AIBU to think this hardship payment is slightly unfair?

[RoseRedder]

An old friend of mine contacted me to ask if I would buy his asda vouchers from him so he could shop at farmfoods and put some money on his electricity meter.

It transpires that his ESA benefit has been stopped (no appeal) and he applied for a crisis loan however this no longer exist so was given a hardhip payment which was 2 cards for Asda each with £10 on that can be used for food (so no tobacco etc)

I had heard that this was being considered but I didn't realise it had happened?

Is this not the equivalent of saying benefit claimants can't be trusted, or I'm I reading to much in to it?

The other problem is he has no Asda within walking distance and no money to get the bus there and back to one (£3) but does have an Aldi, Lidl, farmfoods and Iceland close by.

Would it not make more sense to be able to use shops that offer more value for money?

I have no problem with crisis payments which can only be spent on food.

I do.

I started a job last January but the only way I could get there was if I had petrol in the car. I got one of the last crisis loans.

The lady on the phone was wonderful, I explained the situation and she said, "before I start the application, we can only give you money for food so if you tell me you have nothing in your cupboards you will get a loan"

That loan was paid back with my first month's pay, without it I would have not had the 3 months work that then led on to another 2 months work.

What I'm curious to know is: What had the recipient been doing for the last 5 to 10 years to get into their current situation? Why are they incapable of saving a few pounds per week for most months in anticipation of these events?

because 1) it is very difficult and 2) it counts against you if you need a loan

Haven't read all the posts, however, I think that many of those that I have read show a lack of understanding of the benefits system. I have a generous discretionary budget for the project I manage that we use to help with things such as food and gas/ electricity and household goods. I would never dream of giving out cash for the simple reason that I have to be able to show how the money has been spent for compliance reasons. If someone comes to us saying they need money for food, we go and buy the food, same applies for gas and electric. We also give out asda vouchers, but this is again to get around public sector procurement purposes.

It is also important to remember that many of those accessing hardship funds are vulnerable. While of course many could use the money for what it is intended, I know that many of those my project works with would struggle if given a lump sum.

That's very interesting, ScarlettsMummy (I also work in public sector and occasionally have to struggle with the joys of procurement procedures). Is that because you need to evidence that the money has genuinely been spent on what it should be spent on, and has not been slipped into your back pocket?

Also- many of the big retailers won't set up accounts with local councils who administer the welfare fund as the public sector is really bad at paying out so hence service users being stuck with Asda.

Grendle- yes, basically. We pay for a lot of stuff out of the petty cash so I need receipts to show what it is spent on. I don't know many finance managers who wouldn't want clear evidence that the accounts reconcile!

A crisis loan is paid back through the benefits, so in reality it is paid back by the tax payer.

If he had children he would be getting child benefit and child tax credit, even if jsa, esa, had been stopped, so gas an electric plus tins of beans an bread could be bought with that.

If he does not have children, put a jumper on an use a blanket to keep warm. Go without tv for a week.

Sindarella- you haven't a clue what you are talking about. We are currently working with a family who have been doing exactly what you have suggested and it is horrendous and unworkable and unintentional neglect of the children living in the household.

Sinderella, piss off.

There but for the Grace of God go I, hideous how people are treated by the system and by some of the general public

Yes, he should sit in the dark too for a week. That'll save him tons of money. And forget about cooking the food he uses his asda vouchers for. Poor people aren't allowed hot food of course.

People need a proper poverty toolkit. I think what annoys me is the absolute lack of common sense applied to the distribution of benefits. It is perfectly reasonable to include things like access to toilet rolls, telephone calls, stamps, the internet and bus fares (or car allowances where there are no buses) to a nearby supermarket or job centre in any budget. All of these things are completely normal requirements of living in any modern society. Without them you are socially excluded to such a degree you are bound to find it difficult to rejoin mainstream society and work your way out of poverty in the way that is expected.

In World War 2 there was a network of local restaurants, called British Restaurants, which sold a simple but nutritious hot meal for the modern equivalent of £1 to anyone who wanted one, with or without ration books, with or without a 'good' reason. We got rid of those, and markets, and greasy spoon cafes, and in our wisdom, replaced them with expensive branches of Costa Coffee and so on. Ration books were issued for local shops within walking distance. We got rid of those, and indeed local food shops, and built out of town supermarkets non drivers couldn't get to. Hence now people in poverty, who are effectively living a bit like many had to do in World War 2, have over time had access blocked to two tools they need for proper, sustainable survival. Then we gripe on about how expensive it is supporting people on benefits. Does my head in, it does.

If he does not have children, put a jumper on an use a blanket to keep warm. Go without tv for a week.

What a dumb thing to say.

Its not just heating. How is he supposed to heat food, or have a shower/bath.

It really shocks me how little many people know about what life is really like for the most vulnerable. No concept of real poverty.

And can people please stop banging on about how the poor shouldn't be watching telly. If we can subsidise it for the fucking Queen and indeed all over 80s via their free TV licences I am sure we can give people with practically nothing the means of having some sort of window on society rather than sitting there with a library book in the dark.

FFS.

Would you go without gas and electricity for a week sinderella

No heating, no light, no warm food or drink, no clean clothes.

Boffin- totally agree with everything you have said

Yes, put a woolly hat on.

FFS

We live in one of the world's richest countries where in London millionaires outbid each other for £70m houses and we are telling people in thin walled, poorly insulated modern buildings being cold is their own fault.

I mean, FFS. Really.

The only person that seems to be getting anything out of this is Asda!

THE MONEY IS BEING SUCKED UPWARDS, FOLKS!

You are still paying it out in your taxes, only it does not go to people in need. It goes to the top 1%. While they divide and rule by getting you to bitch about how big poor people's tellies are.

They are rich for a reason, you know. It's because they are absolutely brilliant at distracting the lower orders from what they are up to. Smoke and mirrors.

FOLLOW THE MONEY!

Who in actual fact is benefiting from people going without?

And Walmart who own bloody Asda have a food bank collection in store for their own employees being paid the square root of bugger all

Follow the money.

Very well said, Boffin. True about the restaurants, out-of-town shopping, social exclusion and the rest of it.

Round here (rural,) they build social housing on the village outskirts. The houses are shoddily built, not insulated, and usually on flooding land because it's available & cheap. These villages don't have shops or even pubs. Social tenants are shunned by the homeowners (literally) up the hill. Buses are infrequent and expensive. Infrequent means twice a week in many villages.

It's not unusual to see young mums pushing, carrying & dragging their kids 5 miles along the A-roads, which have no pavements or lighting, to town and back for their appointments and groceries.

I might as well add that, while I live in the town thank god (after 2 hellish years in a village,) my privately-rented house costs £60 a month more than my housing allowance, and is the second cheapest here. It is literally full of holes, single-glazed, is damp, and has no ground floors - the carpet's laid on packed earth. I am better off than the tenants in the villages.

... that's 5 miles each way. Some villages are 9 miles from a supermarket.

I think that happens in many places across the country. We have families who have been walking seven miles there and seven miles back to access the foodbank. In Scotland, in 2013. Shameful.