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?

If food banks had no controls or referrals from professionals they would be even more open to abuse. People simply wouldn't donate if it were a free for all.

I'd imagine the usage spikes at this time of year as people soend what they can ill afford on Christmas and then go to these banks for food.

I'd imagine the usage spikes at this time of year as people spend what they can ill afford on Christmas

I think this is a direct lift from A Christmas Carol

Alternatively the government could not apply sanctions to already desperate people.

Finally someone who can reason.

Because we already have supermarkets. Just let people go get the food they need.

I'd imagine the usage spikes at this time of year as people spend what they can ill afford on Christmas

Actually that's somewhat true. In the weeks leading up to xmas our (ss) Service received an imaginable higher number of requests for help with fb referrals and other sustainable requests. It's the same every year but this year it was worse.

I could split the referrals quite neatly between adults who have pissed the money up the wall and are now struggling (alcohol/drugs/whatever) and the families who are in refuges or similar after leaving abusive partners (often at ss insistence) and have delayed access to single claims and so on. Those families were also supported with gifts from the children that are routinely donated by local churches thank god. We had quite a few Fraser bears in the office - the ones with the year embroidered on their feet in gold - hope they made a few kids happy.

We have also had cases which cannot be supported by the food bank because they are in B and B temporary accommodation and cannot cook anything. I can't imagine going through this over Xmas.

This is my niche experience of families already receiving intervention and is therefore not representative of all uc claimants

OP, I think there does need to be a limit and unfortunately some people are scam artists.
This documentary is very sympathetic to food bank users but during the course of the filming, they discovered that their model recipient was a con man who didn't need the help. m.youtube.com/watch?t=1129s&v=3iskVBOYfOU

The issue if you don't have a check for people using the food bank, is that many donors will not trust that it is going to those who need it.

'Because we already have supermarkets. Just let people go get the food they need.'

Eh? They can just walk in and get food and not pay? How is that supposed to work? Some places, quite a few, lack supermarkets.

Sikh temples will sort you out with a free meal

Yes to this. Also churches and mosques.

Our local biggest mosque is cooking Christmas dinner for people who can't afford it.

The crime isn't that foodbanks are limiting their stretched resources. The crime is they're needed at all

Agree jaque

I help at my local food bank/resource centre. We were open for only 2hrs yesterday. We had no clients, but we had two people donating food. They'd obviously been having a clear out and just dumped their out of date tins with us. One was a tin of fish dated 2008.

Bizarre. The office was also full of Xmas goodies people had donated as late as Xmas eve, clearly not considering how that food would actually find its way to clients in time for Xmas. They will get used, but better would have been to have either donated earlier or hold off and donate now, when the need will increase.