To ask why there is such food poverty.

[Helendee]

Please no flaming as I genuinely am seeking answers as to why so many children are going to school hungry these days.
This is not a critical or inflammatory post, I just want to know what’s gone wrong.
Obviously many of us are struggling financially because of Covid but food poverty was a huge problem before that.
Is it that benefit levels are too low to adequately feed our children?
What can we do to ameliorate the situation?

www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/what-youll-get#:~:text=You'll%20normally%20get%20the,re%20aged%2025%20or%20over

Basic ESA assessment rate: £74.35
After assessment, people in the 'work related activity' group: £74.35.

Note many people are not in any way well enough to work (at least temporarily) but lack the mental or physical strength or knowledge or support to appeal. Lots are scared of being left with nothing at all whilst appealing. For the same reason many don't claim the additional help like PIP (or give up midway through the gruelling process).

I can see how waiting for Universal Credit could plunge someone temporarily into poverty.

It's not just the initial 5 week (minimum) wait, if you have an advanced loan it's deducted from your UC. Also UC replaces benefits which were paid at different times, usually fortnightly, if you're on a low income but have more regular payment days it's much easier the manage than being paid monthly.

I was told that ESA had been got rid of completely and its something else that I was assessed for. I can see why people give up with a claim. I'm mentally exhausted by it, and consider myself to be fairly intelligent.

Although this thread did remind me to put a note in my journal chasing up the claim.

@VaggieMight

I can see how waiting for Universal Credit could plunge someone temporarily into poverty.

It's not just the initial 5 week (minimum) wait, if you have an advanced loan it's deducted from your UC. Also UC replaces benefits which were paid at different times, usually fortnightly, if you're on a low income but have more regular payment days it's much easier the manage than being paid monthly.

Uc claimants can request to have two payments a month if they are struggling to budget.

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

I was told that ESA had been got rid of completely and its something else that I was assessed for. I can see why people give up with a claim. I'm mentally exhausted by it, and consider myself to be fairly intelligent. Although this thread did remind me to put a note in my journal chasing up the claim.

Contributions based ESA ( new style ESA) can still be claimed if you have paid sufficient NI contributions over the relevant years.

@whatdoesthismeaneh
It's not so easy for people to move 200 miles away when they're ill, far away from vital support networks.

Others are working but on low wages. If they move 200 miles away, they might have to give up working because of losing childcare that nearby family provide.

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander
I hope you have some good news about the extra support you (and every disabled person) deserve.

The poor are also punished with a "tax" of 63% of every extra pound they earn over and above their UC.

why is this? its hardly an incentive to better ones self.

If you’re in poverty you are not going to be able to afford to move. There are fees, deposits and transport costs to find. It’s all very well saying it’s to make savings: as people have said you can’t afford the cash upfront to make those savings.

@jasjas1973

The poor are also punished with a "tax" of 63% of every extra pound they earn over and above their UC.

why is this? its hardly an incentive to better ones self.

Where on earth are you getting this from ? no one would ever work if they received full UC and their wages on top would they. If people have kids or are limited in their capability to work they receive a work allowance meaning a proportion of their wages is completely disregarded before deductions for wages take place.

With mass unemployment looming, there for the grace of God go I...

If wages are low and housing costs are high for some people they do have a choice - they can move somewhere cheaper.
It's expensive to move. Especially for those in remote rural locations.

Plus there’s the small matter of finding work, if you’re not 100% reliant on benefits.

@Funkypolar

With mass unemployment looming, there for the grace of God go I...

Absolutely.

Plenty of us are about to get a practical lesson.

Thanks @Babyroobs it might have been that. It was limited capability for work... something something... mumble.

Thanks @SheepandCow as much as I nedd the money I'm more worried that they'll make me look for a job when I know I can't mentally manage one atm! A telephone app with my counsellor earlier left me so shattered I fell asleep afterwards.

Benefits need to go up so people can survive. So people can give their kids a fighting chance, I live on benefits due to a disability and it means my children miss out on so many opportunities that their better off peers get access to including after school clubs and hobbies or even just simple days out.
My daughter is 17 and left education and training for complicated reasons. She's been trying to get a job since but had very little luck possibly because she's under 18. I get no financial support for her, no benefits at all but I still need to feed her and support her myself including paying for her prescriptions. She has toothache at the moment has done for a couple of months on and off because there is no way we can afford the dentist. We're caught in this section where she's not old enough for benefits or most jobs but is no longer eligible for us to receive support for her.

A simple answer to your question @Helendee ...
Because (Tory) UK govt polices at present are dysfunctional, exacerbating inequalities in this country and not mitigating them. There is no good reason why a nation with the UK's overall wealth should see such rises in child poverty as we've seen in recent years. It's disgraceful and inexcusable.

As others have explained, the benefits UC system seems to be setting families up to fail, trapping them in poverty.

And what people aren't talking about enough is the added blow of an inevitable no-deal Brexit, and the impact that will have on food prices, esp healthy fresh veg etc

What can we do? Help and support those in need in our immediate community, and vote the bastards out. Sadly we don't have the chance to do so for another four years. In the meantime, we need to bend your MPs' ears on the issue of poverty, whatever party they're from.

This documentary will shed some light. It’s worth a watch from start to finish.

Breadline Kids - BBC

m.youtube.com/watch?v=v3GDxEYl6Qg

[quote TheFormerPorpentinaScamander]@witchesglove yes I no doubt did but thats not comparing like for like so is irrelevant
If i was a single adult i could live in a shared house. I could work eleventybillion hours and not worry about childcare. I could live on tinned soup and supernoodles.

As it is I need a house/flat big enough for 3 people, when I was working needed to spend at least a few hours per week with my dc and need to provide a decent balanced diet. All of that costs more than a room in a shared house and some soup.[/quote]
Many single working adults struggle to afford rent/ bills (even in a house share) and no one could live off soup?! Yet the government don’t give them benefits, because it’s tough shit.

There’s no reason why YOU couldn’t have just bought noodles/value beans etc for yourself and fed your kids properly. The benefits were meant for the kids and not YOU. Same principle with clothes/ shoes. Could have patched up rags and worn flip flops.

My old neighbour was a single mum of 4 on benefits and really struggled. Her money really didn’t stretch far at all after housing costs and bills and it was really hard for her to plan and budget for food and meals when she generally bought it in dribs and drabs. I spend really carefully and meal plan but I have the luxury of being able to bulk buy and have a stock cupboard of herbs and tins and flour to dip into, and be able to order a big Tesco online order in one go.

Situations can feel quite hopeless too and with no options. My neighbour wouldn’t have been able to ‘just move’ to a cheaper area without money for removal men or somebody to get everything out and all the related costs of moving. Once her youngest child reached the age for the 30 hours funding she tried to find work during school hours but was unsuccessful, plus many available low-skilled and low-wage jobs expect a degree of flexibility that a parent with multiple kids with limited and designated hours at school/in childcare just can’t give.

I think it’s easy to look from a place of privilege and imagine what you’d do ‘in their shoes’ and how you’d be able to budget and make all these cheap yet nutritional meals from scratch and just plan more carefully and prioritise the right things, learn new skills and find work doing whatever you could.
But the reality is a lot different and many people are genuinely trapped in hopeless situations.

@WitchesGlove I have lived off value beans and bread in the past so my dc can eat! In fact at one point I was eating so little I almost fainted in the middle of church.

As I have explained to someone else I can only post from my experience. I have never been a single adult on benefits, I'm sure its not an easy life, but if it was only me I could certainly spend a lot less on food/rent/heating.

But the post of mine which you originally quoted was in response to people claiming that Carole ( other names are available) at the school gate gets more in benefits than they do in wages. Therefore what a single adult with no dependents gets is irrelevant because Carole obviously does have children.

Having been a parent who has worked part time, full time and not at all, I was always better off working. The more i worked the better off I was. The only time this isn't true is if you or your child are disabled. Then you might be better off on benefits (having not been in that situation I wouldn't know).

[quote TinyGhost]This documentary will shed some light. It’s worth a watch from start to finish.

Breadline Kids - BBC

m.youtube.com/watch?v=v3GDxEYl6Qg[/quote]
Just started watching it. The lad who just wants a hot school dinner 😔. Heartbreaking situation.

lockeddownandcrazy I think may be a regular benefits bashing poster using a new name? Certainly not very sympathetic or understanding posts!

@Rqiuta

It’s something everyone on this thread should watch.

It explains the reality that families face