To think that food banks who limit to three weeks are as mean spirited as Universal Credit?

[MammaTJ]

I have been reading on FB about someone struggling due to problems with universal credit. They say they have used their three food banks and an extra two they gave them!

When I had to have food bank boxes I got one a week until I told them I did not need them any more, I had them for around 8 months. I think three or five is mean and people in need are people in need until they no longer need it, ie, their circumstances change!

My change was actually getting PIP, which meant an extra £300 a month!

AIBU?

Besides the increase in people needing food banks , it will also depend on the area. Surely you can understand how a very deprived area, will have a lot of demand and nowhere near enough supply/donations so they have to make them stretch.

Where I work we have various people in that provide help for people in need.
In the last 3 months I've seen one place that provides grants letters go through the roof. Usually about 3-4 a week, perhaps going up to 6-7 at Christmas. They've been getting 5-7 a day this year.
An organisation that meets people to sort out help has quadrupled their clients at least, without increasing their staff.
Another organisation for volunteers helping people find jobs is looking to almost doubling what they do over the next year due to the number of people needing them.
There are others too who also are finding the people needing help is increasing rapidly.

We also have emergency food packs. We can give them out as a one off to people who need them. After that they need to be referred and will be delivered. We don't have many of these packs in and it sometimes is that if we give to one person who appears in need, then we do not have to give to someone else.
We generally have two packs-one for someone with cooking facilities and one for people without, often taken by the homeless. It will be replaced asap when it's taken, usually within 24 hours if they have the stuff-sometimes the food bank is pretty much empty, although not at this time of the year just after harvest festivals, it's the summer holiday that is the real stretching point.

Usually we give the food pack to them and explain what they have to do to be referred. We'll let them use our phone to call for referral, we'll help them fill in forms etc. We'll speak to the people if they want.

Most people are great. The number we have that come back in to donate food when they're back on their feet again is amazing.

But we do have the odd person who discovers the emergency food pack is available and returns again and again. It's very difficult, because when we give it to them, we do not have it to give to someone else.

Sometimes the food bank is empty or nearly empty. I know sometimes the volunteers are buying the stuff for the emergency food packs out of their own money.

The food bank delivers not because they want to make it hard, but simply because they used to have people turning up and found that they were not infrequently threatened and abused by people who hadn't got what they wanted. It put the volunteers, generally retired ladies, at risk.
And actually where they have their warehouse is out of town. You cannot get to it easily by public transport. That's a money choice-to have a place in town is too expensive on rent. So delivery makes sense from that point of view too.

mean
attacking my friends

Wow OP you really are aiming your ire in completely the wrong direction.

I would not give to a limiting service
Oh, well tht's really going to help - not.

You do realise don't you that food banks aren't a statutory service?
That food banks run due to the massive amount of time put in by volunteers, and the incredibly generous donations of people who give to them week in, week out. If they don't have enough food to fill the cupboards of people who come to them for months on end, it is not them "being mean" it is them trying to manage (did I say, as volunteer?) the limited resources when faced with increasing demand month on month, year on year. That is not the fault of the foodbanks and I find it pretty amazing that anyone can be ignorant enough to spout such tripe.

mean
attacking my friends

Wow OP you really are aiming your ire in completely the wrong direction.

To be fair, I think you're at cross purposes. OP isn't referring to the food banks there, I don't think.

Which is probably my fault, since I raised it. It was just when I saw who the OP is, my jaw dropped. Mia culpa there.

Do you expect food banks to magic up food? They can only give what they have and distribute it in a way that benefits the most people. I really can't follow your train of thought at all.

It isn't the norm to meet peoples needs as long as they have them? That is a shame!

Mamma I hope I'm not coming across as patronising as that's not really my intent but have you been drinking/are you ok? You seem a little 'hyper' and to put the blame on food banks is really not on. To be given a weekly food shop for months is absolutely not the norm - nor should it be

"I've been reading on FB"

That should have been the red flag for me with the opening post but I missed that part.

Food banks aren't a bottomless pitt of donations and money. They are not withholding food parcels because they are mean spirited but because of lack of resources. No one sets up a food bank to be. Mean. It's not that hard to grasp really.

If I was someone free food then they whinged that I should do it for longer I would certainly tell them where to go. It's a charity nobody owes you anything.

So anyone who is struggling can come along of an evening and get soup, sandwiches and tea/coffee a biscuit for free. Some service users stockpiled sandwiches and took them away for the next day's breakfast/lunch.

You see where I live (small town) there aren't the resources to do that - we're a small village and posts like the above would stop people donating :(

I absolutely agree that it's a minefield and that in this day and age NOBODY should be relying on food from a foodbank and benefits should cover the basics. Unfortunately we have folks in government who despise the 'poor'. xx

Food banks have a careful line to walk. They do not get an unlimited amount of food or volunteer help, and they have to administer it all in such a way that people do not stop donating if they fear people are abusing it. That is why you need a referral and there is a limit to the amount of weeks you can use it. Most people who use food banks have been sanctioned.

You see where I live (small town) there aren't the resources to do that - we're a small village and posts like the above would stop people donating sad

But as I said, it’s not a food bank I was referring to but a soup kitchen. I also live in a large city.

We have the Trussel Trust too, which requires a referral. The local church runs a food bank which allows self referral but I’m not sure if people can use the service indefinitely.

Op, today I will be leaving my children in full Christmas excitement mode to spend my day volunteering at our local food bank. I work part time and do food bank on my days off as well as the shelter some nights.
The other people I work with are mostly pensioners and lug heavy bags and boxes about and are extremely compassionate.
We say 3 shops per crisis but also use our common sense.
It has to be limited as it's designed to help people who have nothing and simply cannot be used as a weekly supplement or it would run dry.
At the moment we are also giving out wonderful Xmas bags full of lovely stuff.
What is shit is having to have the damn things at all but don't knock them please.

"It isn't the norm to meet peoples needs as long as they have them? That is a shame! "

At what cost? Unless contributions come in, how will food banks provide 'forever'? And it is not mean, it is sensible so everyone gets a little bit.

Tories despise the poor. Not the condition of poverty, the people.

I give a huge bag of food to my local food bank every week.

OP I would hate it going to someone with such a bad attitude as yours.

Op - you indeed was lucky to get extended help. The food and staff are entirely donations / volunteers so they have limits, it sounds like it was a while ago you needed help and obviously the demand in your local area wasn't as high so they could help as long as you needed help.

I live in a wealthy area - our local food bank has only just started that you can't self refer, but continue to offer unlimited help as yours did, basically because the donations would far out weigh the need if families could only be helped for a month at a time.

I heard that social services are asking if they'll partner with another food bank in the neighbouring town that has a lot more demand.

It's really shit that in so many towns they are having to feed people, but lovely so many people will give food and time to help complete strangers.

Ledkr - you are a wonderful person. Thank you for stepping up.

Our one does emergency food parcels after 3 weeks with the basics. So they don't stop, but they are a lot less generous (the first three are amazing). I volunteer there and there were a minority of people taking the piss which is why this rule was introduced - and also selling the meat vouchers on Facebook! Shame as the genuine ones miss out.

Surely part of the issue is that the government now assume food banks will pick up the slack for people with low/no income. Ten years ago you barely heard of food banks in the UK, but now they are almost seen as part of the welfare system.

Food banks are largely set up to help people in an immediate crisis, not to give long term support. If they did give long term support in most cases then it's possible the government would start to rely on them more than they already do (e.g. reducing unemployment benefits because people can get help from a food bank). I think part of the reason for the initial six week wait on universal credit was because the government knows people can get help from food banks. If people were more likely to have to turn to crime or be at risk of starvation then I think universal credit would have been organised differently.

It sounds horrible, but by helping people on a long term basis, food banks could actually do more harm than good, and as charities, they have to try and see the bigger picture.

In my area the norm is 3 food parcels each containing food for 3 days. So 9 days food in total.

As a professional welfare rights advisor: I consider 9 days an unrealisticly short period of time to sort out a benefits problem.

So yeah, provision is falling far short of people's actual need for support. Talk of "signposting" is naive. It assumes instant access to services is availible and that those services will be able to resolve the problem before the food parcels run out. That's not necessarily the case.

Not the food banks fault of course, but there it is.

I have to issue food bank vouchers and often food banks will be willing to extend the support if I can explain why the situation is persisting and what I'm doing to sort it.

Not every referring agency is so thorough. I've seen the phrase "allegedly not entitled to benefits" written on a food bank voucher issued by somewhere else. The client had no recourse to public funds! Which I was able to confirm easily by looking at her passport.
But the referring agency had implied she was bullshitting. I was so angry at that

We've donated to the local food bank every week for the last couple of years ever since we came very close to needing their help ourselves. We're not well off by any means but can usually afford an extra item or two and so always do.

I'm disgusted that FOOD is having to be donated and handed out like this on this scale. Where/when is this ever going to end? While this is going on i don't know how anyone can have any pride in our country. I despair.

I help at my local foodbank, and indeed we do have a policy of only 3 boxes in a certain period of time.

We don't just hand out food, I am an advisor and sit with the client to find out what's brought them there and hopefully help them get back on their feet.

Having said that, we would never turn away someone in desperate need; we are fortunate in that we do have enough to cover this.

We are not being mean OP, we are trying to support as many people as we can.

Different Food Banks have different policies, I understand those run by the Trussel Trust have to limit to 3 visits (but I am sure they use discretion where they can) - many Food Banks are run independently (often by religious groups - so despised on Mumsnet). The one I help at is run by local Churches, we never, ever turn anyone away - we have had some people coming every week for years; we know there are one or two who are probably abusing the system, but we accept that -if we can get food to the people who need it. And due to the generous community in which we live we are lucky enough to never run out of donations.

UC is being rolled out in my area and we are seeing huge problems. We have sent out requests for more food to be donated and have articles in the local newspapers.

We acknowledge that things are going to be very tough, but there is only so much we can do.