Universal Credit and Food Banks

[Unicornfeathers]

I probably am being unreasonable but am I right in thinking that the rise in the use of food banks and UC has gone hand in hand?

Basically I became a carer in November, not the first time but first time I have had to apply for UC. Fast forward 7 weeks and I’m in my overdraft for first time in many years (I have no debts, not even a credit card) and I’ve been referred to a food bank.

Feels very weird and I am just wondering if there are others in the same boat?

Have they said why they haven't issued you your first payment yet?

Well, yes. UC was designed to impoverish people.

I got a first payment but it was halved because I got part of a wage (my final wage) in the assessment period.

Anouk Feels that way very much!

Yanbu, it's bloody disgraceful

I volunteer for a Foodbank in Surrey which fully introduced UC in late Autumn last year. Our Foodbank has seen around a doubling of customers. I don't think it's all down to UC but a substantial amount is (we are also supporting more homeless people).

Definitely. Since UC was rolled out in this area the usage of the food bank I volunteer at has doubled if not tripled

Wow - hopefully it's just as people go through the changeover but probably being naive.

A doubling of people seems insane!

Loki
Double - thank goodness for people like you. I feel very humbled to need a food bank and although I have donated in the past I will more regularly in the future

I'm not an expert on UC but I don't think it's just the changeover, there seems to be problems for people claiming if they get paid more in a period than the system expects, I think the payments stop and they need to claim again?

HEF The transition is really tricky to manage - they offer loans but the repayments would have just kept me in the black so I coped (or not) - I have budgeted for this month and my the end of the month I will be ok but will have no safety net.

Well, I don’t personally like them. Not sure really.

Unicorn thank you, I'd rather we didn't need foodbanks. We have a fair number of donors who've been customers in the past it's good to see them in a position to be able to give back.

Loki Every month there is an assessment period and thus your entitlement to UC can change monthly - you only know what you will get five days before your payment so you are guessing to budget

They've had to put an extra collection point for the food bank here in a full uc area. It's absolutely disgraceful that our government are putting people in this situation.

It's a nightmare. And some people assume that once payments start coming in, it should be ok. Only they owe weeks of rent, bills etc so it can take many months to actually get back to having that months money for that months bills and food.

So people are using food banks for longer.

It's an absolute disgrace but I am really not surprised.

My partner was self employed and had a serious accident in 2013. I put in a claim for benefits (I am disabled) and it took 6 months to sort it out. We survived on the generosity of some charities who provided us with vouchers for a supermarket and had to use the food bank a couple of times.

The worse thing is I had two children living with us, we were also meant to be paying child maintenance which had to stop for a while as we had zero income except child benefit and tax credits for my two. We were getting hassle from his ex, hassle from the DWP, I was having to borrow money for petrol to get DP to hospital appointments.

Quite frankly it was a period in time I would not wish on anyone. You can be starving to death but the DWP continues to grind along at snails pace, losing documents and generally being utter fuckwits. (apologies to anyone who works for the DWP)

All those who work in food banks - what should I expect? I am really really nervous - son is a picky eater (he’s autistic) but he understands we don’t have a choice

Ok, I thought it was something like that, it would explain why we are seeing a consistent increase rather than just when it was introduced.

And just to point out the 'utter fuckwits' point.

I had posted off documents required.
They then asked me for them again, I said they had been sent.
Asked me to send again.
Sent recorded delivery.
Never arrived.
Went into the Job Centre. Handed document to staff.
That afternoon I get a call asking why I had not handed document in that morning as required. Staff had lost the fucking document despite me putting it in someones hand.
Had to go back again and hand it in again.

So two lots of postal costs, two lots of fuel and no income.

mycatsapirate You have hit the nail on the head - did you manage to get on top of things?

I have been a carer before but this time I am genuinely worried about finances - i am well used to budgeting and not having much but this is something else.

Everyone at the food bank will be kind. At ours the bags are already made up, but if you explain your son's disability they'll try to be flexible if they can. It really depends on what they have available.

It will depend on the Foodbank but most have a "standard" list of items they give out. Soup, beans, tinned meat, fish, tea/coffee, sugar, milk, pasta/rice, tinned veg, cereals, biscuits, tinned fruit, custard. It's not the most healthy of diets to be honest but we are limited. We are also lucky that our local Tesco gives us fresh veg and fruit that has just gone past its display by date so we ask customers to take what they want. We also have allotment holders that give us excess produce.
You can swap stuff if you don't like it and we can cater to a certain extent for vegetarians and diabetics.
It's understandable for you to be nervous, but please don't be, if your Foodbank is like mine all the volunteers are lovely and won't be judging you.

Will they judge me because I drive? I have halved my driving this month to save petrol (son had a little job but we made excuses why he couldn’t go)

I know I sound ridiculous but I have to drive as sons school is not on bus routes / walking distance (it’s a SEN school)