people who need it to eat)

I've written it clearly a number of times now. I do believe posters on this thread - why wouldn't I?

My point is a general one.

Trouble with vouchers, is the planning involved. Carefully adjusting spending to the value of the voucher.

Oh and don't forget there are hundreds of thousands of migrants in the UK with no recourse to public funds. I don't expect them to get much sympathy on MN though..

shootingstarz

i disagree you could feed one person on £20 a week

It needs to be a balance whilst I think food stamps should ensure that families get to eat, it isn't fair to completely disempower people by deciding how every penny is spent.

I know of a family, completely dysfunctional (8 children, in and out of prison etc) who no longer buy food, they get all of their food from foodbanks. For families like this foodstamps and utility vouchers would be a good thing. It isn't fair however to tar everyone with the same brush. 99.9 per cent of people on benefits are ordinary hard working people who have fallen on hard times and it is essential that they are allowed control over their own finances.

It is threads like this which make you cringe at the threads where people want to go back to paying 4% tax or complaining at the reduction in CB for people earning over 50k. I do think means testing benefits or linkingtax/benefits needs to come in- grants such as the one you get in pregancny for food etc need to go to people who need it
I find the finger pointing at the feckless poor really disgusting - yes sure some people spend their money on frivolous stuff but most don't and it shouldn't be a choice between £1 lottery ticket and eating- it shouldn't be that tight.
As i understand it is becomes a vicious circle that being on the poverty line you can't afford the bulk discounts etc and so pay more proportionally as well.

Stranded- Not being nosy but I don't understand in your position why you don't qualify for free child care- this seems wrong

So why bring it up then Morris?

The poorest already have food vouchers but for a very limited amount. Perhaps some vouchers are sold for cash, but the vast majority are spent on healthy food.

It is impossible to budget properly with insufficient funds. You can only try to spend very little, knowing the money will run out too soon. When there isn't enough money for both heating and food, sometimes you will be cold, sometimes hungry.

To end child poverty we need jobs you can raise a family on and a robust child poverty strategy

The Chancellor is preparing the Budget and ministers across government are preparing to publish their UK child poverty strategy.

It is shocking that 6 out of 10 children living in poverty have a parent in work whose income is not high enough to keep the family out of poverty.

Too many parents are unable to gain decent work that will keep their families out of poverty. Too many others have lost jobs in the recession, or will lose their job because of government cuts.

That's why we need a robust child poverty policy and a commitment from government to more jobs that keep families out of poverty.

ACT NOW: contact your member of parliament and ask them to put pressure on the Chancellor.

www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/

thekidz I have £25 for the month not the week.

Also can I add that I am neither stupid nor uneducated. I am more than capable of batch cooking and budgeting.

My point isn't getting across and I can't think of a clearer way of saying it.

Do posters here see any difference between these situations:

A. I have no money to feed myself. I will have to go hungry.

B. I have no money to feed myself. I will spend my last few quid on a magazine and a lottery ticket to cheer myself up.

Both situs are real. Both are grim. Both are very understandable. But they are not the same.

Nameinchalk, I bring it up in response to discussion of food vouchers.

Why are there people on this thread who are going without food or worrying about how they are going to feed the meter yet are paying for internet access?

I feel genuine empathy for those on the breadline, however I am finding it hard to understand why internet, mobile phones and cars (when they don't work) are prioritised higher than food, water, gas and electricity.