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

[beardymcbeardy]

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.

My oh is about to complete his nursing degree and will start on £22k. Compared to his £500 a month bursary for everything (and inability to work pt due to full time placements) we'll be loaded. I don't think qualified nurses are paid enough for what they do but I certainly don't think that £22k in Scotland is so low as to require a foodbank.

If the person in question had stuck to the point about lack of appropriate wage rises over the years signalling real term cuts and lack of recruitment of much needed nurses due to funding shortage she would have been making very valid points (even if NHS pay in Scotland is outwith remit of Westminster and the debate was about the Westminster GE not Scottish parliament) - instead she gave a dubious anecdote while leaving her social media accounts open which led to doubts of her truthfulness. Unfortunately some media sources highlight the 'foodbank nurse' issue which is likely to be the most stretched 'fact' of her speech, instead of the real problems nurses throughout the uk are facing with low wages, no pay rises and now in England having to fund their own training.

Not that I think no nurse could ever be in a position to use food banks mind you, I'm being a bit suspicious of this particular nurse given the comments made about her lifestyle.
We can all fall on hard times, but politics can lead to a lot of point-scoring.

But compared to what i earn, she isnt a low earner. I dont think she is a high earner, but I dont consider her a low earner neither. And I cant find sympathy for someone who earns more than me but cant live within their budget and looks to blame someone else for her own financial mismanagement. And equally, if not more, i do think that people earning huge amounts who evade/avoid tax should be targeted. Its possible to disagree with both!

Teabag and Kenneth you are. Of course, right.

It's just so tabloid ...food bank nurse leads lavish lifestyle........

I think the truth here probably lies in between BUT there are much wider and important issues which get lost whilst hacking away at one person.

Not having enough food is horrendous and dehumanising. I grew up like that (abusive parents) and I would never judge or question anyone for using a food bank. The ones I used to volunteer for were turn up with no questions asked if you needed help, no need for referrals either. Its shit enough having to turn to a food bank, its even worse when people start trying to judge you or quality whether its morally right for you to use one.

Sometimes in life things go to shit unavoidably, sometimes we mess up - either way sometimes its nice to rant about how crap it is as that rant makes you feel a tiny bit better for a little while, before you have to crack back on with trying to sort things out again. Who here hasn't ranted? What's to say the nurse want doing just that?

None of us actually knows the facts, about her or about your finances OP, but we should try not to judge, in my view.

She needed help. And thank god we are able to give it. Many many people Others will need similar help too possibly in part due to their poor decisions. That's a great thing : to help where it's needed without blame.

The National Average Wage in the Thatcher oil boom years was £30,000. I dont think £22,000 is a high earner.
I'm sick of this attitude. How much do you donate to food banks each month? Why act like people are stealing from you?

Fucking hell..

Meanwhile, in the real world...

Normal tiny house, SE but not London, single parent, two kids. My total outgoings (direct debits, house, bills, insurance, fuel, fares) including not massive mortgage is just under £2k. Can I emphasise small house, not extravagant at all.

Money coming in is a couple of hundred over that. We're just about ok, just just just.

If I lose £100 a month due to bills increasing or cuts to tax credits, I'll be in real trouble.

Or, the short version...

£22k is fuck all to raise a family on.

YANBU

A lot of people are generally terrible with money and then blame the system.

Sad but true.

The nurse was Scottish though so not paying London/south east housing costs.

I'd be shocked if her housing was more than £700pcm.

"Tanith, Im not interested in the smearing of the woman or not, but whether the 'facts' she has claimed are true or not, "

Did you even look at the article I linked?

If you are truly interested in the 'facts', you'll see that you've actually been repeating the lies for which the SNP candidate has had to offer an apology.

You are joining in the smear campaign against her.

I think the idea that if you lose half your £100,000 income because one of you is made redundant then a food bank should subsidise you maintaining your lifestyle, is offensive and exactly what is wrong with our society- a sense of entitlement.
If that happens to you, you should have been saving so you have some security for a bad time, you should immediately get rid of things like your cars, private school fees, sky tv, expensive phone contracts and put your house on the market. You should be prepared to sell belongings too- jewellery or anything else that could realise younsome money.
Foodbanks and the welfare state are not there to allow people to maintain aspects of their £80,000 and £100,000 lifestyles. The lifestyles have to go immediately - although I accept selling a house takes lnger but you could rent it out.

the holiday and nights out she said was paid for by friends and family. I am taking my child on holiday soon, my SIL has taken her sister and two children on holidays abroad. This is what families do for the lower paid. That doesn't mean that they cant be faced with an unexpected bill for the car needed to keep their job or a reclaim for tax credits or anything else life throws at you. If you are just about managing you dont have savings. You may feel ashamed to ask for more family help.

Total empathy bypass or tory plant thread.

Most people who use a food bank do so for temporary reasons and if the figure being bandied about of 1 million users is examined it becomes clear that it is not 1 million people constantly using food banks but 1 million people have at some point visited/used a food bank. Before foodbanks proliferated these people would have been forced to resort to baked beans on toast and stale bread to keep the wolf from the door. It is good that there are now foodbanks to help those temporarily in need of help.
A single person - (as this nurse is) living in a reasonably cheap city on £22k a year could not feasibly be using food banks on a weekly basis.

Depends where you live. Rent in london in a cheap 1 bed hole can be £1300. Council tax and bills on top dont leave you with much. You are lucky with your living expenses. We left london after 6 years of struggling. Didnt use a food bank ever but lived on £20 pw for everything after rent etc. That was two salaries! Wouldnt have taken much to wipe out our food budget. We only had the one car which i just used to get to my work which would have been impossible otherwise. Wasnt used apart from that due to petrol costs.

Tanith the apology was for saying she was married to a Tory councillor, which wasn't true. The holiday abroad stuff was from her own social media.
Not sure why anyone thinks Edinburgh is a reasonably cheap city to live in though. (It's in Scotland so must be cheap?)

Teabagtits hit the nail on the head.

Well salary of 22k gives you a take home of £18,239. Single parent might have to spend £1000/month on rent so that's £12,000 and at least £500 on childcare (probably more if you are doing a 37.5 hour week unsociable hours) so that's £6,000. So £18,000 costs already.

I earn 18k and feel rather well off! I live within my means in a cheap area. I don't think I am poor at all and would never consider using a foodbank.

I think anyone can fall on hard times and I have no issue with them using food banks.

But

Don't use them as a political football to display you don't have enough, because you do.

I really really can't bring myself to mind too much about the tiny amount of people who may or may not be wrongly claiming food from a food bank. As others have said its only a few days food, and you need a referral. There are many dreadful injustices and cut backs at he minute, if people think a box of groceries will help them out then I'm not going to get too upset about it if there aren't quite poor enough. But then I don't think anyone should be going hungry in a first world country, poor money management or not. I have to say I'm a lot more sickened by the press fawning over Pippa's massively extravagant wedding yesterday, how lovely that she can afford it, and wasn't little George so cute in his gold pantaloons! FFS.

Not living a £122k lifestyle on £22k budget and expecting the state to pay for food

I just wanted to point out,

food banks are charities not state funded.

Are we talking about a particularly politically vocal nurse?

You mean the one that dared criticise the Great Sturgeon? The one the SNP cyber bastards then tried to smear? The one who was later apologised to by the SNP?

The woman who the SNP claimed was married to a Tory councillor who is in fact single?

The woman who was a nurse and knew what she was talking about?

So not particularly political - just a nurse who is suffering under the socialist run NHS in Scotland then.

Beebeeeight she lives in edinburgh, not all of Scotland has 3 bed houses for 5p.

A particular area in Edinburgh has been named on a Facebook post I've seen- if it's accurate then rents run between about 950 and 2000 for a 2 bedroom flat.